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As part of our ongoing commitment to reducing our environmental impact, we’ve completed a comprehensive carbon footprint assessment. This assessment categorises our emissions across the three scopes: direct (Scope 1), indirect from energy (Scope 2), and other indirect emissions (Scope 3), with Scope 3 being the largest contributor. In particular, cloth manufacturing and transportation were identified as two of the most significant sources of emissions.
After conducting our carbon assessment, we calculated our total emissions to be 1,832.57 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent. This includes contributions across all areas of Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions. The most significant contributors are within Scope 3, particularly from cloth manufacturing, air freight, and bought-in goods such as bags and socks.
Breaking it down:
By recognising these numbers, we are now in a better position to prioritise where and how we can reduce our emissions, as part of our ongoing sustainability efforts.
Our carbon emissions are broken into three categories, each with distinct sources:
One of the larger contributors to our Scope 3 emissions is cloth manufacturing. This process is energy-intensive at multiple stages, from the extraction and processing of raw materials to the weaving and treatment of fabric. Additionally, use of fertilisers, which usually lead to the release of nitrous oxide (which, per tonne, leads to 280 times more warming than CO2), further increases the carbon footprint of textile production.
These findings underscore the need to explore more sustainable fabric options, as well as the material specific emissions from our cloth and work closely with suppliers to reduce the environmental impact of cloth manufacturing.
The high emissions that we can see in bought-in goods is due to a combination of air freight transportation emissions and the large emissions factor associated with the materials used to make the bags.
Transporting our goods, especially via air freight, emerged as another significant source of Scope 3 emissions. Air freight is fast but notoriously carbon-intensive, and it’s particularly impactful when shipping goods to distant markets like Australia and the USA. Our assessment, based on five months of data, shows that air freight contributes heavily to our overall carbon footprint
In addition to cloth, other raw materials like steel and aluminium also contribute to our Scope 3 emissions. The carbon intensity of producing these materials is significant, and while we would love to find an alternative, maraging steel and carbon steel are essential for fencing and would prove hard to replace.
Our carbon footprint assessment has allowed us to see clearly that our largest emission sources are cloth manufacturing and transportation.
In the next post, we’ll share with you our investigations into why so much is transported by air and ways in which it might be possible to reduce our use of this very carbon intensive mode of transport.
Winner of the 2024 Kings Award for Enterprise