As part of a longstanding desire to improve its Corporate Social Responsibility, Cobalt Systems is delighted to announce we are a certified carbon neutral organisation as of June 2022. We’ve continued to innovate our product ranges since our corporate commitment to carbon neutrality, and were delighted to announce our zero-waste linerless options at PPMA 2023.
This drive for improvement is in the wider context of the manufacturing industry as a whole and we’re very proud to be contributing to a more sustainable UK supply chain.
To achieve carbon neutral certification, we partnered with Carbon Neutral Britain to carry out a comprehensive audit and analysis of our emissions in line with ISO 14064 and the GHG Emissions Protocol Standards. These reporting standards are widely accepted as the two largest and most recognised methods for carbon footprint calculation in the world.
Strictly following these methods, our emissions output was audited and measured in three distinct areas: direct emissions, indirect energy and other types of indirect emissions. The audit takes into account all the obvious sources of output, for example, machinery and vehicles as well as heat and energy consumption at company premises and remote work settings.
But less obvious sources are also captured including attendance at events and emissions produced by the delivery of goods by suppliers.
The resulting calculation of Tonnes of Carbon Dioxide Equivalent (CO2e) is then offset by investment into specific CO2 reduction projects run around the world. These include hydroelectric power generation in the Amazon basin, a wind farm project in the Philippines, Rice Husk biomass fuel production in Cambodia as well as reforestation projects in the UK.
Alongside environmental sustainability – which is central to the Cobalt ethos – Carbon Neutral Britain also promotes ecological development of local flora and fauna, and social programmes in the regions that it works. We’re proud to support Carbon Neutral Britain in all their projects, and as a manufacturing company, we’re also delighted to see the work to promote sustainable models of energy production such as in the Andes Mountain Hydropower Plant in Chile.
All the projects supported by our offsetting directly contribute to carbon reduction but also align with one or more of the United Nation’s Sustainability Development Goals.
The projects are all certified to the highest standards through either the UK and EU Emissions Trading Standard (EU + UK ETS), Gold Standard Voluntary Emission Reductions (VER) or the United Nations Certified Emission Reductions (CER) programmes.
With the manufacturing industry an obvious candidate for improved sustainability credentials, the Cobalt Management Team are committed to a net zero future as Tony Hunt, Company Founder and Managing Director explains:
“Carbon neutrality is not a one-off project. This initial certification has identified areas where we already perform well, for example our local supply chain network which minimises delivery mileage. But there are also improvements to be made in other areas, some over longer periods of time. An example is our commercial fleet which will be electrified as vehicles are replaced and the installation of charging points for staff and visitors.”
Chris Hunt, Sales Director for Cobalt Systems adds: “We are very pleased to be certified as carbon neutral, but we have no intention of stopping there. We are making a commitment to accelerating our technologies to help our customers get there quicker too and we will be launching a number of products over the coming years which will contribute towards that.”
