For Wackes, Sustainability is about making better choices – one product at a time, day by day, action by action, choice by choice. By making BETTER product choices, and continually improving our supply chain, we are « on track » to a more sustainable promotional items industry.
We have created an internal ‘Carbon Tracking Tool’ to calculate, demonstrate, compare, reduce, and compensate the carbon emissions related to the products that we propose and sell.
Through meticulous calculations we are accountable and responsible for our emissions. We are « on track » towards a lower carbon impact.
WHAT IS A CARBON FOOTPRINT?
A carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gases (including carbon dioxide and methane) that are generated by our actions. Greenhouse gases are the gases in the atmosphere that produce the “greenhouse effect” and contribute to global warming and climate change.
Your personal carbon footprint sums up the emissions from all your activities. It is all measured in CO2e, which stands for ‘carbon dioxide equivalent’ and is a standard unit for measuring carbon footprints.
The average carbon footprint for a person in the United States is 16 tons, one of the highest rates in the world. Globally, the average is closer to 4 tons. To have the best chance of avoiding a 2% rise in global temperatures, a person’s average global carbon footprint per year needs to drop under 2 tons by 2050. So, this requires a lot of change.
How do your promotional products fit into and measure up compared to this? Well, every little counts.
- One tree can absorb 22 kg of CO2e per year – as much a car produces while driving 42000 km.
- One pen emits approx. 100 g of CO2e: meaning a campaign of 100 000 pens emits 10T of CO2e.
- One power bank emits approx. 17.5 kg of CO2e: meaning a campaign of 100 power banks emits 1,75T CO2e.
- Products with the lowest carbon emission include those made of wood, bamboo and natural fibers and materials.
- Making better choices concerning packaging, transport (avoiding air freight) and materials can all make a direct impact.
Wackes’ Carbon Tracking Tool was developed by EcoAct and is certified by Bureau Veritas.
To find out more about the tool’s methodology, applications, and certification, please contact us.
We are happy to provide more information and concrete ideas on how to lower the carbon footprint of your products.
Other resources:
Carbon offsetting explained by the United Nations: https://offset.climateneutralnow.org/aboutoffsetting
Wackes is a signatory member of the United Nations Global Compact, the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative. More info here: https://www.unglobalcompact.org/what-is-gc