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our
Carbon footprint
WHY WE PREFER REDUCING
TO COMPENSATING
Our household and natural cosmetic products generate significantly less packaging waste and environmental impact. In this way, we are already doing a lot to make the world a little cleaner every day. But the global problem of climate change has to do primarily with the emission of CO₂ and other greenhouse gases. So what about our carbon footprint? After all, we also want to ensure an improvement on the status quo in terms of CO₂ emissions when it comes to our products.
One thing is certain: from the extraction of raw materials, through production and transport, to consumption by customers, every product emits CO₂ and other greenhouse gases. Likewise, every company contributes to this, even if it’s just by operating an office. There are two particularly important indicators for mapping a company's carbon footprint. On the one hand, there is the Product Carbon Footprint (PCF), which reflects the CO₂ balance for a specific product. On the other hand, the Corporate Carbon Footprint (CCF), which represents the CO₂ footprint of the entire company. Calculating these values as accurately as possible is a very costly and time-consuming process. For a young, fast-growing start-up like us, it's an insanely complex task. We are therefore also a bit happy that we were able to determine a CCF for 2021, the second full year of our company's history.
But why is it important at all for a company to determine and disclose its CO₂ emissions?
If a company can assign its CO₂ emissions to different categories as accurately as possible, it can see where its potential for improvement lies and where there is an urgent need for action to reduce its own footprint.
On the other hand, communicating CO₂ emission values, especially of products, raises awareness in our society that all of our lives – and our everyday consumer behavior – have a carbon footprint and thus an impact on our planet's atmosphere. The most accurate figures possible that quantify these impacts and put them into perspective can help consumers make informed consumption decisions and thus contribute to climate protection in their own lives.
In addition, a company can offset its emissions if it has calculated them accurately. In the amount of these emissions, the company can then buy CO₂ certificates – the price for which is determined by supply and demand – and thus finance certified offset projects (usually in the global South) that ensure that greenhouse gas emissions are prevented (e.g. by installing solar panels) or directly sequestered (e.g. through reforestation). When companies have offset all their emissions in this way, they often call themselves "carbon neutral." If they offset even more than their emissions, they even call themselves "climate positive".
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Is everdrop "climate neutral"?
Definition & Meaning
Spoiler alert: We are not "climate neutral" and don't even want to call ourselves that in the future. Because this term suggests that a company could have zero CO₂ emissions – and thus no negative impact at all on the climate.
In the worst case scenario, a label such as "climate neutral" could motivate company managements to simply "make up" for their environmental sins with money. But climate protection is not a sale of indulgences. It is much more important for our planet that unnecessary emissions are prevented in the first place.
That's why offsetting is not a real solution – it should only be used for those emissions that absolutely cannot be avoided. We already offset some such emissions too – for example, for our Pamela Reif x everdrop sports detergent (see chapter below on PCF) or indirectly through our partners like DHL Go Green, who offset all national shipments for us – and we will continue to work to offset our unavoidable emissions with offsets. However, our focus is not on that.
Instead of offsetting, we want to invest even more in tracking and reducing CO₂ emissions. Our actions, whether in our supply chain or in our office, should become as environmentally compatible as possible. So instead of buying the "climate neutral" label, we'd rather be.... let's call it "climate-active". We are taking the somewhat more arduous, but, in our eyes, right path: we want to measure, analyze, avoid and reduce emissions, again and again.
Here we want to share all our findings about our carbon footprint with you.
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OUR CORPORATE
CARBON FOOTPRINT (CCF)
We used the Cozero software to calculate the emissions of CO₂ equivalents (CO₂e) generated by our corporate activities for the year 2021.
To measure our emissions, we followed the methodology and classification of the GHG Protocol. This involves measuring emissions in three different areas, known as scopes:
Scope 1 includes all direct emissions whose origin is under the direct control of the company, such as company-owned production facilities or vehicle fleets.
Scope 2 includes all indirect emissions resulting from the purchase of energy. This includes electricity and heating in particular.
Scope 3 includes all other indirect emissions in 15 different categories – those emissions that would not exist without the company, but which are nevertheless not completely within its control. In addition to emissions in the supply chain, Scope 3 also includes, for example, business travel and employee commuting.
Our 2021 carbon footprint was 643 t CO₂e.
Note: Until 23 August 2022, we had published the intermediate figure of 410 t CO₂e, as we were missing the emissions data from our logistics partner DHL Go Green. These emissions of a rounded amount of 233 t CO₂e have now been included (under Scope 3 / Upstream transportation and distribution / Road Transports).
Our emission
in Detail
Here we explain the exact results in the three scopes. (click arrow right)
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So what do we
DO WITH THIS CCF?
It is tempting to compare this value with that of another company – in order to determine which is more sustainable in terms of its carbon footprint. Unfortunately, this does not make sense – at least not yet. Although the (voluntary) GHG Protocol provides a framework for the CCF calculation, even if companies follow this protocol, they may omit some of the prescribed categories if, for example, there is insufficient data available. Particularly in Scope 3, there is often far too little or uncertain data available, as this is precisely not consistently in the hands of the company and is therefore often difficult to measure. Here, one often has to calculate with assumptions and estimates, or disregard individual categories completely. It is therefore always extremely important to read the "fine print" of CCF publications carefully before assessing an overall carbon footprint.
Our most important conclusion:the CCF survey has confirmed in black and white across the entire company our assumptions about where we are already doing well and where we are not. In the coming weeks and months, we will consider and implement measures to further reduce CO₂ emissions. One measure that has been on our minds for a long time, we were able to implement in March 2022: Since then, our office has finally been running on 100% green electricity. As a result, the total Scope 2 emissions of our office will be zero from now on. In addition, we will continue to work on providing the data that is still missing, or at least approximate values for the categories that are relevant to us. We will continue to give you updates on this here on our website as often as we can. Do you have any questions or comments about our CCF? Please feel free to contact us.
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Our product
CARBON FOOTPRINTS (PCF)
A PCF includes all emissions associated with a product. A PCF shows how much CO₂ equivalents (CO₂e) are emitted by a product, from the raw materials used, through production, transport and storage, if necessary, up to use and disposal.
| PRODUKT | kg CO₂e | QUELLE | SYSTEMGRENZE |
|---|---|---|---|
| Badreiniger Tab (1 St.) | 0,009 | Yook | cradle-to-gate |
| Küchenreiniger Tab (1 St.) | 0,009 | Yook | cradle-to-gate |
| Glasreiniger Tab (1 St.) | 0,006 | Yook | cradle-to-gate |
| Küchenreiniger Power-Pulver (1 St.) | 0,060 | Yook | cradle-to-gate |
| Badreiniger Power-Pulver (1 St.) | 0,082 | Yook | cradle-to-gate |
| WC-Reiniger-Pulver (1 St.) | 0,084 | Yook | cradle-to-gate |
| Pamela Reif x everdrop Sportwaschmittel | 2,022 | Forliance | cradle-to-grave |
| Reiniger-Glasflasche | 0,711 | Heinz Glas | cradle-to-gate |
A PCF includes all emissions associated with a product. A PCF shows how much CO₂ equivalents (CO₂e) are emitted by a product, from the raw materials used, through production, transport and storage, if necessary, up to use and disposal.
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Do you have any questions?
