Why is everyone talking about CO2?
Responsible Print® aims to minimise the carbon footprint of printed materials by setting an environmental standard, encouraging best practice and acting as a resource to help you print in an environmentally responsible way.
It is well understood that emissions of green house gases, such as CO2, are leading to climate change. Changes to our climate will affect almost every aspect of how we live, from the type of food we grow and eat, to the places we live, to the wildlife that surrounds us and even where we go on holiday. It is the greatest environmental challenge facing the world today.
The known and predicted environmental costs as a result of climate change due to unsustainable production and consumption of natural resources are immense, and include loss of habitat, flooding, heat waves, rising sea levels and changing patterns of rainfall.
Impacts will be felt by every business, including printing. The economic effects are equally serious. Resource supply, production processes, workforce, logistics and energy supply are all factors which are likely increase costs to business.
Sustainability is not about giving things up - it's about living and working without wasting energy or resources, and this is exactly the ethos for Responsible Print®.
The UK produces 200 million tonnes of Carbon Dioxide a year. The UK government is committed to reducing this by 12% by 2012. This must be achieved if we are to avoid irreversible effects of climate change. No one business or sector will achieve this task on its own. That is why Responsible Print® is leading the way to sustainable consumption and production in the print sector.
What should businesses do?
The Carbon Trust believes that an organisation truly committed to addressing climate change should:
- firstly, focus on its direct emissions, reducing their carbon footprint and creating bottom line savings by implementing all cost effective energy efficiency measures and, where cost effective, reducing the carbon intensity of its energy supply by developing low-carbon energy sources such as on-site generation;
- secondly, look at opportunities to reduce its indirect emissions, working with other organisations to develop strategies to reduce emissions and cut costs up and down the supply chain and to look for new revenue opportunities such as developing new low-carbon products; and
- then, if appropriate, consider the option of developing an offset strategy that purchases only high quality offsets from verified projects that create truly additional emissions reductions. There are a number of business reasons why organisations may want to offset their emissions, including an improved Corporate Social Responsibility position, better brand positioning, or to anticipate and prepare for future legislation.
Offsetting allows organisations to indirectly reduce their carbon footprint through the purchase of carbon credits associated with emissions reduction projects (such as energy efficiency and renewable power) that have occurred elsewhere, typically in developing countries. There are a number of business reasons why organisations may want to offset their emissions, including an improved Corporate Social Responsibility position, better brand positioning, or using offsets as a way to internalise the cost of carbon and to anticipate and prepare for future legislation. Source: "Where does offsetting fit in a robust carbon management strategy?" www.carbontrust.co.uk
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