We have been hearing for years about climate change and the problem it is causing for the world, so sustainability is an issue that affects everyone and is something that businesses, governments and citizens need to be concerned about. Scientists mentioned that the main cause of global warming is human activities and the associated energy consumption, including that caused by business.
The concept of carbon footprint is defined as the total amount of these gasses emitted by an organization’s activities, measured in Tm CO2 equivalent (eq). This measurement makes it possible to know the impact of organisms or companies on it.
SMEs as a key part of carbon footprint reduction
In Spain, it has been detected that by the end of 2022 practically half of the energy produced in the country will be of renewable origin, 47%, which mainly represents solar and wind energy. It is also true that both customers and administrations are more demanding with sustainable practices and this is generating a trend for SMEs where it will be vital in the future to carry out actions that reduce the carbon footprint in order to survive in the market.
It should be highlighted that 99.8% of the business network is made up of SMEs, giving rise to more than half of the national employment, so their activity has a great economic and social impact. For some years now, the SME strategy has aimed to reduce, as far as possible, their CO2 production as part of their commitment to sustainability. It is important for each of these companies to position themselves at this intersection of environmental aspects in order to be able to reduce the ecological impact in our country as a whole.
For rimsa, measuring our environmental impact is something that has been part of our DNA from the start. While many companies will be forced to do so as part of their strategy, for us it is a job that has been going on for years and this has allowed us to reduce our footprint through the following actions:
1- Photovoltaic self-consumption project.
With a system that has a total of 316 solar panels on the roof of our warehouses, we have achieved a peak power of 133.4 kWp, which means a coverage of 21% of the total electricity consumption of the factory, thus avoiding the emission of more than 32 tonnes of CO2 per year.
2- Exponential growth in the manufacture of copper-free products.
In the last 4 years, products such as LM09 and enviroLube have been used by our customers, which has allowed us to reduce greenhouse gas emissions during their manufacture. Therefore, we have reduced the environmental impact compared to copper-based products.
3- Supply contract with a renewable energy supplier (GREEN energy).
In June 2022 we started this action, which has led us to stop generating greenhouse gas emissions produced by the consumption of traditional sources.
rimsa people rethinking solutions
We work under the objective of creating sustainable solutions that accompany our involvement in the reduction of emissions produced by our operational process, therefore, this achievement is due to the team and our commitment to reduce the ecological impact in the world.
In the graph (link) you can see the evolution in the reduction of rimsa’s carbon footprint measured in Tm CO2 eq from 2018 to the present day. Although 2020 was an exceptional year due to the beginning of the pandemic, a clear trend can already be observed, reinforced in 2021.
The 2022 data have been evaluated at the end of September and to date we have reduced the Tm CO2eq by around 42% compared to 2021.
