Preface
Sustainability has been a spearhead of Firecom BV for a long time. However, it is not always possible to fully invest in this in the start-up phase of a company. Because the company is now becoming more and more mature, it is time to also pay serious attention to this part. At Firecom, we believe that we really need to do something about improving our environment and we believe that we should completely neutralize our business activities. In theory, the company should not exist. This situation is the starting point of this document. We will have to map all our activities that contribute negatively to the environment and simulate a situation where our office no longer exists, there are no employees on the street and we do not sell and service products. Only if we apply this starting point will we not have any negative contribution to the environment and nature. We will have to neutralize our 'presence' to such an extent that we can continue this for hundreds of years without it having any effect on the environment.
We will therefore first have to map out how we burden nature and the environment. The following section lists the activities we do en make a negative contribution to the environment.
Some sustainability programs place an important focus on job satisfaction, happiness at work and social impact in the environment. We believe that this does not belong to nature. For this reason, it is not considered in this project.
Our office will be a swampy area again. We are not there and there are only flowers and plants. If you are silent you will hear nothing at all. We're not here.
Difficult to calculate
In the world of CO2 almost everyone knows what is 'wrong', think of flying and driving a car. But there is not enough information available to determine what your CO2 emissions actually are. Especially when you look at what you buy as a company, and that is quite a bit. The CO2 world is in its infancy and depends on information from suppliers, and that input is not always (fully) available. That is why you often have to assume an average. That makes it difficult for a company to map out what your emissions are and how much it costs to offset them.
Because the necessary information is not always available, it often happens that most of the time is spent figuring out the CO2 emissions and determining how high they are. That is a shame, because we believe that the focus should be on reducing and compensating for it.
We will calculate the CO2 emissions for each business unit. We use public sources for this. If no information is available, we make a rough estimate or call in our network. We realize that this way is quite innovative. We are pioneers in this field and accept that we do not use the most accurate methodologies. However, there is no external motivation to do this. We want this from our intrinsic motivation. We use sources to refute our calculations. We are open to feedback from the market and therefore publish our figures online.
Co2 neutral
At Firecom we want to become 100% co2 neutral, but what exactly is that? In any case, for us it means:
• We have mapped out what we use and consume on an annual basis
• We know it's a big gamble
• We do Greenwashing because otherwise we would have to disband ourselves.
• We buy off our CO2 emissions and waste
Actually, we don't think the above points are that relevant. We believe it is more important to take action to reduce and compensate our CO2 emissions. The sooner we start working on this, the sooner we can overcome climate change.
We are constantly working to reduce the negative impact we have on the environment. In doing so, we not only look at our own direct impact, but also at the indirect impact within our entire value chain (products and services).
From making our company buildings even more energy efficient and minimizing business travel to launching new, more sustainable products and rethinking our packaging design. We look at our impact from a lifecycle perspective and take important steps to reduce this impact.
In addition to reducing our negative impact on the environment, we also work to increase our positive impact on the environment and society through initiatives such as our cashback program, product repair and product donation.
Reduce our impact
Gas
From 2022 we will use exactly 0 m3 of gas. Our business premises are heated with air conditioning and only use electricity.
Water
The water consumption has a very small effect. Our use has been stable for several years at 100m3 per year. Because rainwater is not drinkable and that is the main part of the use, we choose not to eliminate it, but to compensate it.
Electricity
Our office is heated with air conditioners and therefore uses a relatively large amount of electricity. All electricity is generated by our own 66 solar panels. In 2023, our electricity consumption will have increased compared to previous years. This is because we have stopped using gas. All our buildings have double glazing and automatic LED lighting. Our business premises have energy class A.
Business traffic
At Firecom we use cars and airplanes a lot. These are necessary to carry out our work. We can reduce car use by doing more and more remotely via Teamviewer, for example, but we cannot completely eliminate this. In addition, our air travel aims to physically install things locally that have to be done by Dutch personnel. We therefore choose to fully compensate all these trips.
Follow-up actions
After calculating our emissions, we are not there yet. We have then created a situation where our presence has completely naturalized. How nice would it be if we could also add something? So we will increase our print by 10%. In this way we build in a substantial safety margin.
Because we aim to compensate our entire activities and to neutralize our 'stay' and our 'activities', we choose to invest in a project that focuses on extra growth of afforestation. In this way we know for sure that another place in this world is certainly kept free to offset our emissions.
Our total emissions amount to 374 tons. We increase this by 10%, resulting in a total emission of 400 tons of Co2. This is equivalent to 16.000 trees.
Planting trees
From 2025
Taking equipment
Started in 2018
Bet on repair
Started in 2020
Bet on elimination
Started in 2023
Sources
- https://www.co2emissiefactoren.nl/lijst-emissiefactoren/
- https://www.cmihva.nl/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/20210309-Mobiliteitseffecten-en-Carbon-Footprint-Online-Winkelen.pdf
- https://www.co2emissiefactoren.nl/lijst-emissiefactoren/
- https://www.milieubarometer.nl/CO2-footprints/co2-footprint/stimular-2015/
- Invoice van der Wal Berkenwoude
- https://www.dustin.nl/kennisbank/artikelen/archief/dit-is-de-invloed-van-je-laptop-op-het-klimaat
- https://www.abnamro.com/research/nl/onze-research/duurzaam-staal-blijft-een-traag-verhaal
- https://datanews.knack.be/ict/nieuws/de-ware-milieu-en-klimaatimpact-van-het-internet/article-opinion-1755469.html#:~:text=De%20auteurs%20schatten%20dat%20het,uitstoot%20in%20de%20atmosfeer%20vertegenwoordigt.
- https://herstelcenter.be/post-voor-hoeveel-co2-uitstoot-zorgt-je-smartphone-hint-herstellen-is-altijd-beter/#:~:text=Iedere%20dag%20een%20uurtje%20bellen,100%25%20CO2%20neutraal%20te%20zijn.
- https://datatopics.worldbank.org/world-development-indicators/ en https://www.milieucentraal.nl/minder-afval/afval-scheiden/afval-scheiden-cijfers-en-kilo-s/#:~:text=In%20Nederland%20gooien%20we%20per,in%20Europa%20beter%20dan%20gemiddeld.