AESSEAL has reached a major environmental milestone by achieving net zero carbon emissions in its UK operations. This achievement covers all scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions plus those associated with business flights.
The Rotherham-based company, which designs and manufactures mechanical seals and support systems, is now on target to achieve global net zero GHG emissions across all its locations worldwide by 2029. In light of its accomplishment AESSEAL has also launched a global campaign to drive collective action to mitigate climate change across all industries.
To match the campaign, called Betterworld, the company developed a website to demonstrate how sustainable policies and practices can lead to net zero carbon emissions without negatively impacting on productivity or profit. To meet the United Nations target as part of the Paris agreement to limit global warming to 1.5C, and avoid serious negative environmental impact, it is calculated that GHG emissions around the world must drop by roughly half by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050.
“I believe the move towards net zero is not a matter of choice for industry, it is an urgent imperative. AESSEAL has shown that it is possible to make a valid contribution to the UN target to reduce global warming but we cannot do this alone. There has to be a collective effort across all industries to embed sustainability in company ethos, strategies and practices, as well as in product design. Betterworld.solutions is our first step in supporting other industry executives who wish to join us to secure a more sustainable future for the planet,” commented Chris Rea, Managing Director of AESSEAL.
AESSEAL achieved UK net zero carbon emissions by:
- Continual improvement in line with integrated management systems and its certification to ISO 14001 and ISO 50001 for key operational sites
- Programmes of training and awareness to improve employee understanding of climate change and behavioural impacts on energy use
- Driving down energy use by adopting energy saving technologies including high efficiency compressors, building management systems, intelligent controls, LED lighting and voltage optimisation
- Purchasing all remaining electricity on zero emission at point of generation tariffs
- Fleet replacement programme encouraging drivers to select lower emission vehicles
To offset residual emissions for the 2019 reporting period, the company purchased carbon credits to support two Gold Standard emissions reduction projects.
A project in the Lango sub-region of Uganda helped to identify and repair broken boreholes, providing communities with access to a clean and healthy local water supply, while removing the need to consume energy by boiling water to drink.
It also supported Hydrologic, a Cambodian social enterprise which supports the local production of ceramic water purifiers. This helps more than a million families access clean and healthy drinking water, without the need to boil it indoors – a situation which was also contributing to pollution-related respiratory and heart problems, as well as contributing to the deforestation of Cambodia.
The AESSEAL approach and data was verified using the independent assessment body SGS. The company is currently calculating its scope 3 emissions for its entire value chain, both up and downstream.
“Sustainability is central to our product design and we believe that any scope 3 emissions would be outweighed by the vast reductions in energy and water consumption our products provide to industry. In fact, if we looked at categories 11 and 12 of the GHG protocol we’re confident that it will show net negative carbon emissions overall. This makes us extremely confident of achieving net zero carbon emissions across our entire global network by 2029 which, fittingly, will be the 50th anniversary of AESSEAL,” concluded Chris Rea.
