A voluntary registry helps companies calculate, reduce and offset their carbon footprint

Until 2020, Spain, as a member state of the European Union, must reduce its emissions by 10% compared to 2005. The Ministry for the Ecological Transition has put in place a series of measures to meet this objective: to achieve a low-carbon economy. Among them, and inherited, stands out a voluntary registry where companies that wish to calculate their carbon footprint can register to proceed, then, to their reduction and compensation.

The Ministry itself has been using the previous sustainability indicator for almost a decade. To do this, as it asks those who participate in the initiative it promotes, it decides which areas will be included in the collection of information and identifies the sources of greenhouse gases associated with the actions that are ordered and carried out within them.

Carbon dioxide (_CO2), methane, nitrous oxide or hydrofluorocarbons are just some of the greenhouse gases (GHGs) that human activities emit daily into the atmosphere. The carbon footprint quantifies these emissions, thus determining the contribution of each administration, organization and citizen to climate change.

The Signus Collective Out-of-Use Tire Management System is the first Extended Producer Responsibility System that, so far, has been officially registered. Its emissions during 2017 – the base year from which they will make the comparisons of the following years – amounted to 13,066.85 tons of CO₂ equivalents, as a result of their business structure and the development of the operations of collection of tyres out of use and their transport to the sorting and processing centres.

Its proposal to reduce GHG emissions goes beyond the hiring of suppliers that bet on renewable sources or the development and implementation of energy efficiency and responsible purchasing plans. Signus seeks to raise awareness among its employees and third parties about the integration of climate change in management to gain coherence and transcend the borders of the organizations themselves.

Fuetne: ABC