Brandtag goes green: steps towards a CO2 neutral business
Question: what do Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bill Gates have in common? Or the late Margaret Thatcher and Greta Thunberg? Or Leonardo DiCaprio and yours truly? Answer: we all share(d) the conviction that climate change is one of the most imminent threats to human civilisation as we know it.
The more interesting question is of course: what can we, small business owners or freelancers, do about it? The answer is surprisingly simple ànd achievable: strive for CO2 neutrality. In this blogpost I tell you which concrete actions you can take as a freelancer or a small business owner in Belgium. And there’s good news: it isn’t very hard, it certainly isn’t rocket science and you could benefit from it financially as well. And the impact is actually impressive.
Because yes, the threat is imminent. Just last week, scientists warned that there’s a 98% chance global warming will break the 1,5°C barrier before 2027. That calls for swift action. So let’s go!
Switching to Green Energy
One of the easiest and most effective steps you can take is switching to a green energy provider. I began buying energy from DATS24. They offered a fully sustainable option and they even allowed me to specify from which source I would take my energy. I chose the North Sea wind park. Not only did this ensure that the energy I consume daily is green, but it also contributes towards the growth of renewable energy technology.
Note that DATS24 sold parkwind to a Japanese holding in March of this year. I’ve asked them what that meant for my energy, but I haven’t gotten a reply. I’m actively looking for a new provider in this list of green providers, courtesy by Greenpeace. While I strongly disagree with Greenpeace on the environmental friendliness of Nuclear energy, there’s no discussion that the providers that score a perfect 20 in their list really are sustainable.
Next, I also installed the maximum capacity of solar panels on our roof. That is a no-brainer, both for the environment and your wallet. Last year, they were good for 13 000 kWh. With electricity prices currently hovering around €0,5 per kWh in Belgium, the payback period of the installation will be less than 5 years.
Embracing Electric Mobility
Another simple switch was trading in my traditional fuel car for an electric car. Or, in my case, trade in my plugin hybrid for a fully electric vehicle (EV). While individuals may still argue that there’s a premium to pay for going electric, for companies in Belgium it is again a no-brainer: a fully electric car is 100% deductible from your company’s taxes. On top of that, you pay zero registration tax and zero annual traffic tax.
You also gain privately. Since a company car is considered an ‘advantage of all sorts’ (VAA in Flanders), you pay taxes on it as an individual too. Those taxes again are lowered drastically for an EV: you can find the exact formula here.
Finally, if you are able to install a charging point at home or at your office and you have solar panels, you can reduce your ‘fuel’ cost to zero as well, provided you charge your car only with the surplus energy from your solar panels. If you opt for a smart charging point of Belgian based Smappee, you can fully automate this.
But the real benefit is of course that you are driving without emitting any C02. If you are a car buff, like me, I can assure you: some of the EVs currently on sale offer plenty of driving pleasure. And yes, your range is more limited with an EV than it is with a combustion engine, but you will find that it’s mostly a question of planning. I’ve driven my car from Ghent, Belgium to Copenhagen, Denmark and back without any real issues.
The Shortcomings
Honestly, when I set out to make Brandtag CO2 neutral before the end of 2022, I thought the above efforts were enough. The energy I use for the office is fully green and so is most of the energy I use for my commutes. However, this doesn’t take into account the emissions caused by:
Production of ‘grey’ electricity when using a charging station along the highway: worst case scenario, your ‘clean’ electricity was produced by the burning of German coal. That is of course really bad.
Production of electric cars: producing electric vehicles leads to 30% to 40% more emissions than producing petrol cars. That’s why Polestar doesn’t stop at making EVs: the car maker commits to becoming carbon neutral by 2040 across its entire value chain. As a rule of thumb, it takes 2 years before your EV becomes more sustainable than a comparable car with a combustion engine.
Emissions from flights, train rides or other transport you may have used: depending on the means of transport, this may have a huge impact. Consider that an international haul emits 20 times more CO2 per kilometer than the Eurostar. The calculator I used takes these into account.
Construction of the office: the production of concrete and steel alone is responsible for 10% of the global annual emissions. I’ve no idea how you can calculate the emissions caused by your specific building. If you know a way, drop me a line.
Manufacturing & transport of office equipment: the calculator I used doesn’t take into account the indirect emissions. The most obvious examples are computers and smartphones. The production of semiconductors is energy-intensive. Calculations differ, but the energy used for the global production of semiconductors equals the energy consumption of Portugal today and may equal the energy consumption of Australia by 2030.
Your personal footprint: of course, you as an individual make all the difference in the world. The biggest hack you can probably do is stop eating beef and avoid leaving leftovers. However, this post is about what you can do as a company, so while important, it’s out of scope here.
The Results So Far
Bearing in mind the shortcomings above, the calculator from Samenklimaatactief said I emitted just a little over 1 ton CO2 equivalents last year. Which takes 53 adult trees to ‘digest’ over one year.
Which is why I decided to plant 53 trees and pledge to continue to do so in the coming years to compensate for my CO2 emissions.
I decided to do so via Ondernemers Zonder Grenzen (Dutch for ‘Entrepreneurs without borders’), since I like their holistic approach and the fact that they plant the trees where it’s most needed rather than in our backyard, where it makes much less sense.
How About You?
Sure, you can get mad at the results of COP27. And you can be outraged about our 4(!) climate ministers in Belgium for not being capable of coming up with a common climate policy. You should: it’s outrageous.
However, rather than wasting energy (see what I did there?) getting wound up over the inertia in politics, you can take action that really makes a difference. While I’m certainly no expert in the matter, I’ve tried to list attainable actions you can take as a freelancer or as a small company. If every company did only the above, we would easily reach the climate ambitions stated in the Paris agreement. And if you think that, because you are too small, it doesn’t really make a difference, think of the famous African proverb.
It says: “If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping in a tent with a mosquito.” `
Let’s become an army of small company sized mosquitos!