Blackline Safety Corp a global leader in connected safety technology, has announced that its European operations have been independently verified as carbon neutral for all measured emissions during the previous fiscal year.
Certification organisation NQA was responsible for the verification against the internationally recognised standard for carbon neutrality, PAS 2060.
Blackline Safety – headquartered in Canada with offices in the UK and France – manufactures and provides monitoring services for its award-winning line of connected safety wearable and area gas monitors, currently used by 2,000 organizations and 50,000 lone workers in Europe, North America, and the
Middle East.
“The company began the journey to carbon neutrality across our global business as part of our commitment to Environmental, Social and Governance initiatives, which have been evidenced in our annual ESG report since 2020,” said Lacey Griffin, Blackline Safety’s Quality & Compliance Co-ordinator for UK & Europe.
“Last year, our European business announced the results of our first-ever Carbon Footprint report, commissioned to track both direct and indirect carbon emissions and conducted with carbon consultants Auditel,” Griffin said. “As a result of the report and subsequent emissions reduction plan for each site, we have successfully achieved our goal and verified our status.”
Blackline Safety Europe’s carbon footprint was calculated in line with the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol emission scopes, which include direct emissions from combustion of gas and other fuels, emissions resulting from the generation of electricity and other energy purchased (but generated elsewhere), and emissions made by third parties in connection with operational activities.
Now, the company’s sights are set on continuing its environmental journey by working towards gaining the new ISO 14068 Climate Change Management Standard, Griffin explained.
“Blackline Safety understands the importance of protecting the communities in which we operate and the world as a whole, and will continue to play our part in protecting the environment and providing a sustainable future for the generations to come,” she said. “Our European operations will continue to measure our carbon footprint and identify and implement emission reduction plans, while being true to our overarching company values of driving innovation, resiliency, demonstrating leadership, going the extra mile, and empowering people.”
Reductions Prior to PAS2060 Verification
- We began our carbon reduction journey in 2023 when we first started measuring our operational carbon footprint for the calendar year 2022. At this time, we implemented several carbon reduction initiatives including the use of carbon neutral delivery services and reducing the emissions associated with our outgoing deliveries. We also switched to a 100% renewable electricity supply, hence reducing our direct on-site emissions.
- Scope 3 emissions were most significant, accounting for 95% of our carbon footprint. The remaining 5% was due to scope 1 emissions, and scope 2 emissions were zero.
- Our largest individual emission source was Upstream Transportation and Distribution (39%), followed by Employee Commuting & Homeworking (21%) and Business Travel (17%).
- In order to obtain these targets, we plan to implement two key carbon reduction initiatives. Firstly, we plan to use a carbon neutral delivery service for incoming goods from our headquarters in Calgary. This will reduce the emissions associated with air freight and will generate an estimated carbon reduction of 53.51 tCO2e. This calculation was made on the assumption that this strategy will be implemented for the last six months of the commitment period. Secondly, we plan to promote the use of public transport amongst employees, particularly amongst those who have a short commute to work
Long-Term Carbon Reduction Strategy:
- In the long-term, we plan to reduce both our direct and indirect emissions. We have run the following reduction scenarios for switching our fleet vehicles to hybrid/electric models. Switching all fleet vehicles to hybrid models will generate an estimated annual reduction of 3.39 tCO2e, whilst adopting electric vehicles would generate a larger reduction of 12.13 tCO2e. The speed at which we implement this strategy will depend largely on developing technologies and feasibility.
- We also plan to review our business travel policy, in order to reduce business travel emissions, particularly those associated with grey fleet and flights, as these are currently our biggest emitters within this scope category. We will assess whether any in-person meetings can be carried out virtually to reduce the need for road and air travel. We also plan to encourage the use of hybrid and electric vehicles by employees, which may be done through the introduction of car allowance or salary sacrifice schemes. We will continue to evaluate the feasibility of this option over the forthcoming months.
