News 13 February 2018 News from SKAO
Weverling strives to decouple revenues from carbon emissions
Weverling Groenproviders, of the Dutch city of Monster, is a company that is active in the field of planting and maintenance of greenery in urban areas. Think of green rooftops, gardens and trees near roads and streets. By implementing the CO2 Performance Ladder, the company structurally reduces its carbon emission and works towards sustainability. In the near future, Weverling aims to generate more revenues, while at the same time, causing a minimum amount of CO2 emissions.
The company has recently been through the annual audit of the CO2 Performance Ladder. Based on this audit, Weverling found out that the revenue in 2017 increased, while at the same time they managed to reduce their carbon emissions by 19 percent compared to the previous year. The absolute amount of CO2 reduction in 2017 was 2,5 percent, which does not seem much at first glance. However, Weverling can be satisfied with this result, because the company still managed to reduce carbon emissions despite a growing number of projects that it had to take on. Moreover, it is not surprising that the greatest amount of CO2 emissions within the company is caused by their fleet of diesel and petrol vehicles.
Environment and sustainability
The organization has taken measures such as cars with fuel efficient engines and driving with less fuel consumption. These measures have led to the reduction of carbon emissions. Weverling focused on increasing awareness of its chauffeurs by providing insights on whom consumed the least amount of fuel and stimulating others to follow. With this, the company aims to reduce the amount of emissions caused by its fleet. Weverling also makes use of machinery that runs on ecological lithium-batteries. Furthermore, the company also conducts research on the use of electrical vehicles and how to reduce energy consumption in its buildings.
Due to the implementation of the CO2 Performance Ladder, the company has switched to 100 percent green energy that is generated in the Netherlands. This led to an enormous amount of CO2 reduction. “For the business sector in which we operate, it is essential for us to take measures to preserve the environment and to take action towards sustainability”, says Nelleke Schipper, who is responsible for the implementation of the CO2 Performance Ladder within Weverling. “We absolutely support corporate social responsibility, which brings us to the implementation of the Ladder. Moreover, our work is based on tenders in which the commissioning parties apply the CO2 Performance Ladder. By obtaining a certificate on the ladder, we increase our chances to being rewarded the project.” Commissioning parties that make use of the CO2 Performance Ladder in the Netherlands range from municipalities to corporations and other government institutions.
Green cooperation
Other than the measures applied to reduce carbon emissions, Weverling is involved in a network organization called ‘Groencollectief Nederland’. This nationwide cooperation was initiated by different companies active in the sector of greenery and maintenance of urban spaces. All the organizations involved in the cooperation have managed to obtain a certificate on the CO2 Performance Ladder on level 4 or 5. Schipper: “This initiative allows companies of the greenery sector to share knowledge about measures that leads to the reduction of CO2 emissions. The companies share their stories and experiences in this platform and assist one another where necessary with the implementation of sustainable practices.” At the moment, the cooperation is looking at possibilities to make use of biofuel.
Looking into the future
Weverling is aware that there is more to be done to reduce carbon emissions. “In the past year the CO2 reduction of Weverling has been less than anticipated. This was caused by an increasing number of projects”, explains Schipper. “The fact that we had more work to be done is very positive for the organization, but conducting more work also means an increase in the use of diesel and petrol vehicles. However, the measures that we have taken as a consequence of implementing the CO2 Performance Ladder made sure that we still reduce our carbon emissions despite the increasing amount of work.”
In the first half of 2017, Weverling had an increase of 15 percent on the number of kilometers driven to conduct their projects. Despite an increase in the number of kilometers travelled, the fuel consumption had only increased by 3 percent. This means that the company managed to cut down approximately 11 percent of its fuel consumption. In the years to come, Weverling strives to further diminish the percentage of fuel consumption. The company also aims to obtain a CO2 Performance Ladder certificate at the highest level, which is level 5. By implementing the Ladder to diminish their carbon emissions, Weverling strives towards strengthening its contribution to fight climate change.