Climate protection
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Our contribution to climate neutrality
Climate neutrality and sustainable growth have always been very important issues to Gemino. They induce us to treat resources consciously: from LED lamps to travel guidelines to the green electricity used in our offices and hosted servers.
In November 2021, we went one step further. We wanted to reduce our carbon footprint further and implement corresponding carbon offsetting measures. We collected the required data and calculated our carbon footprint in three scopes in accordance with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG protocol): direct emissions from controlled sources, indirect emissions from purchased energy, and indirect emission from the supply chain.
Our emission for all three scopes totaled approx. 355 t of CO2 in 2021. We have decided not to take our international translation partners into account in offsetting the emission. You can learn more about why we reached this decision and how we will continue our efforts below.
Gemino climate neutral in 2021
For 2021, we offset 68 t of CO2.
We help rainforest on Borneo
We decided to offset our carbon by supporting the Bornean rainforest REDD+ project in Indonesia. The REDD+ project of the United Nations follows a long-term strategy to counteract the causes of deforestation and forest degradation. The project is the first forestry protection project in the world to have its contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals in the areas of environment, biodiversity, and social issues independently verified based on the recently created Sustainable Development Verified Impact Standard.
Where do we go from here?
The main objective is to reduce our carbon emission further. There is relatively little scope for further reduction (approx. 0.05%) in GHG scopes 1 and 2 as many measures were already implemented before this carbon footprint initiative started. An important focus is on our translation partners.
Our biggest challenge
At 293 t CO2, the emission of our international translation partners and freelancers makes up a large part of the emission related to Gemino. We have decided not to offset this as part of our carbon footprinting. Why?
Many of our international translation partners and freelancers are located outside of Europe. Climate protection is not as common elsewhere as it is here. Offsetting carbon every year for our partners would not sustainably change this situation. We have therefore decided to invest in reducing emission at its source and in this way increase the awareness of climate neutral activity among our partners.
These are our projects for 2022: By implementing sustainable purchasing guidelines that will have a multiplier effect on our international translation partners and freelancers, we want to create incentives for them to reduce their carbon footprint. These can be incentives for green energy, climate-friendly travel guidelines and climate-conscious actions.
We’ll keep you posted.