Sustainability blog series: Having a meaningful impact on our climate

At Genexis we acknowledge the role we have as an industry, but also as a company we want to have a meaningful impact. The urgency to become more sustainable and limit global warming is growing daily. Our industry can contribute because a well-established fiber infrastructure can reduce the need for the usage of natural resources (e.g., reducing the need for traveling and commuting). This directly helps in lowering the global environmental footprint. As a company, Genexis strongly believes that to make meaningful impact, setting science-based targets aligned with the Paris Agreement’s goal to limit global warming to 1.5°C, is the way to go. Therefore, we will commit to the Science Based Target initiative (SBTi) to meet the required reduction targets on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

To identify reduction opportunities and manage our GHG emissions we
developed a GHG inventory and directly started reporting on our scope 1, 2,
and 3 emissions in 2022. Exact data cannot always be retrieved, the next best option is to use educated estimation and third-party (unbiased) validation. We see that sustainability reporting is becoming a new standard in the EU with
Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) being effective soon, for Genexis within 1,5 years. A draft proposal on reporting standards has already
been shared by EFRAG and the adoption of final standards by the European
Parliament and Council will follow in June 2023. So, we thought, better be prepared, and get started!

When you start reporting on sustainability, the first step to take is to declare policies on sustainability topics. Since we are addressing climate impact in this blog, this means writing an environmental policy. First, we carefully prioritized environmental reporting standards using our sustainability strategy and recognized frameworks and assessment tools. Then, we started developing this policy on e.g., energy consumption, circularity, and operational waste. Generally, writing this policy helped us in mastering the topic, directed clear reporting actions (which we aligned with GRI), and served as a valuable steering plan during the next phases: report and act.

Let us look at an example: In 2022 we set a KPI on the use of recycled plastic in all our products: 55% recycled plastic by 2026. As we set up an efficient reporting structure, we became better at monitoring the effect of introducing recycled plastics in our products. We could determine the effects on the total volume of all sold products. We learned where we could really make a difference, for example, our FiberTwist Series. Now, we are moving from 0% to 90% recycled plastic in all our FiberTwist products!

After committing to a policy, and measuring performance, it is time for action! That is when the fun things happen if you ask us. Obviously, this is the phase in which real improvements and positive impact can be achieved.

Another example could be interesting here: we investigated the energy use of one of our FiberTwist products, because we noticed unexpected power consumption. This successor product had a higher value, which was not in line with our policy. Therefore, we thoroughly investigated the possibilities and eventually with success reduced the power consumption by using a more efficient laser. After checking the results, we concluded we needed to do even better, so a second improvement was needed. After close collaboration with our supplier, we discovered that enabling the EEE-state (Energy Efficient Ethernet) on the device was doing the trick. With this example, we want to show that having a policy and a reporting structure is a valuable basis but eventually, for the real impact you must be proactive and iterate.

With an ambitious policy on climate impact, and on environmental issues, you are giving yourself something to work toward. Now that we are improving our reporting structure, we can act and have a meaningful impact on our climate.  

Whether it is challenging or not, you can act and make progress. 

Author: Mr. Olivier van Duuren