Sumitomo (SHI) Demag UK gains gold certification badge from Carbon Neutral Britain

Sumitomo (SHI) Demag UK has earned what’s considered by over 1000 British businesses and FTSE 100 companies to be the emissions-reversal gold-certification badge.

Believed to be the first UK polymer machinery supplier exhibiting at Interplas 2023 to be measured against Carbon Neutral Britain’s credible and globally-validated offsetting standard, Sumitomo (SHI) Demag UK – the British subsidiary of Sumitomo (SHI) Demag Plastics Machinery GmbH - has offset 153.81 tonnes of CO₂e emissions through the Woodland Fund portfolio of certified nature-based carbon reduction projects. 

To achieve this certification, every day-to-day activities, from car journeys, flights, trains, taxi, hotel stays, recycling, waste, building electricity and gas consumption figures were measured and reported. Quantifying these carbon compounds caused by Sumitomo (SHI) Demag UK has provided the subsidiary with a benchmark to support ongoing emission-reduction improvements.

Compared against businesses of a similar size and headcount, 153.81 tonnes of CO₂e falls within the lowest quartile, assures Senior Environmental Consultant at Carbon Neutral Britain, Caspar Eccles-Williams. “It provides a good baseline and is testament to the efforts already taken by the Sumitomo (SHI) Demag UK team to reduce emissions. We liken it to a sprint within a marathon. This 2023 audit has helped to identify hotspots where further incremental improvements can be made,” explains Casper.

The company intentionally selected Carbon Neutral Britain as it follows the ISO 14064 and GHG Emissions Protocol Accounting Standards. “The Woodland Fund™ backs legitimate projects where carbon credits are measured, regulated, verified and audited,” reports operations manager Andy Hannan. 

All of the carbon offsetting projects are authenticated to the highest standards by the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), Gold Standard Voluntary Emission Reductions (VER), and the United Nations Certified Emission Reductions (CER) programmes. To counterbalance the global inequalities in CO₂e emissions, Sumitomo (SHI Demag UK’s offsets are funding four international Woodland Fund™ projects closely aligned to their business principles. They include energy reduction, socio-economic and environmental education, reforestation and biodiversity.

Managing director Nigel Flowers adds: “Our efforts won’t stop at this certification. Belonging to one of the world’s leading supplier of energy-efficient moulding machines, we’ll be accelerating our focus on sustainability both internally and with our customers in 2023 and beyond.”

The next five years are essentially the most critical to shift the climate course, states the latest report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It requires cooperation, scale and a faster pace. Studies by the UN panel suggest that the worst impacts of climate change could be irreversible by 2030.  By partnering with Carbon Neutral Britain, Sumitomo (SHI) Demag UK hopes it can encourage more businesses in the supply chain to offset any emissions that cannot be removed completely.