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Düsseldorf, 4 August 2008 – Düsseldorf-based print shop Druckstudio GmbH is now stepping up its commitment to climate protection by offering customers the option of climate-neutral printing. The print shop has been certified by the independent consultancy natureOffice. Climate-neutral printing enables the Düsseldorf company’s customers to make a voluntary contribution to climate protection.
The certification process at Druckstudio took into account all sources of CO2 that are relevant for the production of print products. This revealed the print shop’s CO2 footprint. In addition to actual in-house print production, it also includes all CO2 emissions generated, for example, during the manufacture of paper, inks and coatings. The emissions associated with the manufacture of printing plates, the actual printing and subsequent transportation are also factored into the equation. Based on its motto “avoid – reduce – offset”, natureOffice also demonstrated during the certification process how emissions can be cut or even eliminated altogether. Establishing the print shop’s CO2 footprint is the start of a lengthy collaboration with the objective of further reducing emissions in the medium to long term.
Climate-neutral printing is now straightforward for Druckstudio GmbH customers. The print shop uses online software to create a CO2 footprint for each print product based on the emission values entered by natureOffice in the software. This makes it possible to calculate exactly how much CO2 is released while manufacturing a specific product.
The Düsseldorf print shop offsets CO2 emissions that it cannot reduce through its own measures by enabling its customers to purchase emissions certificates. The funds obtained by selling the certificates are used to offset unavoidable emissions, for example by investing in climate protection projects in another country. It makes no difference where in the world emissions are cut.
Druckstudio GmbH receives a certificate from natureOffice for every climate-neutral print product and passes this on to the customer. The relevant products bear a logo that demonstrates the print shop’s commitment and that of its customers to climate protection.
natureOffice’s process ensures complete transparency. For one thing, each climate-neutral print product is given an ID number and can be traced online. For another, the emissions certificates are issued by myclimate, an independent non-profit-making foundation based in Switzerland. The emissions certificates are only used to support CDM Gold Standard projects. This international standard is based on a World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) initiative and ensures that a project actually does help to lower global CO2 emissions by boosting the use of renewable forms of energy. Having been traded, the certificates are invalidated to prevent further emissions trading.
For the Düsseldorf print shop, the opportunity to offer its customers products bearing a climate-neutral logo represents a further step in the direction of sustainable production. “We very deliberately opted for the process developed by natureOffice because it stood out from the other products available on the market, in particular in terms of transparency and credibility,” stressed Werner Drechsler, owner and one of the directors of Druckstudio GmbH.