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BETTER BUSINESS

ferent greenhouse gas in terms of the says that “a printer can shout their
amount of CO2 that would create the efforts from the rooftops to their cus-
same amount of warming. That way, tomers and promote a better work-
a carbon footprint consisting of lots place for their staff. And companies
of different greenhouse gases can be looking for investment will be priori-
expressed as a single number. tised if they have strong eco-creden-
Put another way, Harris says that a tials”.
CO2e number on a product is a com- And this view is becoming more
plex calculation that includes a car- widespread says Harris: “Many of
bon allocation for raw materials, our customers come to us because
production processes, transport, and they are being asked about carbon by
end-of-life. And “the ‘e’ stands for their customers. In fact, we are work-
‘equivalent’ and this means it counts ing with three businesses that all sup-
port Tesco in different print areas,
all the greenhouse gas emissions and it has become part of the service
emitted during production, not just to measure carbon on every print
carbon”. job.” It’s important to another of his
It bothers him that “the use of mis- clients, a firm in the large-format
leading claims is prevalent in our market, who secured a high value
industry, particularly in the paper customer because it had strong car-
industry.” Terms such as ‘green’, ‘sus- bon credentials via his company.
tainable’, ‘eco’, ‘lower carbon’, ‘off-
set’, ‘balanced’ and ‘sustainable’ are Change is coming fast
all over-used in his view. That said, There are risks to the corporate
he says that his firm has just com- health of firms that make unsubstan-
pleted a project where it can now tiated green claims. The Competition
“measure all papers and board from & Markets Authority, and for the
all mills across the globe – using one world of finance, the Financial
methodology to ensure it compare Conduct Authority, have both
‘apples with apples’, and it is certified launched investigations into firms
by a third party – us.” making unsubstantiated claims.
And as Harris also points out, “the
Saving the planet and business Advertising Standards Authority has
Beyond ‘saving the planet’, gener- recently enhanced its activity and is
validated, such as ‘23% less carbon’, that’s real.” He says that it’s even better banning adverts that make mislead-
if the claim is validated by a third party. ally being ‘green’ is good for business. ing environmental claims. It’s look-
As Harris knows from his day-to-day
The natural question to pose here is, if the market is founded on unsub- ing for greenwashing and brands
stantiated claims, where can the average printer on the Clapham Omnibus work, in today’s world, a sustainable such as HSBC, Pepsi and Innocent
business will always be chosen over
find accurate and relevant information on what those claims actually repre- one that is not. Drinks have recently had adverts
sent? He points out that “companies that banned as being misleading”.
Again, Harris takes a very direct line. In his view there is only one solution fill the supermarket shelves or domi- While Harris thinks it unlikely the
here, and that is that “they need to know that any company making a claim is nate our high streets all have net zero ASA will monitor the print industry,
working to international standards or has an independent third party help- he says says it’s not a risk worth tak-
strategies proudly displayed on their
ing them – it’s not okay to just make a claim”. websites and, whilst some are better ing. He sees such high-profile stories
And he cites that value of centring values and goals on the likes of the than others, carbon reduction is as having the potential to be very
UN’s Sustainable Development Goals which he describes as “wider than just front-and-centre of all of them.” He damaging because social media
environmental issues”. In overview, this covers water, pollution, production continues: “These businesses are drives awareness on greenwashing –
and climate action; he says that “any business that publishes a ESG and CSR driving better behaviour in their sup- “our industry must clean up its act”.
policy on their website should be aligned to these, either directly or indi- ply chains; therefore, it will hit our Summary
rectly”. industry like a tonne of bricks.” It’s patently clear that print firms
The gold standard that firms should seek to attain requires – mandates, in Harris warns the sector that while need to change – if not to save the
Harris’ view – “explaining why the eco statement is good through scientific activity has slowed recently because planet then to save themselves. The
reasoning, and this is best done through a CO2e number”. of Covid and the energy crisis, “print direction of travel is set and large cor-
He adds: “It is also best practice to not do it yourself and have any claim should not think it’s gone away – it’s porations putting work out to tender
certified by a third party.” just been delayed”. will only consider those who genu-
For the record, CO2e, or carbon dioxide equivalent, is a standard unit for So, by changing course, through inely look at their sustainability cre-
measuring carbon footprints. The idea is to express the impact of each dif- verifiable carbon assessment, Harris dentials properly.

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