Zero for the climate
– Strichpunkt remains climate-neutral in 2021
The good news first: Strichpunkt was once again one of the 100% climate-neutral operating agencies in 2021. We offset all CO₂ emissions from last year by investing in certified climate protection projects (so strictly speaking, we don't work climate-neutrally, but climate-neutralised).
To do this, we first worked with our partner Planetly to measure how much CO₂ we actually produced over the last twelve months through purchased products and services, our website, business travel and commuting, home office and heating, and the electrification of our offices. We were able to further reduce our own CO2 emissions in 2021. By reducing the number of vehicles in our fleet, switching to hybrid and electric vehicles, travelling less and using less heating and electronic energy in our offices, we have significantly reduced our CO₂ footprint in these areas.
Overall, however - and this is the bad news - our CO₂ emissions have increased significantly compared to 2020. This is almost entirely due to increased collaboration with freelancers, whose emissions were responsible for more than half of our CO₂ budget.Neither Planetly nor we know how much CO₂ a freelancer emits when working with us, nor do we have any influence on this. The theoretical value is multiplied by average values and our purchasing volume; and since we pay relatively high daily rates compared to other industries, we automatically end up with high carbon emissions. Nevertheless, the work of our freelancers is of course part of our CO₂ output and their emission is therefore part of the Strichpunkt carbon footprin.t
The bottom line is that in 2021 we left a CO₂ footprint of 904 tonnes, which is roughly equivalent to the annual emissions of 83 German citizens. Rounded up by a 10 percent safety margin, this results in 995 tonnes of CO₂, which we offset by investing in Gold Standard-certified climate protection projects. Our money was used to protect a piece of rainforest in Borneo, to purchase solar hot water systems in India and more efficient cooking stoves for coffee farmers in Ethiopia. That's good news for the climate. The even better news is that in a few weeks our Stuttgart branch will also switch to certified green electricity and our office building will be upgraded with a solar system in the course of the year. Sun in our hearts, PV on the roof!