We would need to plant about 5 billion trees per year to account for current emission levels. Being net-zero plays a key part in our sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy whilst enabling us to do our bit for global climate change at the same time.
What does it mean to be a sustainable company?
Carbon neutrality describes the need to achieve an ecological balance between activities that emit climate pollution and processes that reduce the impact of that pollution to zero or close to zero. So the carbon emissions caused by a company/entity have been balanced out by funding an equivalent amount of carbon savings elsewhere in the world. These energy projects and energy efficiency projects often bring additional social and community benefits
Our climate actions at Prolactal
Awareness of climate protection among the population is increasing. And so this topic is ever more important for us. However, reducing and offsetting carbon emissions has been our focus for a long time. As early as 1984, our company has been operating CO2-neutral.
All our facilities are equipped with heat recovery, exhaust air filters, and cooling systems with process cooling. We only source green electricity from hydropower and wood chips. In addition, we utilize our dairy by-products in biogas facilities. Our own flotation system not only efficiently and reliably pre-treat any wastewater, it even ensures wastewater quality above the local water purification plant’s legal requirements. Our modern and newly completed water waste plant gives us the opportunity to use its residue to generate electricity and supports the region by reducing the treatment efforts from the local water waste treatment plant in the city of Hartberg.
Certified and committed
Prolactal is 14001:2015 certified. This certification is intended for use to manage our environmental responsibilities in a systematic manner that provides value for the environment, the organization itself and interested parties. Furthermore, we refer to certifications according to the Energy Efficiency Act, the EN 16247-1, as well as SEDEX, which guarantee ethically sustainable manufacturing in the supply chain. Some of our certifications are available as PDF documents for you to download here.
Consistently assuming responsibility
Despite all the energy-efficiency measures taken, not all emissions are unavoidable. Examples include emissions from the transport of raw materials and finished goods, as well as emissions from business travel. Therefore we offset remaining carbon emissions by supporting organic regional companies, such as the Austrian organic beekeeper BIENENFINK (read an interview with the owner here). In doing so, we are also facilitating positive effects on local livelihoods and the environment. Furthermore, 70% of our production quantity is based on organic milk, which we mostly source from the Alpine region.
At Prolactal thinking about tomorrow’s world, today is more than just a matter of following contemporary trends. We will keep working to reduce our own emissions and ensure our business maintains a low carbon footprint.
Read more about the EU Green Deal here:
