Sustainability and environmental protection are one of the core pillars of WEROCK’s corporate philosophy. We want to constantly improve. We already wrote this in our last quarterly report and nothing has changed. With our reports on a quarterly basis, we want to provide insights into our environmental protection efforts and offer maximum transparency to all stakeholders.
With our products, we don’t just want to make the lives of everyday heroes easier. We also want to have a positive impact on the climate. That’s why we fully offset all emissions from our private label products. At regular intervals, we review with our suppliers to what extent we can make packaging, logistics, but also the product itself more environmentally friendly.
We can’t wait until 2070 to be a greenhouse gas, and we hope that all of us who are in a position to do so will take a leadership role and do what we can for our planet and humanity. That it is NOW time to act have the flood disaster in the Ahr valley, the heat wave in the USA or in the Shanxi province in China show it more than clear. Experts agree that these are the direct effects of climate change. While at the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow only the same non-binding drivel continues and the problem is postponed to future generations.
Emissions
Compared with the second quarter, our emissions have risen slightly and are roughly double the forecast level. The reason for this is the fortunately strong increase in sales and the simultaneous growth of our team.
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Unfortunately, we are not yet able to calculate emissions accurately at the moment. The inaccuracy comes in particular from the lack of real emissions data. From an economic point of view, we now prefer to tip “too much” into compensation projects rather than calculating it exactly. We still lack the appropriate resources for precise research.
Compensation
In the third quarter, we continue to offset our total emissions with Gold Standard projects. With this offset payment, we not only support climate protection, but also the local community in the areas of healthcare, education, clean drinking water and economic development. Climate protection must not be pure actionism. Particularly in the case of offset projects, it is important that the associated infrastructure is also sustainably strengthened so that the climate protection projects can also be maintained in the long term by the local population.
For this reason, we only invest in projects that fulfill at least 5 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations.
In the second quarter, we already supported the construction of a 22.5 megawatt wind power plant in the state of Rajasthan in India (on the border with Pakistan). Our local partner is Orange Renewable Power Pvt Ltd, an operator of wind turbines and solar parks. Unfortunately, the project is not yet fully financed, which is why we want to support the project again. Wind and solar power are in our eyes extremely important helpers for the energy transition. The project fulfills five Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations:
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- Goal 3 Health and well-being:
Ensure a healthy life for all people of all ages and promote their well-being
The total of 450 students of the Sr. Higher Secondary School in the village of Rampuriya benefit from the construction of two separate toilet blocks for boys and girls.Our project partner is involved in various projects. Among other things, in the treatment of sick people, education and cancer prevention, e.g. through the construction of medical camps.
- Goal 4 Quality education :
Ensure inclusive, equitable and quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.Distribution of essential school equipment to Sr. Higher Secondary School in Rampuriya village, benefiting over 150 children. Bicycles will also be distributed to 30 schoolgirls to improve mobility.
- Goal 6 Clean water and sanitation
Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for allA bore well with submersible pump and a water storage tank will be constructed at Sr. Secondary School Ambirama to provide a safe source of water for drinking and domestic purposes (cooking, washing and sanitation) for over 850 students and the local community. A 500-meter water pipeline will be laid to provide safe and clean water to 100 girls in a government-run hostel to support the education of tribal girls in Pratapgarh district in the tribal region of Rajasthan. Also provided are two water tanks to store water.
A water tank and water treatment plant will be installed at Devgarh Police Station and Salamgarh Police Station, which will provide easy access to clean and safe drinking water, benefiting employees and the public.
- Goal 8 Decent work and economic growth
Promote lasting, broad-based and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for allThis project created permanent jobs for 88 people (including security personnel, supervisors, and engineers), 55 of whom were hired locally.
- Goal 13 Climate protection measures
Take immediate action to combat climate change and its effects.Â
While the construction of the wind farm is in itself a climate protection measure, additional trees will be planted. Tree planting campaigns will be held regularly at schools, substations and public places to create awareness of environmental protection.The offsetting of our rugged computers takes place directly after receipt of goods and not with the sale. As soon as we have the final shipping weights, the emissions generated by these devices are offset with the next billing period. In doing so, we try to strike a balance between short delivery times and only producing as much as is needed. For shipping to our customers, we usually choose DHL GoGreen shipping, which is also fully CO2 compensated.
Progress
WEROCK is now a certified member of Leaders for Climate Action, which is committed to positive development in the area of environmental protection. Of course, WEROCK also stands for the demands of Entrepreneurs4Future.
Setbacks
The component shortage around electronic components remains tense and at the same time new difficulties are emerging. International logistics prices and delivery times are skyrocketing, as are component prices (at least of those components that are available). Especially the sea route is a disaster and will probably remain so until Q4/2023 according to Schenker’s info, which has significant influences on the worldwide flow of goods itself – even outside of sea freight.
In the past, Belarus has threatened to block the movement of goods between Germany and China due to political differences, as far as the movement of goods by train is concerned. This is not a big deal for us, as the transit times for rail freight are now just as high as for sea freight – in short, completely unacceptable for our projects at the moment.
But that’s not enough trouble on our hands: because China’s power plants are not getting enough coal, power outages are becoming more frequent. One of our manufacturers has already had to use diesel generators to keep his factory running in order not to endanger production itself.
Outlook
For the fourth quarter, we expect a slight decrease in emissions. This is due to the fact that many projects have already been postponed to next year and our headcount is currently lower.
Our goal in the future is to only support projects with at least 8 of the SDG targets, but this needs to be further weighed economically.
We are currently working on our first factory audit with our suppliers, evaluating the production process as a whole also with the surrounding factors (social responsibility towards employees, charitable activities, waste management, etc). Here it is already apparent that we will part with at least one supplier.
