SBRS GmbH is Climate Neutral

SBRS GmbH, or rather two of its senior employees, were nominated for the German Environmental Award in 2021, primarily thanks to the SBRS business model. All of the projects we have realised are sustainable, both when refurbishing trains and in the field of electro mobility. It goes without saying that we use green electricity at the company’s site.

Although it is very difficult to avoid CO2 emissions altogether, because for instance the supply of materials needs to be guaranteed and the employees have to somehow get to work, we succeeded in achieving climate neutrality this year!

In order to assess CO2 emissions, the various scope levels need to be considered. CO2 emissions are divided into three categories:

• Scope 1: Direct emissions
• Scope 2: Indirect emissions from energy sources
• Scope 3: Indirect emissions due to the use of services, business travel.

Many companies initially focus on scopes 1 and 2, even though these CO2– emissions – depending on the company – account for less than 50% of the total emissions; scope 3 is therefore clearly the most significant.

It is not easy to draw up a CO2– balance for any particular company. We use the ecocockpit tool issued by the Effizienz-Agentur NRW. This tool is well structured and shows very quickly and most impressively, which of the issues are having a negative impact.

Direct emissions (scope 1) at SBRS are primarily the result of company vehicles.

At our site, electricity is drawn from renewable sources, so in this case no contribution can be booked to scope 2. In terms of C02 emissions, the district heating system we use was our best choice; however, C02 it still accounts for a significant proportion of the CO2 balance.

The largest contribution, and the most difficult to determine, comes from scope 3, where flights, especially over long distances, have the greatest impact We are currently working on a project in Mexico, for which our employees have to be on site and therefore need to use air travel. The net result of our employees commuting to our location in Dinslaken is not CO2 neutral either, as already mentioned above; however “home office mode” has had a positive impact on this in 2021.

In summary, the following picture emerges for the year 2021 (conservatively extrapolated and including a safety factor of 10 %): a total of 385 t of CO2 was produced. Scope 3 accounts for the largest proportion at just under 60 %. Further analysis also shows that the movement of employees and goods (including travel and transportation to distant countries) accounts for about 60 % of emissions. We must move to make incremental savings in this area. Without electric mobility and the increased use of emission-free public transportation, this can hardly be achieved. In order to achieve climate neutrality for scopes 1, 2 and 3 in 2021, SBRS will offset a total of 400 t of CO2 by donating to certified environmental projects, which is 4% more than was calculated. In this context, we have chosen a forest protection project in Brazil, run by the ClimatePartner organisation. All of our employees can be justifiably proud – as part of the team, they have all been making their contributions. Moreover, how many people can say that they work at a climate-neutral company today? Our ecological balance was independently audited by innowise GmbH. Now our goals for 2022 are clear-cut: a reduction of greenhouse gases through our own initiatives and endeavours, in addition to achieving an audited ecological balance according to DIN EN ISO 14040/14044.