When aiming for climate friendliness, the first priority should always be to reduce one's own emissions. Only when all avoidable emissions have been reduced can compensation of CO₂ emissions be considered. Below you will find various options for reduction.
CO₂ in beverages harmful to the climate?
The CO₂ used in beverages is either of fossil origin or a by-product created in production and reused. For example, in brewing beer or in manufacturing processes in industry.
Companies therefore often use the CO₂ generated during the beer brewing process to produce other carbonated beverages such as soda pop and the like. This reduces CO₂ emissions compared with beverages containing carbon dioxide from fossil sources. In addition, CO₂ is released again after a long period of storage.
In all this, however, it is important to bear in mind: On average, every German drinks 2 liters of mineral water per day, which, extrapolated to around 80 million inhabitants, corresponds to around 6,424 tons of CO₂ per year and thus 80.3 g of CO₂ per inhabitant per year. This is equivalent to a trip of 0.5 km in a small passenger car.
Away from disposable, toward reusable bottles
With regard to the type of packaging, long-term preference should be given to reusable or packaging-free alternatives. While disposable bottles are only used once and then recycled, reusable PET bottles can be reused up to 25 times. Returnable glass bottles can even be recycled up to 50 times.
If there is no reusable solution, care should be taken to ensure that the recycled content of the single-use bottles is as high as possible.
Making production and supply chains efficient
The biggest CO₂ emission sources for beverages are and remain production and logistics routes. As far as supply chains are concerned, there is enormous potential for saving greenhouse gases - provided that all suppliers pay attention to this. Transparency remains the be-all and end-all here in order to ultimately find digital solutions for greater efficiency and ultimately minimize the impact on the climate as much as possible.
Repositioning mobility
Looking at in-house mobility is and remains important as well, and not just in terms of supply chains. To reduce CO₂, there is also the option of switching to electric vehicles as company cars. But rail transport instead of truck use is also an alternative that can save several tons of CO₂.
Ultimately, the following always applies on the path to climate friendliness: Emissions that are unavoidable should be offset in the next step. Our CO₂ calculator makes it quick and easy to offset fleet and other emissions.