How is CO2 produced and why is it so dangerous?

Climate researchers agree: the more greenhouse gases (CO2, methane, nitrous oxide, etc.) are produced, the warmer the earth becomes – an effect of climate change. If these greenhouse gases increase, e.g. through emissions caused by humans, we speak of the so-called anthropogenic greenhouse effect. Carbon dioxide (CO2 in short) is produced, for example, by the combustion of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas. In other words, mainly in the areas of heating, electricity, mobility and food. Per capita consumption in Germany is around 10.4 tonnes (the global average is around five tonnes). Extreme weather conditions such as droughts, heatwaves, heavy rainfall, floods and landslides but also rising sea levels, acidifying oceans and less biodiversity are the consequences of rapidly changing climatic conditions.

What is climate neutrality?

Climate neutrality means establishing a balance between carbon emissions and the absorption of carbon from the atmosphere into carbon sinks such as soils, forests and oceans. In everyday life, however, climate neutrality is usually simply understood to mean that activities or products do not cause greenhouse gas emissions, i.e. do not pollute the climate.

However, since very few activities or products can completely prevent climate-damaging greenhouse gases, the trend today is to save the gases already emitted elsewhere, i.e. to compensate for them. Offsetting means: a certain amount of greenhouse gases is emitted, for example, during the production of a jacket. In a climate protection project, emissions are avoided elsewhere with at least the same climate impact. In sum, global greenhouse gas emissions, therefore, remain the same – the gases emitted are “offset”.

After all, it does not matter to the climate where greenhouse gases enter the atmosphere and where they are reduced. All that matters is that global emissions decrease overall. Therefore, a company can become almost completely “climate neutral” by supporting international climate protection projects. This possibility has been legitimised by politicians through the adoption of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol.

Is Sympatex climate neutral?

Anyone who buys climate-neutral products therefore makes a concrete contribution to climate protection. This is why Sympatex has also decided to offset all CO2 emissions that inevitably occur in the process chain of manufacturing our products. We work together with ClimatePartner for this purpose and offset our CO2 emissions through various climate protection projects, such as forest protection in the Kasigau Wildlife Corridor in Kenya. Many of our brand partners, including Vaude, Ziener, Zanier and bleed organic clothing, also opt for climate protection through CO2 compensation and create climate-neutral products and collections. This is how our brand partner bleed organic clothing succeeded in developing the world’s first completely climate-neutral and fully recycled outdoor jacket. And our brand partner Ziener is launching the first climate-neutral ski glove collection Ex4 this year, which is also made from recycled materials and completely PFC-free.

How can I save CO2 and live more climate-neutral?

If you want to reduce your personal CO2 footprint, you should not only buy climate-neutral products but inevitably also ask yourself a few questions:

– Which electricity do I use?
– How often do I use cars?
– How do I heat?
– What food do I consume?

After all, it is the everyday things that ultimately make the difference. Around 21 per cent of CO2 emissions in Germany are attributable to our mobility. So if you want to do something for your climate balance, you should switch to public transport or cycling for short distances and check your car driving habits.