Climate protection: less CO2

In its 2022 Global Risks Report, the World Economic Forum classified global warming as humanity’s greatest existential risk with the highest probability of occurrence.
The textile industry is responsible for approx. 8% of the total CO2 emissions worldwide – an increase of 35% in the last ten years alone. That makes our industry the second dirtiest in the world (with higher CO2 emissions than all ship and air traffic combined or the entire EU). Unless we act, this will have doubled by 2030. For Sympatex, this means that we must work together as an industry to bring about change.

Our journey to being 100% climate neutral:

  1. 2017 – 2030: 45% reduction in greenhouse gases
  2. 2025: 50% of the remaining Scope 1 – 3 emissions offset
  3. 2030: Sympatex is climate neutral

With our climate-neutral membranes and laminates, we are fighting back against the climate crisis. Thanks to the energy-saving manufacturing process, Sympatex membrane already boasts a significantly lower CO2 footprint than other membrane materials (e.g. PTFE). Through our continued efforts to improve our production processes and, for example, using bio-based, recycled plastics instead of new plastics, we have already significantly reduced our carbon footprint over the last few years. To be completely climate neutral, we have been offsetting the remaining CO2 through internationally certified climate protection projects in partnership with ClimatePartner since 2017. We therefore fulfil the requirements of the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change). Our next goal is to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions across the entire supply chain (Scopes 1 – 3) by 2030.

In addition to calculating the product carbon footprint for our membranes and laminates, we also calculate our annual corporate carbon footprint. As a result of this, we switched our entire company over to using green electricity in 2019 and we are gradually replacing our fleet of vehicles with electric vehicles.

As a signatory and an active participant in the development of the Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action, we are committed to continuously reducing harmful greenhouse gases across the entire textile supply chain and achieving net zero emissions by 2050. The charter was launched at COP24, the world climate conference held in Poland in 2018. It consists of a list of minimal targets which representatives from the clothing industry have agreed on, under the direction of the UN, in order to curb this industry’s impact on the environment. The current charter is available here

We report annually on our impact on the climate. According to our CDP ranking, from the largest international reporting platform for greenhouse gas emissions data, Sympatex achieves a B-. This score means that we are above average globally for the textile industry. The aim of the CDP is to make environmental data transparent and accessible to all and to promote societal and economic change towards more environmentally friendly alternatives. In addition to calculating the product carbon footprint for our membranes and laminates, we also calculate our annual corporate carbon footprint. As a result of this, we switched our entire company over to using green electricity in 2019 and we are gradually replacing our fleet of vehicles with electric vehicles.

It doesn’t stop with us. Avoiding CO2 emissions and reducing them as much as possible is the main priority for Sympatex. That’s why we give our customers the opportunity to reduce their environmental impact to an unavoidable minimum. The remaining CO2 emissions can be offset with the support of climate protection projects. A real win-win for the environment, our customers and end users.