Taking our climate commitments up a level

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Taking our climate commitments up a level

We’re reviewing every aspect of our business practices and product life cycles to find out where we can cut emissions, reach targets, reduce impact, and become a more sustainable company.

At Snickers Workwear, we develop long-lasting, functional garments. We know that our customers demand durable products that can sustain long hours of hard work, and this is also the cornerstone behind our sustainability work. Every product we make has an impact on the planet. The longer our workwear lasts, the less our environmental impact. High quality garments simply make sense, for us, our customers, and the planet. However, we know that as a manufacturing company, we have hard work ahead of us. This is why we are now taking our climate commitments to the next level by aligning our work with global standards and looking beyond our most immediate impact.

Working towards global goals
We are working hard to significantly decrease our carbon footprint in everything we do. Snickers Workwear is committed to contributing to the Paris Agreement, a UN framework aiming at limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees. Our climate targets are in line with science and the 1.5-degree pathway.

Measuring our climate impact
To understand the full extent of our carbon footprint, we calculate emissions using the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol. This is a widely used method for identifying and categorising emissions into three different scopes, which allows us to measure and manage emissions from our own operations, as well as from our value chain. Scope 1 encompasses direct emissions from sources under our control, such as company vehicles. Scope 2 emissions are produced by the energy we purchase. Together, these two categories only make up about 1% of our carbon footprint. The remaining 99% can be found in scope 3, which covers the indirect emissions released throughout our value chain.

Scope 3 emissions commonly appear outside of our direct control. In order to reduce our value chain impact, we need to collaborate with stakeholders and understand the entire life cycle impact of our garments. To gain this knowledge, we have teamed up with the Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE).

Understanding the life cycle of our products
To understand where emissions occur, we performed Life Cycle Assessments on six products that equal roughly a quarter of our turnover. The results show where we should focus in order to reduce our carbon footprint, including our scope 3 impact. Our workwear is always designed with our core customer in mind, created to last, through heavy wear and tear. Durable workwear, with a longer life span, is the foundation for our success and how we can play a role in decreasing the consumption of material and energy use. Reliable, lasting products is our way of honouring both customers and the environment.

High quality workwear, worn by those who have learned how to look after it, last longer. Use phase and end of life equals 15-20% of our garments’ life cycle impact, which can be reduced through collaboration and communication. For example, if consumers refrain from tumble drying our workwear, the total life cycle impact can decrease by roughly 4%. This is why we recommend air drying for most garments - every step from cradle to grave adds up, and makes a difference.

Partners for the future
With the majority of our emissions located in scope 3, collaboration with stakeholders in our value chain is key to reducing our carbon footprint. The RISE analysis shows that if suppliers and manufacturers switch to solar power from the standard national country energy mix, climate impact would be reduced with about 30% per kilo of fabric. For the assessed garments, this activity alone would lead to a 10% reduction of the total life cycle impact. By encouraging improvements in energy efficiency and greater shares of renewable energy in our supply chain, we can significantly decrease the impact of our products.

In 2019, Snickers Workwear entered the Swedish Textile Initiative for Climate Action (STICA), a platform for collaboration and knowledge sharing within the Nordic textile industry. As a member, our aim is to position the region as the first climate positive clothing and textile industry in the world.

Encouraged by our customers, employees, and owners, we are looking at every aspect of our business to find out where we can cut emissions and become a more sustainable company. Snickers Workwear has set climate targets in line with science and the 1.5-degree pathway of the Paris Agreement in all three scopes of the GHG protocol. We are facing quite a challenge. We don’t have all the answers, but by working together, we can make a real difference.