Based on an extensive audit that identified Siemon's 2009 United States and Canada-based carbon emission sources and calculated the company's total carbon footprint using publicly available U.S. EPA data, Siemon recently announced that those operations have achieved carbon negativity. Balanced against the approximately 4,880 metric tons of CO2 emissions, the combination of 16,330 metric tons of carbon reductions and offsets brought Siemon's total U.S. and Canada carbon footprint figures to negative 11,450 metric tons, which is a carbon reduction more than 3.3 times larger than the comapny's actual carbon output.
The company's chief executive officer Carl Siemon said, "Just about every enterprise - specifically manufacturers like Siemon - will produce carbon. But our success proves that there are economical and effective ways to offset the impact of those emissions."
Siemon reached such carbon negativity through a program of environmental-improvement initiatives including the development of more-efficient and sustainable manufacturing processes; zero-landfill recycling; increased reliance on renewable energy sources such as solar power; and carbon offsets based on extensive forestland-conservation efforts.
The aforementioned audit focused on facility-level emissions within organizational boundaries as specified by ISO-14064-1, and included electricity and fossil-fuel usage-related CO2 output at the company's Watertown, CT global headquarters and manufacturing facility, as well as the effects of the facility's waste management programs. The audit also compiled fuel consumption for the company's U.S. and Canada auto fleet and air travel.
Siemon's carbon-reduction and sustainability programs were also analyzed using EPA data. According to the calculations, Branch Hill Farm, a 3,000-acre tree farm established and operated by the Siemon Company board of directors, as well as 900 metric tons of waste recycled at Siemon in 2009, and the company's clean solar energy system further reduced yearly carbon output by a combined 16,330 metric tons.
Carl Siemon says his company's approach to carbon-reduction is twofold. It adheres to longstanding continual-improvement policies that drive efficient manufacturing and business processes. Confident that carbon emissions were being reduced at the source, Siemon developed ways to cut further through better waste management, alternative fuels and offsets. The company is also working proactively with partners to identify areas where mutual improvements to upstream and downstream traffic can be made.
"We didn't set out to be carbon negative," Carol Siemon explained. "We just want to be as efficient and environmentally responsible as possible. Being carbon negative is the natural result of over 50 years of progressive environmental stewardship."
View Siemon's solar energy output activity in real time.