{"id":2198,"date":"2026-08-17T08:56:54","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T07:56:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digitaldots.info\/?p=2198"},"modified":"2026-08-17T08:56:56","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T07:56:56","slug":"calculating-environmental-footprints","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digitaldots.info\/?p=2198","title":{"rendered":"Calculating environmental footprints"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"\" The Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a sad fact that doing business these days involves a tremendous amount of admin. It\u2019s annoying but unavoidable that in the digital age, pretty much everything has to be accounted for. Whether it\u2019s proving your identity as a company director with the government or applying for support funding, providing the right documentation and reference data is unavoidable. And digital accountability creep is spreading to matters sustainability as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But finding the data for much of what today\u2019s business environment requires to confirm its sustainability credentials can be very hard. It can also be expensive depending on the type of data you need to get and who is providing it. Datasets can cover such things as your government\u2019s record on emissions, local recycling details and waste management. The probity and competence of the company offering environmental datasets can be an indicator of the data\u2019s reliability. But always get assurance of the data\u2019s high quality and that datasets are regularly updated. Plenty of service providers want to take your money, such as Datamaran<\/a> which offers ESG management software or Bright Data<\/a>, suppliers of web business datasets. If you\u2019re dubious, query the integrity of what you are being offered. Are you being offered primary or secondary datasets? What standards does the provider conform to? The ISO 8000 series<\/a> is all about data quality and assessment, so conformity with it is a good indicator. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It can all seem quite overwhelming, so for many small businesses in the printing sector it\u2019s often simpler to create your own dataset for the smaller stuff. Your energy and water providers can provide emissions and water quality data and have the resources to do this. You can measure how much energy and water you use by tracking utility bills over time. You can measure health risks by keeping a log of health related incidents. Spillages and accidents should also be recorded. This is the type of information that banks and insurance companies like to have when deciding on loans and premium rates. But it is also relevant if you are applying for financial support, say for instance to comply with legislation related to the European Union\u2019s Green Deal<\/a> and Circular Economy Action Plan<\/a>. You might also be asked questions relating to sustainability from your customers, especially if they are large enterprises doing business in the European Union.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can measure your production carbon footprints using ISO 16759<\/a> which is basically a carbon calculator for print runs. It helps you to measure materials and processes and at CH181 it\u2019s not expensive. You can get it from ISO.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a world where data is drowning us it\u2019s easy to lose sight of approaches to accountability that are simply effective and easy to do. Basic business records and systems management are inexpensive and they work. Calculating your environmental footprint isn\u2019t as hard as it seems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article was produced by the <\/em>Verdigris Project,<\/em><\/a> an industry initiative intended to raise awareness of print\u2019s positive environmental impact. This weekly commentary helps printing companies keep up to date with environmental standards, and how environmentally friendly business management can help improve their bottom lines. Verdigris is supported by the following companies: <\/em>Agfa Graphics<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>EFI<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>Fespa<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>Fujifilm<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>HP<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>Kodak<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>Miraclon<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>Ricoh<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>Unity Publishing<\/em><\/a> and <\/em>Xeikon<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Please also include the Verdigris logo and a link to this website. If you don\u2019t already have our logos, you can get them by downloading the <\/em>\u201cPublishers Bundle\u201d<\/em><\/a>. And don\u2019t forget terms of the Creative Commons license at the footer of the site. Enjoy!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner It\u2019s a sad fact that doing business these days involves a tremendous amount of admin. It\u2019s annoying but unavoidable that in the digital age, pretty much everything has to be accounted for. Whether it\u2019s proving your identity as a company director with the government or applying for support funding, … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t