NL: Tesselaar Alstroemeria calculates CO2 footprint

Tesselaar Alstroemeria is using the EcoChain application to calculate its CO2 footprint. As the first alstroemeria grower in the Netherlands the company now knows of each flower species, 18 in total, how much CO2 is emitted in their production.

What does that mean exactly, to say "we know our CO2 footprint”? Can that be expressed in numbers, can that be connected with values? "Somewhat," Karolien van Tilburg tells. "The answer is ‘yes’ in the sense that it arrives at a number. We produce flower X with an emission of zero point so many grams of CO2 per m2. That is a value that is tangible on paper and in that sense we know which flower is the most durable and which is the least. But at the same time the figure itself means little, at least until now. In floriculture it is relatively new, to calculate your emissions. There are a number of companies in roses and in gerberas and that's it. There are no comparable data, so the numbers alone are difficult to interpret."

The calculation that is carried out, takes place on the basis of default values. In the production of a single cover an X amount of CO2 is released. In the heating of 1 m2 of greenhouse so much is emitted, so many hours of burning, so many consumed and / or purified liters of water, so many raw materials - CO2 is released by everything. Moreover, in EcoChain, that has been developed by Benefits of Nature, many standard figures are put in about (the production) of several kinds of compost, flower nutrition, machinery, etc.

If the calculation of your ‘footprint’ should be useful, then it is important that comparable data will become available, Karolien explains. "The market will benefit the most if we all produce as efficiently as possible. This really is a zero measurement, a benchmark. Where do we stand? The fun only comes, for example when a manufacturer of covers, of starting material and so on, reads that these default values are far too high in his opinion. If he then also calculates his footprint and can say: have a look, my cover is not or hardly more expensive, but has a smaller footprint, it will become interesting. Even better, after sending out the press release yesterday, we already have had a call from a cover supplier."

This way suppliers, but also transporters and buyers, are encouraged to get involved in sustainability. And that is necessary. Besides quality, the sustainability is increasingly deemed important by the customer, Rick Tesselaar also mentioned earlier. Therefore Tesselaar is pleased with the calculation. "It's also not the same as a quality label. To pay someone to examine you and who will say that you are doing well? I do not really believe so. But I am in favor of this kind of approach. This is much more like the customer himself walks in unexpectedly. So if it is up to us, this initiative will be replicated, so next year there will be 30 others who know their own footprint and we together we will get better."