Sustainability is no longer a buzzword. It’s something we all have to deal with—whether we like it or not. For us at Combi Works, it’s been pushing its way higher and higher up the priority list. And now, we’ve taken a real step: we’ve completed our first full carbon footprint calculation.
Am I fully content with the results or the process? Not entirely. But that’s kind of the point. It’s a start.
Doing the math doesn’t suddenly make us sustainable. But it gives us the tools to make better decisions. It lets us start looking at our operations—sourcing, production, logistics—with a new lens: how can we reduce emissions, and what’s the real cost of doing that?
For years, sustainability often felt like a checkbox—something companies were expected to mention on a slide or slap on a product brochure. But that’s changed. It’s now a critical management topic. CEOs can’t afford to ignore it, and boards are rightly asking the uncomfortable questions.
The EU has taken a front seat in pushing this forward. With regulations like CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive) and CBAM (Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism), it’s no longer just about doing the right thing—it’s about staying compliant, staying competitive, and staying in business.
We’ve been pondering the right time to get serious about this. When to dig into the calculations, how to make sure they’re not just numbers for the sake of numbers. How to tie them to practice. What we’ve found is that once you have the data, you’re in a much better position to make grounded decisions—and that, in itself, gives you an edge. You stop guessing and start prioritising.
Some interesting insights came out of the calculations. For one, our internal operations—including our own factory—turned out to be a very minor part of the overall footprint. Logistics and transport? Also surprisingly minor in the bigger picture. Transport is of course essential, and we put a lot of effort into planning it well—but manufacturing itself is still where the heavy emissions lie, and where most of the long-term improvements will need to be positioned.
That might sound like good news, but it also shifts the spotlight elsewhere. And that’s where it gets tricky. Our business model is broader and more complex than your typical manufacturing company. Comparing our footprint to others is tough—it’s rarely apples to apples. Still, our overall carbon footprint came out looking fairly reasonable in comparison, at least where we could find relevant benchmarks.
The real value, though, came in helping us pinpoint where we can get the most bang for our buck in terms of improvements. That’s the kind of insight we’re thankful for. From a global perspective, it’s easy to jump to conclusions or get lost in the details. But sustainability shouldn’t be about chasing headlines or shallow wins—it should be about figuring out where the biggest improvements can be made with reasonable investments. That’s where the actual change happens.
And let’s be honest—this is something every CEO should be thinking about. Not just slapping on a green label, but actually digging into the numbers and asking:
What’s the impact? What are the trade-offs? And what are customers really willing to pay for when it comes to sustainability?
The best part of doing these calculations? They make your blind spots painfully obvious. That’s when you can start making changes that matter—not just what sounds good in a press release.
In the current global turmoil over tariffs, we remain committed to striving towards improvements. The first step on this path was doing our homework.
To follow our sustainability path, stay tuned to our Sustainability page here.
