Weidmuller is an electronic equipment and electrical connection company headquartered in Molde, Deutschland, and also a founding member of the “Estainium” new ecological network, whose responsibility is to determine the Carbon footprint of the supply chain and ensure that these data are disclosed in a safe manner.
Climate change is caused by excessive emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, which damage the Earth’s atmosphere and has become a major challenge of our time. The Carbon footprint has become an indicator to measure such impacts, aiming to help enterprises determine how many harmful greenhouse gases (such as carbon dioxide) they emit in the production process. However, the accounting of enterprises’ Carbon footprint actually has the following problems: Carbon footprint is not measured in a standardized way, and all links in the supply chain are not considered in the calculation. With the help of Estainium, an inter company cooperative ecological network, Weidmuller hopes to improve the accuracy of Carbon footprint accounting. In addition to Weidmuller, Estainium has 14 other founding members, including international enterprises such as Siemens, Japanese IT service provider NTT Data and German chemical and pharmaceutical company Merck, as well as industry giants such as T ∨ V S ü d (German Technical Supervision Association).
Estainium Association supports large-scale trading of Carbon footprint of actual products, including emissions generated by suppliers and their subcontractors. “In fact, most of the Carbon footprint is generated in the supply chain, and only a small part of it can be measured using traditional methods.” Volker Bibelhausen, spokesman of the board of directors and chief technology officer of Weidmuller, explained. To date, the Carbon footprint has generally been determined using averages. “Our industry can be carbon neutral only when we have a clear understanding of the link in which emissions are generated. Estainium can help us achieve transparency in the supply chain, so that we can work in an open ecosystem and have the power to control data. This ecological network will not only be open to our customers, partners, but also competitors. This is our enterprise’s contribution to creating a better future.” Bibelhausen said.
Only when members other than Siemens and Weidmuller are involved in Estainium will the entire project be successful, “emphasized Dr. Eberhard Niggmann, a member of the Estainium Board of Directors and Director of Public Affairs. He believes that this ecological network will develop rapidly. Many companies have shown strong interest. By the end of this year, Estainium is expected to have over 50 participating members, and there will be more in the future
Although Estainium initially focused on the Carbon footprint of carbon dioxide, in the long run, the association may expand other businesses. Volker Bibelhausen added, “In the future, Estainium may also be involved in areas such as water and energy consumption, or product recyclability calculations