Carbon handprint provides companies with fact-based information to support decision-making as well as the opportunity to communicate the positive climate impact of the company’s products and services.
At occasions or customer meetings whenever I mention carbon handprint the listeners seem intrigued. This is not surprising, as companies are constantly looking for new ways to communicate the excellence of their own products and services.
The Carbon handprint is a positive indicator. It can be used to compare your own low-emission product or activity with, for example, a market leader or your own conventional solution. Measuring a carbon handprint is simultaneously measuring the carbon footprint. For each carbon handprint, two carbon footprints must be calculated and compared: one for the handprint solution and one for the reference point.
The carbon footprint of a product or a service is fixed. In comparison the size of the carbon handprint may vary depending on the reference point. For example one product might replace two completely different products in different markets or the climate impact of the products energy use may vary between countries. The aim for a carbon footprint is to minimize it while for a handprint the aim is to maximize it.
Carbon handprint – 6 benefits for the company
When a company is planning a new, more climate-friendly business, carbon handprint is an excellent tool. Carbon handprint offers the company at least the following benefits:
- Carbon handprint is a measure that provides scientific information about the climate benefits of a company’s product or a service. This information can be utilized in information management as well as in sales and marketing.
- Increasing a positive carbon handprint is a more inspiring goal compared to reducing a carbon footprint. It is also more clearly linked to the company’s financial goals. A carbon footprint can be reduced to zero if the operations of the business are run down. But at the same time financial returns, jobs and the ability to develop something new are lost. In comparison the carbon handprint actually increases when a company succeeds in selling its low-emission products.
- The process of increasing a carbon handprint creates a cycle of positivity: research, development and new innovations are all needed to develop a product further. A climate-friendly product sells better. As the company’s revenue grows they can invest more in sales and marketing. This in turn will help to further increase sales and at the same time grow the positive carbon handprint.
- In order to determine a carbon handprint, the company must be aware of other solutions on the market. When reducing a company’s carbon footprint it is compared to the one from the year before. Where as with carbon handprint the previous one works as a baseline solution instead. For a company it is easier to monitor its own emissions rather than conducting a market analysis. As increasing a carbon handprint requires the company to follow the market and competitors, it also helps the company to identify and strengthen its own competitive advantage.
- If a company intends to invest in, for example, a new technology, determining the carbon handprint can strengthen the soundness of the investment decision. A positive carbon handprint can also increase credibility among investors.
- Reducing your own carbon footprint is rarely newsworthy. However, communicating the benefits of a new low-emission product can attract not only customers but also media attention. This gives the company visibility and free advertisement for its products.
If carbon footprint reduction was compared to gardening, it would be like weeding. It is undeniably useful, but does not actually create anything new. Growing a carbon handprint, in turn, could be compared to planting new plants. It requires more planning and background research, but the reward is growing prosperity.
*) Finland is a pioneer in the development of carbon handprint calculation methods. In 2018, VTT and LUT University published the first carbon handprint guide, which described a carbon handprint calculation method based on life cycle analysis (LCA). The updated Carbon Handprint Guide V 2.0 was published in spring 2021 and now the calculation method can be used not only for product-specific calculations but also for company- and project-specific calculations and for determining the environmental footprint.
