Aku takes a step forward in the search for production solutions to reduce its climate impact by achieving an outdoor footwear industry-first CO2 emissions calculation certification.

Aku feels it is a part of a single ecosystem, both socially and environmentally. It also feels responsible for its balance. It is on the basis of this principle that for some time the company has been organizing and managing its production policies on the one hand and its relations with the social environment on the other, preferring the term “responsibility” instead of the now abused concept of “sustainability.”

CO2 emissions calculation certified

“The certification of the process for calculating the level of CO2 emissions of our models is the new important milestone achieved with an analysis that required almost two years of commitment and involved the entire supply chain,” declared Giulio Piccin, Product & CSR Manager of Aku.

“It is the confirmation of a commitment” continues Piccin, “that our company has been carrying out for a long time, even in the face of important investments and which has produced exclusive and absolutely significant results in the outdoor footwear industry, such as the Declaration of Environmental Impact for the Bellamont Plus model, the first outdoor footwear to publish the survey data on the Environdec website in 2017 and the Minima project, footwear conceived according to the logic of the circular economy, awarded at ISPO 2020 with the ISPO Award Gold.”

With regard to the calculation of CO2, Aku is now aiming even higher with the aim of calculating and certifying the level of emissions of the entire life cycle of the product and, consequently, being able to decide how to behave in order to concretely reduce these emissions and strive to climate neutrality. In fact, initiatives are already in the application phase that allow Aku to improve the performance of the production cycle in terms of emissions, according to a logic that for the future should guide the action of all industrial entities that are truly sensitive to the issue of environmental emergency. The best example is that of the Bellamont Plus model, for which a reduction in the level of emissions equal to 12% is already certain today compared to 2017, the year in which the Environmental Impact Declaration was certified.

Business in the context of environmental emergency

At issue is the environmental emergency, which is closely connected to climate change and the effects of which are gradually being defined in an ever clearer way on the front of scientific research. It is precisely for this reason that Aku has long supported initiatives such as the ICE MEMORY project for the protection of the climatic memory contained in alpine glaciers and beyond, threatened by global warming. Scientific research, government works and environmental reorganization are, however, only some of the aspects of Aku’s commitment in terms of ecosystem balance.

“We are internally committed to reviewing our levels of consumption of raw energy, for example,” explains Piccin, who continues:

“Intervening on the efficiency of the systems, as in the case of traditional light sources, now completely replaced by latest generation LED lighting fixtures that made it possible to reduce consumption and related emissions by over 70% compared to normal company needs.”

To respond to a growing demand for responsible action formulated by the best specialized outdoor distribution in Europe, the commitment does not stop at the level of design and product research and development..

“An increasing number of positions taken on this issue by independent brands are being defined, which sometimes aggregate in the form of an alliance, to establish real rules for access to the outdoor market based on a real and proven environmental commitment by industry ”explains Vittorio Forato, Aku marketing manager.

“To this is added the regulatory evolution on a global scale, increasingly centered on the objectives of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development, which will determine ever greater obligations on production companies, with respect to which it is necessary to be aware, prepared and willing to invest.”

To learn more about Aku’s efforts to take responsibility for its climate impacts, check out its latest video below.

Photos: Uri Golman and Helle Olsen/Aku