Becoming carbon neutral

Based on the methodology described in the previous section, we have estimated our total emissions and have identified four main levers that drive our emissions:

• Products & Components - covering the emissions embedded in the materials, components and products that we offer.
• Travel - the emissions generated by our business travels.
• Logistics - covering inbound logistics for our raw materials, components and finished products plus the distribution of our products to our customers.
• Own sites & Operations - made up of a range of contributions such as onsite energy consumption, consultancy services, facility maintenance, tools, hardware, and office equipment.

Our total carbon footprint in 2019 was estimated to be 69 kilotonnes CO2e. Our efforts to reduce our emissions will be shaped around these levers and are detailed on the following pages.

Laerdal is joining forces with several prominent companies across sectors to reduce CO2e emissions and to increase use of circular materials in the value chain. In doing so, we accept the challenge to:

• adopt targets to reduce CO2e emissions in a “science-based” manner so that they can be assessed by others and are in line with the level of decarbonization required to keep global temperature increase below 1.5°C compared to pre-industrial temperatures;
• set interim targets to be reached in the coming 1 to 5 years, not only a long-term target; and
• cover Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions.

Skiftnorge

Laerdal has joined Skiftnorge which is an initiative to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy and support the Norwegian Government in delivering on its national climate commitments by 2030.

Achieving our ambitions will take time and require systematic and long-term efforts. We will initiate and fund projects within four levers -Products and components, Logistics, Travel and Own sites and operations - every year during the next ten years to enable us to reach our targets. The results will be achieved based on our ability to mobilize all employees to work throughout the entire value chain to identify opportunities for improvements so that we can accelerate the impact we have for a more sustainable future.

We will reduce emissions from our products and components from thirty-three to eleven thousand tons of CO2e per year by 2030.

These reductions will be achieved by initiatives undertaken at our manufacturing sites as well as in cooperation with suppliers in our value chain.

By introducing more recycled and bio-based mate-rial into our products we will achieve a reduction in both CO2e emissions and usage of raw materials. As we transition to using more circular and shared user models, complemented by digital solutions, we will see a decrease in resources and energy needed and, at the same time, an increase in usage of our solutions. Ultimately, we will be helping save more lives using less resources.

Starting now, we will plan for solutions internally with total emissions in mind and will work with partners that share our commitment to achieve an overall reduction in emissions.

We will reduce our emission from travel from eight to five thousand tons of CO2e per year by 2030.

We believe in being close to our customers and some travelling is necessary. However, we need to be smarter in how we optimize these contacts.

With the increased digital communication necessary during the time affected by COVID-19, we have developed our digital software and skills. With customers and partners, we see this as an opportunity to continue a transition to a more digi-tal-based sales and communication system on an ongoing basis.

Our current estimates show that in 2030 we will be generating 21 kilotonnes of CO2e emissions that will need to be offset.

Currently, the most promising carbon capture tech-nology is the approach of planting trees. Research shows that ten years after planting, an average tree will absorb about 21kg of CO2e per year from the atmosphere.

This means that one million trees planted within 2021 will offset the potential residual emissions of 21 kilotonnes CO2e per year from 2031 onwards.

We will by mid-2021 investigate if further emission reductions can be achieved and other solutions for removing our emissions from the atmosphere, but we are now planning for offsetting the current esti-mated residual emissions by planting one million trees.

Carbon reduction initiatives in different functions

The carbon reduction program goes across all units in Laerdal, and many initiatives are underway or will be started shortly. Some are based on specific plans others based on developments in the market. In dialogue with 3 corporate leaders we learnt their perspective on the situation: