Muotek, a manufacturer and importer of plastic products, can calculate the carbon footprint of its entire product portfolio using a carbon footprint calculator developed by OpenCO2net. If a customer is interested in the carbon footprint of a product or an entire order, the result is just a few keystrokes and clicks away.

Muotek is a Finnish family-owned company that manufactures and imports technical plastic products. Its customers include furniture and special furniture manufacturers, equipment manufacturers and companies in the metal and electronics industries.

Muotek wanted to make the carbon footprint of its products visible to its customers. The idea of acting on climate change had been around for a few years. The final impetus to start the project came from a customer who asked about the product's climate emissions.

"We thought, oh no, we don't know how to respond to this.” With the help of Google, we found OpenCO2net," says Anni Latvala, Muotek's order coordinator, who was responsible for the project.

The teams from Muotek and OpenCO2net sat around a table to design an implementation that would best serve Muotek and its customers. The result was a customized calculator tailored to Muotek's needs, enabling it to calculate the carbon footprint of its entire product portfolio quickly, reliably and cost-effectively. The calculator is based on the ISO 14 067 product accounting standard and takes into account Muotek's entire value chain.

"We are able to provide the customer with an accurate calculation of the carbon footprint of the entire order, including packaging materials and shipping. The calculator also allows us to optimize the emissions from the shipment itself," says Marjut Mäkinen, CEO of Muotek.

The power of foresight

Although regulations do not obligate Muotek to calculate its own carbon footprint or that of its products, foresight is Muotek's tactic. Mäkinen and Latvala have found that many operators have started to think about the emissions from their supply chains and the demand for emissions data has increased throughout the supply chain.

"Things got done before they had to be done," says Mäkinen.  "We would probably be in a bit of trouble soon if we didn't have the calculator," continues Latvala.

Even before the project started, Muotek has been active in reducing its impact on the environment; the factory uses solar power and cardboard boxes in which raw materials or other commodities have been delivered to Muotek are used as packaging material again. Some of the plastic purchased is also recycled and the company efficiently recycles its own production drains and defective products, using them again as raw material after shredding.

The next steps are already clear; Muotek's plan is to calculate the carbon footprint of the entire company.

"This is also a good starting point for thinking about reducing the carbon footprint of products, as we have a tool that makes the data visible," concludes Mäkinen.