For Ficosa, Zero Emissions Day is Every Day

It’s hard to believe, but a sight that most of us see every day was the catalyst for Zero Emissions Day.

In the 1980s, activist Ken Wallace was walking with his daughter outside his home in Nova Scotia and noticed all the idling vehicles sitting on the roads. This started an idea for a zero emissions day, but it wasn’t until 2008 that Wallace began seriously promoting the idea and named September 21st as Zero Emissions Day.

For companies like Ficosa, the idea of having zero emissions every day is a goal that we don’t take lightly. Our commitment to the environment is a key mission of Ficosa’s long-term development, even as we celebrate Zero Emissions Day this coming weekend.

Zero Emissions

Ficosa is working to reduce the carbon emissions associated with our manufacturing processes and throughout our supply chain with the goal of Net Zero emissions for Scopes 1 and 2 by 2030 and Scope 3 by 2050.

Scope 1 emissions refer to direct emissions from sources that are owned by a company and Scope 2 emissions are indirect emissions generated from purchased energy, like electricity. Scope 3 are emissions indirectly generated by the business and are the hardest to achieve.

We have also committed to setting near-term companywide emission reductions in line with the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi).

We have a plan in place to meet Wallace’s vision to “give the planet an emissions break” and are moving ahead with this initiative.

Energy Efficiency

In addition to our plans for Net Zero emissions, we have also begun the installation of photovoltaic panels on many of our plants to turn solar power into usable energy.

Right now, we have added solar panels to the roofs of our plants in Taicang, China, and in Maia, Portugal, and we will soon have these panels online at our Soria, Spain, plant. We also have plans to put up solar panels at nine of our 16 plants by 2025.

These panels provide 2% of the company’s total energy demand.

We are also purchasing green energy, and 100% of the electricity used at five of our plants comes from renewable sources. That means that 34% of the company’s total consumption comes from renewable sources.

Carbon Disclosure

Finally, in an effort to provide transparency for our environmental actions, we report our impact on climate change through the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), a global, nonprofit organization that runs the world’s leading environmental disclosure campaign.

CDP encourages governments and private companies to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, safeguard water resources and protect forests.

Sustainable Products

We also invest in research and development to improve the efficiency of electric vehicle batteries. We want to reduce the complexity and develop new generations of battery management systems and on-board chargers.

Reducing transport emissions is a key part of any strategy to combat climate change.

Ficosa hopes that other countries in Europe, the Americas and Asia join us in efforts to protect the environment and in celebrating Zero Emissions Day every day.