Sustainable Bottom Line Bornholm provided important insight
After a three-year process, it is time to say goodbye to the comprehensive Sustainable Bottom Line Bornholm project.
After a project period lasting five years, Bæredygtig Bundlinje Bornholm (BBB) is signing off with valuable experience.
Close to 50 companies have participated and have been given the opportunity to apply for investment support, based on the green business model developed in Sustainable Bottom Line Bornholm.
After three successful years, Business Center Bornholm's senior business consultant Travis Lind Thornton and project manager of BBB are now taking stock of the process:
”Around 50 companies have taken part in BBB. It has given companies a new business plan – a green business plan – with a deeper insight into business operations and processes, with a special focus on sustainable concepts. All companies have had experts, within various fields, take a thorough look inside each company's engine room, to collect data and knowledge that the companies have used in their green business plan,” he says. The participating companies have been of a mixed nature – from hotels and guesthouses to machinery-heavy manufacturing companies. In other words, a cross-section of industries with wildly differing needs, but with an identical green focus.
”Some businesses have changed their processes, their communication, or packaging, whilst others have identified a specific machine they can purchase to optimise their energy consumption. All businesses have a green business plan and an understanding of what it means to run towards a sustainable bottom line and how it can be realised,” explains Travis Lind Thornton.
The project has therefore had a dual-track aim: climate considerations on the one hand and the bottom line on the other.
”The participating Bornholm businesses have learned through the process that you can be both sustainable and profitable. Once you see what is possible, and what the various sustainable elements mean in purely practical terms, it is simply the ”sensible choice” to get them implemented. A more optimal and efficient business means you save money and the environment at the same time, says Travis Lind Thornton.
Goodbye to Sustainable Bottom Line Bornholm – what now, Travis Lind Thornton?
”Climate transformation and green transition continue to be incredibly important for businesses on Bornholm, and we obviously want to support them in this both through guidance and workshops, but also through new strategic initiatives. It is complex to navigate, so there is a need for support, but our role is also to ensure a continued focus on the area, as one otherwise very quickly gets consumed by daily operations. Climate transformation and green business models should ideally become an ongoing part of a company, both at the operational level and strategically.”
Miccom DeSign & Creations has influenced the design and signage industry since 1990 and made the journey from hand-painted solutions to digital graphics, design and large-scale production. To constantly keep pace with development, they have now chosen to focus more on the green transition.
Miccom, with its base and production at Nexø Harbour, wishes to invest in a machine that can help minimise the extent of waste in the manufacturing of signs in various materials. Among other things, the residual products are to be transformed into creative games and other elements in their other business, Charlies Room.
And this is where Sustainable Bottom Line Bornholm (BBB) enters the picture. Miccom had been considering a green transition, and when they were presented with BBB's opportunities in the summer, things moved fast.
”In our industry there isn't much talk about the green transition, says Miccom's founder and creative director Michael Holm-Nielsen.
”But we have long talked about that possibility also because we have a desire to be a first mover in that area, and when BBB then came into the picture, it was just a matter of acting on it.”
In addition, through BBB, Miccom has participated in various workshops with the aim of pioneering green thinking and sustainability.
”Green transition is not just something you turn up to and do on a Monday morning. So it has been both educational, but also healthy for us as a company to examine our workflows, be challenged on them and rethink them. Also from a marketing perspective. It has actually meant that by changing our methods of production, we have become self-sufficient in parts of our production, says Michael Holm-Nielsen.
Close to the target of 100 %
Lehnsgaard Rapsolie A/S has been involved since the beginning of Sustainable Bottom Line Bornholm (BBB). A particular focus point for Lehnsgaard Rapsolie was to gain a better understanding of the company's CO2 emissions and climate footprint, explains co-owner and director Henrik Hansen.
”We knew in advance that we weren't emitting very much CO2, because we've spent a lot of time making the company eco-friendly from the beginning. We were curious nonetheless whether there was more to be gained.”
Among the nearly 50 companies taking part in the BBB, there have, of course, been widely varying needs, day-to-day operations and work processes. So, after a couple of introductory, wide-ranging workshops, Henrik Hansen and his team, with the help of the consultant, enlisted the consultancy firm Cowi to delve into the production process and products. The aim is to become 100 % carbon neutral, and Lehnsgaard is close to this target with a figure of 99.91 %.
”I don't think there are many companies on Bornholm that have a person employed solely to delve into CO2 emissions and carbon footprints, because in manufacturing companies you often wear all the hats. So it is naturally a help and inspiring to have expert assistance.”
In addition, Lehnsgaard had an energy audit carried out by the local authority, but no red flags were raised. Henrik Hansen also explains that tough and carefully considered decisions have been made in order to achieve the nearly 100 %.
”I have spent many evenings calculating, investigating, measuring and recording. We have 60 kWh of solar panels on the roof, our energy purchases are certified green, and all heating is done using waste products such as stalks and leaves from our rapeseed production,” he says. But other elements in the production chain have also been overhauled.
”We have weighed every single bottle, calculated transport relative to the place of production, and got right down to micro-details such as the weight of the bottles” aluminium caps, as well as switching to a label manufacturer because our new Germany-based producer can recycle the silicone on the release paper that the labels are on when we receive them. And if you really want to comb through every nook and cranny and check the maths, it helps to have a helping hand.”
