How we store around 10 tonnes of CO2 per year

A European report based on satellite data from the Copernicus Earth observation programme calculated record emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) in 2022. 2022 was also the second warmest year ever in Europe, with the hottest summer on record and a record number of days of sunshine, but also an unprecedented number of days of 'extreme heat stress', drought, limited rainfall, dwindling ice stocks, wildfires, ...

The need for more action is only increasing. Adaptation, adapting to life in a changing climate, and mitigation, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, are the 2 avenues we must continue to pursue.

For adaptation, monitoring is crucial. Earth observation and Copernicus play a crucial role in this. It gives experts and scientists the source data to better and better estimate what awaits us where. A good example of this is Climate Scale.

In terms of mitigation, Europe is going for a pioneering role:

• A large majority of member states recently approved Europe's most ambitious climate laws ever. "Fit for 55" aims to ensure that European carbon emissions are reduced by 55 per cent by 2030. The target is legally binding because inscribed in the climate law that requires Europe to be climate neutral by 2050.
• In the future, the European Parliament will ban companies from placing on the EU market products linked to deforestation or forest degradation, or that have been produced illegally (EU Deforestation Regulation, EUDR for short).

Hopefully, Flanders and Belgium will fully support this as well. After all, we are world leaders when it comes to the technology that will be needed to start monitoring these things as well.

And what can we do ourselves at the level of the individual or company?

At Nazka, we make some very conscious choices. For instance, our office is very accessible, close to the centre of Leuven and the railway station. We don't believe in company cars but we do believe in sustainable commuting and motivate the use of bicycle or public transport, also for service trips. Even the cleaning help comes with all the cleaning equipment on a cargo bike. Our energy in the office is supplied exclusively with green electricity.

As an IT company active in the cloud, we also consider the impact we have through our (m)apps that run in the cloud. With the help of tools like Climatiq.io, we calculated that our applications cause emissions of around 500 - 1000 CO2 kg/year.

In 2021, we therefore decided to actively offset our emissions ourselves. We chose to plant trees every month. Trees succeed in absorbing around 10 - 40 kg of CO2 per year. Recent studies also show that tropical forests recovering from deforestation and forest degradation are already successfully combating a quarter of current carbon emissions. This shows that, in addition to preserving old-growth forests, we must also fully engage in forest restoration.

Nazka now plants 384 trees a year

We found the ideal partner for this with GoForest. GoForest develops projects on reforestation, agroforestry and mangroves. This way, they provide our planet with new trees, planting and maintaining the right trees in the right regions. They also ensure that tree planting and maintenance help local communities earn a living and create additional jobs.

Through a monthly subscription with GoForest, Nazka now plants 384 trees a year, good for about 10,000 kg of CO2 storage per year. We do this, worthy of our name, in Peru, with the aim of restoring Amazonian forests by supporting social forestry. This not only restores forests, but also works to improve the quality of life of local communities.