Kvadrat CEO Anders Byriel discusses why the Danish textile producer is deliberately tackling sustainability "the hard way" in this exclusive interview.
The company sees itself as having a history of corporate responsibility ? but Byriel said he was taken aback after it signed up to the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTI) on reducing emissions in 2019.
"When we measured our footprint I [was] surprised ? I thought we were close to net-zero," he told Dezeen.
Anders Byriel is the CEO of Danish textile brand Kvadrat
Far from being net-zero, the brand found it was actually emitting 2,364 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year from direct company operations.
And that was just the tip of the iceberg. A staggering 98 per cent of Kvadrat's emissions occur in its supply chain ? known as scope three emissions ? outside of its direct control. One major contributor to the company's direct (scope one and two) emissions is the company fleet of vehicles. Kvadrat therefore has decided to replace all fossil-fuel based and even hybrid company cars in Denmark to an all-electric fleet in 2024.
Kvadrat aims to replace all man-made plastic in its products with recycled plastic
It is also considering adopting the same standard in countries with well-established electric-vehicle infrastructure as it seeks to halve its direct emissions by 2026.
Meanwhile, the company's biggest sustainability challenge is persuading its suppliers to follow suit.
Crucially, the SBTI does not allow fo...