Selle Italia and the road to carbon neutrality

Selle Italia reports it is leading the Asolo-based company towards achieving Net Zero global warming by 2030. The process began with the analysis of its Carbon Footprint and the emissions of 2 saddles produced using the company’s patented Greentech technology.

As part of its continued commitment to environmental preservation and the hunt for innovative solutions to lessen its own impact, Selle Italia announces that it became Carbon Neutral in 2022, with plans to reach Net Zero emissions by 2030.

“The decision to pursue Net Zero emissions is further confirmation of the company’s commitment to sustainability. Our project will see us increasingly committed to the development of high-quality saddles, without our production having negative repercussions on the environment” stated Giuseppe Bigolin, Chairman of Selle Italia. “This is yet another step forward, building on the other concrete actions we have already taken over the years involving both suppliers and production methods.”

The company, which for more than 120 years has been a benchmark in the international bike saddle market, effectively uses local suppliers for its production process based within a 40-kilometre radius of the Asolo headquarters, thus minimising the cost of transport and the relative pollution it creates.

Selle Italia is a trend setter not only in terms of the final product, but also and above all in the development of production processes and methodologies capable of reducing the impact on the environment: this is particularly true for Greentech technology, which makes it possible to produce saddles without the use of glues and polluting substances, which are completely recyclable.

Towards Carbon Neutrality: the first step

Carbon Neutrality refers to the offsetting of CO₂ emissions derived from certain activities by an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide (removed or avoided) thanks to the purchase of carbon credits from certified projects. In 2022, Selle Italia management decided to embark on a corporate decarbonisation journey by partnering with the Italian start-up B Corp Up2You.

The study and analysis of CO2 emissions, carried out on the year 2021, is the first step in this large-scale process and has a twofold objective: on the one hand, to analyse the company’s direct and indirect emissions, and, on the other, to calculate the emissions of 2 saddles produced with Greentech.

Calculating scope 1 and scope 2 emissions and offsetting

To determine the CO₂ emissions produced by Selle Italia, the GHG Protocol guidelines were followed to analyse the GHG – Green House Gases, i.e., the greenhouse gases identified by the Kyoto Protocol as being directly responsible for climate change. The methodology of analysis involved categorisation into ‘scope’ classes: scope 1 emissions, that is, those directly attributable to the company, and scope 2, indirect energy emissions.

Scope 1 emissions are those generated, within the company’s perimeter, by the use of fossil fuels and the release into the atmosphere of greenhouse gases as defined by the Kyoto Protocol; scope 2 emissions are the indirect type, i.e., derived from the generation of electricity, heat and steam purchased and consumed by Selle Italia. In the latter case, the company is not responsible for the emissions, but rather for the use of the energy that generates them.

Concrete actions

Up2You determined the values of these two impacts, and Selle Italia thus took measures to offset these emissions by financing 4 Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) certified projects that aim to capture or prevent CO₂ emissions in the atmosphere. Thanks to the purchase of the carbon credits associated with these projects, the Asolo-based company has achieved carbon neutrality for its 2021 emissions.

The 4 projects:

• Maísa REDD+ : promotes the conservation of a portion of the Amazon rainforest and its flora and fauna. The protected animals found in this area include the endangered chiropotes satanas monkey
• Kariba REDD+ : a project to combat poverty, hunger and deforestation on 785,000 hectares of forestland in Zimbabwe
• Guanaré Forest Plantation Project: a project to support the successful reforestation of the Guanaré Forest in Uruguay. Moreover, the School project will be launched to involve the local population in getting to know and caring for the native flora and fauna.
• FSCECP Hydroelectric Power Plant: support for the FSCECP Hydroelectric Complex, located in the Paraná region of Brazil, which generates renewable energy from the power of the Jordão River.

Carbon footprint of Model X saddles

The second step in the company’s carbon footprint analysis in 2022 was to study the emissions impact of the two saddles produced with Greentech technology: the Model X Superflow and the Model X Green Comfort+ Superflow. A cradle to grave emissions analysis was carried out on these two saddles, including a study that covers raw materials, transport and production, and finally an analysis of distribution, sale and use, without neglecting the “end of life”, better known as disposal.

This resulted in total emissions of:

• 908 kg of CO2 eq. for the Model X Green saddle
• 277 kg of CO2 eq. for the Model X Green Comfort+ version

The higher emissions of the Comfort+ are owing to its higher weight with respect to the other.

This data is reported in the Selle Green – Carbon Footprint Analysis Report, which was compiled based on the GHG Protocol guidelines.

Next steps

From this point on, Selle Italia is committed to adopting the decarbonisation plan proposed by Up2You. The next step is to define scope 3, a category that encompasses emission sources along the entire value chain, upstream and downstream, of a company’s activities. These emissions are indirectly related to Selle Italia’s activities, but are not under the company’s direct control. Having defined a decarbonisation strategy for its emissions, the company will be able to implement various actions, year by year, to reduce them and get closer to its Net Zero target.