After being the first UK national paper merchant to validate its near-term carbon reduction target with the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), Denmaur has now used the same framework to validate its net-zero target date of 2045.

The net-zero target has committed Denmaur to reduce its total scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions by a minimum of 90% by 2045, with any remaining emissions being neutralised. This is in addition to its near-term target of reducing scope 1 and 2 emissions by 42% by 2030.

Denmaur’s marketing and sustainability director Danny Doogan explained why the company has nominated a date five years ahead of the global deadline first defined by the landmark Paris Agreement:

‘We targeted 2045 based on the net-zero work and aspirations of our customers as well as the decarbonisation plans and initiatives that are starting to come through from paper and board manufacturers.’

One such manufacturer is Burgo, which in 2023 announced plans to switch some of its mills into green paper plants, including Burgo Ardennes in Belgium, where Denmaur’s flagship Amadeus range is produced.

Mr Doogan explained further, ‘Our net-zero target may be considered ambitious, but during discussions with several manufacturers in the last year, it’s apparent there is a strong intent to reduce, and ultimately eliminate fossil fuel-based energy in paper production – a significant Scope 3 element of our carbon footprint. In the week where 2023 was confirmed as the hottest on record, now is the time for ambitious targets.’

Meanwhile, Mondi has announced an investment of €20 million to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase energy efficiency and strengthen operational safety at its Neusiedler mill. This includes an upgrade of the pulp mill´s recovery boiler, pulp dryer, steam accumulator and steam turbine. It is part of Mondi´s MAP2030 sustainability commitments.

‘These upgrades will help Mondi Neusiedler to reduce the pulp mil’s greenhouse gas emissions by over 20%, while also reducing NOx emissions by up to 10% and gas consumption by around 25%,” explained Sakari Eloranta, technical director uncoated fine paper at Mondi.

In the labels sector, UPM Raflatac has reported that all papers it sources, whether used as a face paper or a release liner in its labelling materials, are now certified under a credible third-party forest certification scheme. Having all its papers certified is one of UPM Raflatac’s 2030 responsible sourcing and climate targets, and has been achieved six years ahead of time.

‘Reaching our 2030 target this far in advance is a significant milestone that we could not have achieved without the support and close collaboration of our suppliers, and the drive and commitment of our employees. Third-party forest certification is one important element in our responsible sourcing approach, combined with supplier assessment and development activities, as well as continuous risk monitoring and management,’ said Maria Seppälä, VP sourcing at UPM Raflatac.

On the equipment manufacturing side, Epson has announced that as of December 2023, all electricity used at Epson Group sites around the world is from renewable sources, following a public commitment to do so made in March 2021. This makes it the first among Japanese domestic manufacturing industry to complete the transition to renewable electricity at all its sites worldwide, including Japan, the company says.

The Epson Group consumes approximately 876GWh of electricity per year. By sourcing renewables to cover this demand, Epson expects to reduce its annual carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 400,000 tonnes.

Epson global president Yasunori Ogawa said, ‘For eight decades, Epson has demonstrated a proactive approach to environmental action. We have maintained the founder’s commitment to preserving the cleanliness of nearby Lake Suwa and became the world’s first company to eliminate CFCs from our manufacturing processes.

‘Now we have successfully completed the switch to 100% renewable electricity at all Epson Group sites in just two years and ten months since declaring our commitment to doing so in 2021. This will not only help us to achieve our own goals but will also help to facilitate a broader adoption of renewable electricity within society by spreading awareness.’

At the user end, document automation specialist Datagraphic has announced its commitment to The Climate Pledge, a commitment by companies to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2040, a decade ahead of the Paris Agreement’s 2050 goal.

Datagraphic says it is the only UK SME in its industry with net-zero targets approved and validated by the Science Based Targets initiative and pledges to reduce scope 1 and scope 2 GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions by 46% by 2030 from a 2019 base year and to measure and reduce scope 3 emissions.

Signatories to The Climate Pledge, which was co-founded by Amazon and Global Optimism in 2019, agree to measure and report greenhouse gas emissions regularly; to implement decarbonisation strategies in line with the Paris Agreement through real business changes and innovations, including efficiency improvements, renewable energy, materials reductions, and other carbon emission elimination strategies; and to neutralise any remaining emissions with additional, quantifiable, real, permanent and socially beneficial offsets to achieve net-zero annual carbon emissions by 2040.

Datagraphic’s achievements towards these goal include ISO 50001 and 14001 certification, installing over 310kW of solar generation capacity, working with suppliers on sustainable practices and conducting lifecycle assessments for all products or services.

Peter Wells, head of sustainability at Datagraphic, commented, ‘As one of the UK’s 5.5 million SMEs, sustainability is not just a choice but a responsibility. Net-zero won’t just happen. We need to be proactive, and Datagraphic is determined to lead the charge for our industry.’

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McGowans is a member of the World Land Trust, a supporter of FSC, the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Climate Pledge and Ecovadis. The company has already implemented may of the ‘standard’ sustainabilty tactics, removing solvents, waste segregation, recycling, anti-landfill waste systems, reducing power consumption and installing solar panels. However it felt that what is best practice and what is deemed ‘market acceptable’ still lack clarity terms of maintaining a responsible pathway to reducing carbon footprints. 

CarbonQuota was able to help, via access to five years of activity-based scientifically sound sector data to measure carbon emissions accurately. According to CarbonQuota, the model does not use financial spend data or averages but instead uses a specific industry-led and science-based database to deliver figures. 

‘We believe that to truly make a difference, we need solid, measurable data,’ said Emerson Palmer, sales director at McGowans. ‘Through our partnership with CarbonQuota, we can now show tangible results and provide our clients with accurate, informed data on their consumption behaviours.’

McGowans initially engaged CarbonQuota to assess its Scope 1 and 2 carbon footprint, effectively measuring the direct carbon contributions of the entire organisation, reflecting its bought-in supplies and on-site use. The results established a reliable baseline but also provided valuable recommendations for McGowans’ carbon reduction strategy.

The CarbonQuota calculator has subsequently been integrated into McGowans’ Tharstern MIS. This captures specification data at point of entry for quotations and returns product-level carbon footprints directly to McGowans ‘in seconds’. The calculator embodies a holistic approach, taking into consideration not only McGowans’ facilities but also those of its suppliers and their suppliers. This results in broader and more accurate carbon value data that can be reported to environmental disclosure platforms such as Ecovadis, and shared directly with clients to inform decision making.

Robyn Newberry, head of marketing at CarbonQuota, added, ‘By integrating the carbon footprint at quoting stage, printers can engage their customers in informed and confident conversations about the environmental impact of their products, elevating the discussion beyond price. This is absolutely the standard we should be striving for in the industry.’

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What’s now called embellishment or special effects used to be a group of purely post-press operations. These included lamination, spot or flood varnishing and foiling (hot or cold). Other eye-catching things have always had to be done in or on the press – if you wanted metallic colours you had to use a special ink or print on a metallised substrate; the same applied for fluorescent or other special colours.

Digital print has blurred those boundaries, bringing a number of ways of achieving the same or ‘close enough’ effects, combined with the flexibility and minimal set-up requirements characteristic of digital print. These also split into in-press effects and subsequently-applied effects.

Before looking at these in detail, it’s also worth noting that a sustainability argument is emerging for digital embellishment as an alternative to more conventional processes. This comes from Scodix, which makes stand-alone ‘embellishment presses’ (distributed in the UK by Friedheim) that can apply a wide range of decorative effects to printed sheets, with full digital flexibility in each.

Scodix carried out a lifecycle assessment of its digital foiling options which found that compared to conventional hot stamp foiling, its version reduces CO2e (CO2 equivalent) by 85%, fossil fuel usage by nearly 85%, and water consumption by 80% per B1 sheet. The study, carried out by EcamRicert, and Mérieux NutriSciences Companies, compared the enhancement of a single B1 sheet through to 100,000 B1 sheets using Scodix foil (175g) versus traditional foiling methods.

That’s only one of the options that Scodix offers and there’s no indication given that any of the other supported techniques offer comparable advantages. However, like any other form of digital printing, it seems likely that overall wastage of materials and energy is likely to be lower simply through the ability to only print or finish the number required.

The main argument in favour of these types of effects though is that they add impact to printed products and therefore margin to your work. Some you can only do if you bought the right press, though they could also be a factor in choosing a new one. There’s an increasing number of toner presses that offer additional colours which may include clear ‘varnish’, white, fluorescent and metallic colours, though usually only one or sometimes two at a time.

Plus-one – or more

Machines that offer a fifth colour include Xerox’s iGen line and Ricoh’s Pro C7200, also sold by Heidelberg as the Versafire EV (and about to be replaced by the Pro C7500, though we’ve not seen any specification for this yet). Kodak’s Nexpress and Nexfinity models could do this too, with options over where in the laydown sequence the fifth colour went, though both are now discontinued. Moving up to six colours brings in the popular Xerox Iridesse, and the more recent Fujifilm Revoria, while most HP Indigos can handle up to seven colours, though of course click charges go up in proportion with all extra colour presses. Xerox also offers a conversion kit for two-pass printing on its entry-level PrimeLink C9065/C9070, which potentially allows the use of up to eight colours, albeit with a complete change of toner cartridges between passes.

The exact choice of extra colours varies by manufacturer, but in addition to white – for use on coloured or transparent substrates – and clear – used to create flood or spot varnish effects – fluorescent or ‘neon’ colours are offered, particularly pink and sometimes yellow. These can replace or be mixed with their standard CMYK equivalents to expand the colour gamut for more eye-catching effects. A few offer metallic toners too, which again can be printed solid or mixed to provide novel colours and finishes.

After the event

Post-press options are more about foiling, spot varnish and various creative lamination processes, often in combination. A good entry-level choice here is foil-over-toner, a two-pass method that uses ‘real’ foil in a laminator like Vivid’s Matrix models or those from Caslon, Foliant (sold via IFS), Komfi (from Friedheim) or Autobond. Similar options also come from GMP and Intec, now part of the Plockmatic group.

An entry-level option for foil-over-toner is Vivid’s Matrix, seen here at a trade show

In these, the initial colour print is first laminated with a clear film, then printed again with the foil pattern in black toner on top of the film, before a second pass through the laminator transfers the foil to the partially melted black toner. It’s a more labour-intensive process but it works with a very wide range of foil types and doesn’t require special consumables.

Then there are the fully ‘digital’ embellishment devices that offer spot UV and/or foiling in a single operation. This category includes devices like Duplo’s B2 DuSense 8000, which is offered in various configurations providing spot UV, digital foiling or both, including a pre-treatment option for expanding the types of print that can be handled. It’s also possible to build up textured ‘3D’ effects with multiple passes, which the smaller B3 DuSense 810 also supports. An alternative is the B3+ Konica Minolta AccurioShine 3600, which uses technology from MGI, in which Konica Minolta holds a significant stake. It too can produce ‘dimensional’ effects.

At the top end of the digital embellishment market are the ranges from Konica Minolta/MGI and Scodix. These are dedicated industrial production devices that offer UV varnish and foiling, with Scodix offering a particularly wide range of foils and finished effects, while MGI’s line goes up to B1 sheet size in the form of the print-and-embellish AlphaJet that was formally launched in October 2022. Kurz is another player at the industrial end of the scale, having bought Steinemann, whose inkjet varnish and foiling systems it was already marketing as Digital Metal. These include the sheet-fed B2 DM-Smartliner for 2D flat varnishing and foiling and the DM-Maxliner for raised and textured effects.

Whether you’re just ready to dip a toe into digital embellishment and cautious with the investment, or know that you’ve got a ready market for it but need to be sure it’s good enough and fast enough to meet your customers’ needs, there should be something to suit and help your work shine.

Preparing files for embellishment

All digital embellishment processes require ‘artwork’ to control where the effects are applied. Usually this means creating additional layers in the originating applications and/or print PDFs, though some vendors offer DFE-based tools to create embellishment guides or colour substitutions from standard PDFs on-the-fly.

Andrew Bailes-Collins of Ultimate Technographics, which makes imposition, nesting and ganging software, has written a handy guide to preparing generic PDFs that should process correctly through most embellishment vendors’ DFEs and thus avoid some of the common pitfalls that require manual reworking in the prepress studio.

Called PDF Creation for Digital Embellishment, it covers the use of spot colours, layers, knock-out and overprint and choice of correct versions of PDF for hand-off. It’s available free from Ultimate Technographics’ website.

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ClimateCalc was the first international carbon footprinting tool for the print industry, according to the BPIF, and the revamped site will offer improved login facilities, easier set-ups for multi-site operations, including the sharing of substrate data, and easier-to-share product calculations with publishers and other customers. The site is also now prepared for API integration at a later date, which should pave the way for connection to MIS/ERP and estimating or accounting systems.

ClimateCalc is verified to cover 95% of a printer’s calculable emissions and complies with both ISO14064-1 and ISO 16759. It provides a fully audited carbon footprint for the site and enables printers to offer their customers a carbon footprint for every job. It also allows a site to specify the emissions factors for substrates, rather than using a single government figure, important because substrates make up a large  proportion of a site’s footprint and offer a major avenue for companies to reduce their carbon footprints.

ClimateCalc is claimed by the BPIF to be significantly less expensive and easier to use in its basic format than many of its competitors. Demonstrations of both the basic and standard models are available from the BPIF’s website.

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AutoCarbon is part of Paragon’s proprietary Carbon Calculator, a programme that provides its clients with an accurate carbon footprint calculation based on their spend with Paragon annually, starting with 2021/22 as the benchmark year. The footprinting methodology uses the company’s verified Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, and is claimed to achieve a much more accurate emissions calculation than those based on industry averages.

​The programme gives Paragon’s clients a tool to support their own Net Zero efforts and enables them to accurately measure this part of their Scope 3 emissions and to see the impact that Paragon’s decarbonisation plan has on them. The scheme is part of Paragon’s ESG strategy and a key part of its long-term commitment to delivering the lasting change. A key tenet of this framework is to help its stakeholders and clients make informed decisions about their sustainability, to drive responsible choices and behaviours across the whole value chain.

Lucy Klinkenberg-Matthews, head of ESG at Paragon, said, ‘Paragon is built on four key pillars – people, planet, partners and prosperity – so advancing sustainability goals internally and externally is an ongoing priority. The auto-enrolment of new and existing clients into our AutoCarbon programme is our latest contribution to this goal, and a huge milestone for our ESG Strategy. Through this scheme, we will be able to make a tangible difference to our clients’ Net Zero progress as well as our own, by starting important conversations about how we reach our collective goals and how we measure progress.

‘It’s exciting to be leading the way with programmes like AutoCarbon, and we hope that sharing this with our clients will help accelerate progress towards a more sustainable future.’

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Called Carbon Connect, the new feature draws on data from partner CarbonQuota, which specialises in automated carbon accounting for the print and packaging sectors. It enables PrintIQ users to generate a carbon footprint figure directly from the system for every quote. This up-front, item-level data subsequently equips end-customers with the necessary information to accurately assess the environmental impact of the materials used in each print campaign.

Rob Thurston, UK sales manager for PrintIQ stated, ‘The need to know this information is becoming incredibly important across Europe. Big brands are listening to their audience and want to show that they are responsible for their actions. Our MIS helps them do this early in the cycle with an automatic exchange of data between IQ and CarbonQuota.’

Dominic Harris, director and co-founder of CarbonQuota, commented, ‘Carbon Connect enables all printers to be able to talk about carbon with confidence. Providing all the tools needed to increase their offering to clients, increase revenue and reduce their own carbon footprint. Sustainability is a topic that is increasing in relevance daily and carbon footprinting remains at the core of good sustainability programmes.’

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Science-based targets show companies by how much and how quickly they need to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to prevent the worst effects of climate change. The SBTi is a partnership between the Carbon Disclosure Project, the United Nations Global Compact, World Resources Institute and the World Wide Fund for Animals. It was set up to define, validate and record science-based targets. So far, a total of 1042 UK companies have had targets validated, with just under 6000 globally.

Denmaur now appears on the SBTi website with a 2030 near-term declaration to reduce its scope 1 and 2 emissions (emissions from fuels, vehicles and purchased electricity) in line with the 1.5ºC pathway set out in the 2015 Paris Agreement. The company is also required to update and publish its progress towards this target annually.

Denmaur’s marketing and sustainability director, Danny Doogan, said, ‘We have operated a robust carbon policy for some time, running side-by-side reduction and offsetting programmes. Aligning with the SBTi enables us to immediately focus on deep cuts to our operational emissions, whilst committing to becoming more transparent with our GHG disclosures.’

The company’s near-term reduction target of 46% by 2030 is based on its 2019 footprint, including that of its Bescot operation, which was acquired from Middleton Paper in 2022.

Mr Doogan commented, ‘With our near-term target now proudly validated, we are beginning to plan our net-zero target which will concentrate on our Scope 3 emissions. These emissions, which will be much more challenging to reduce, are also relevant to the activities of our customers, such as product manufacture and upstream deliveries.’

Denmaur has worked with carbon specialist Nero Carbon to measure its emissions in line with the leading standards, Greenhouse Gas Protocol and ISO14064-1. It will continue to work with Nero on submitting its long-term, net-zero target with the SBTi by September 2023.

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Datagraphic has committed to achieving net-zero emissions from its operations by 2050. This includes a further objective to achieve net-zero emissions for its scopes 1 and 2 by 2030. Using the GHG Protocol and working with specialist energy engineers Pro Enviro, Datagraphic has measured and recorded carbon emissions from a baseline year of 2019. Together, Datagraphic and Pro Enviro have created a science-based decarbonisation plan with targets now validated by SBTi. By tracking CO2 emissions against the baseline year, Datagraphic has reduced carbon emissions by 46%, the company claims. This has been achieved with significant capital investment in renewable energy generation and energy engineering.

Peter Wells, head of sustainability and commercial manager at Datagraphic, commented, ‘Datagraphic is conscious of minimising its impact on the climate and therefore committed to decarbonising UK operations. As the only company in our sector with near-term, long-term and net-zero targets to be approved and validated by the SBTi, we’re extremely proud to be recognised for our science-based approach to sustainability.’

Peter added, ‘Datagraphic is delighted to lead the way for SMEs in delivering a quantifiable sustainable strategy. That said, we recognise that we can’t make this journey alone. By working with our clients, supply chain, community and partners on initiatives to improve sustainability, we know we can make a difference together.’

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Part of a major new mailing industry sustainability campaign to help educate brands on the sustainability of mail, this is a result of an industry first study by environmental expert WSP, which has established a full carbon lifecycle assessment (LCA) of mail and its contribution to a circular economy. The new research is said to clearly demonstrate that by taking every opportunity to regenerate, reinvent, reuse and recycle, mail can contribute significantly to a circular economy, and continue to be a ‘most effective’ part of a communications marketing mix. 

Marketreach has developed a new interactive online tool that uses data from the LCA to provide information on the carbon footprint of each stage in the supply chain of 10 of the most commonly-used commercial mail formats. It allows users to compare the average carbon emissions of formats across the lifecycle of mail and compares it to everyday products to provide context. The campaign was produced with the support of the SMP and includes a best-practice guide for mailing customers to understand how every part of the supply chain comes together as input into the end-to-end calculations.

Philip Ricketts, commercial director at Marketreach, said, ‘Our focus is simple. We want to empower mail users to make informed choices and decisions, so we have developed a range of resources with the support of the print industry to help them, including a best practice guide and a new LCA tool.’

Lucy Swanston, chair of the Strategic Mail Partnership, added, ‘We want those who use or are thinking about using commercial mail to have the information they need to continue to invest in a highly effective and creative medium. Marketreach’s campaign and its life cycle assessment will enable mailing houses as well as their clients to make strong decisions with the numbers to back them up, knowing they are minimising their carbon impact as much as possible.’

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Ri-Jet PO100 is a 100-micron thick polyolefin plastic film suitable for the decoration of points of sale, shop windows and panels. The company says the film is exceptionally flexible in its latex, UV LED or UV-gel printable versions, with the added benefit that it can be removed from the application surface without leaving any traces. Due to its flame-retardant properties and because it complies with Reach and RoHS regulations, Ri-Jet PO100 is suitable for both outdoor and indoor applications.

Daniele Perotti, product manager for graphics at Fedrigoni Self-Adhesives, said, ‘Ri-Jet PO100 not only meets the demands of our end-users, major interior design, fashion and luxury brands, who prefer PVC-free solutions for their short-term communication campaigns, but also the commitments that Fedrigoni has undertaken in terms of sustainability and environmental impact, underpinned by precise life-cycle assessment calculations that have been extended to the entire range of products.’

Fedrigoni says certified data shows that the production of this film requires 2% less energy and 32.5% less water, reducing CO2 emissions by 15.5%. Its development is part of the company’s plan to reach its 2030 targets which include a 30% reduction in polluting emissions and 70% of its self-adhesive product volume incorporating cutting-edge sustainable features.

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