The Environment and Us

Be nice! We Live for Climate Protection

Be nice! This credo inspires all of our business activities. Environmental and climate protection play an essential role in our planning as we do our best to use resources responsibly. As a company, we want to actively shape the future and promote sustainable development.

The emissions we create are an important indicator of our eco-friendly credentials. We are very proud to have been climate neutral since 2018, yet are continuously working to improve our carbon footprint.

Calculation and Compensation

Sustainable and climate-friendly economic activity is really important to us. For this reason, we're committed to setting a good example and truthfully record all of our emissions, collecting data wherever possible. This includes all direct emissions (from company buildings and company vehicles) and, as far as possible, all indirectly caused emissions (e.g. employee travel routes, business trips, waste, etc.).

Our Carbon Footprint

In 2022, the niceshops Group's carbon footprint was 1600 t CO2 equivalent (calculated according to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol). The recorded emissions are divided into three areas (scopes):

In 2022, Scope 1 accounts for around 24% of the emissions we cause, around 1% for Scope 2 and the remaining 75% for Scope 3.

The 1600 t CO2 equivalent is roughly the same amount of greenhouse gases as 187 people living in Austria would create in the same period of time. The per capita emissions in Austria amount to an average of 8.9 t CO2 equivalent annually.

What we're particularly pleased about is the fact that we were able to decouple greenhouse gas emissions from sales growth. Since 2019, we have been able to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by a good third per million euros of turnover.

Our 3 Pillars of Climate Neutrality

Our climate strategy is based on the three pillars of avoidance, reduction and compensation.

This is the best way to prevent greenhouse gases from occurring in the first place. Where emissions cannot be avoided, we look for ways to curb them. What we cannot avoid at all, we compensate with meaningful projects.

Previous Successes

Although the sales of the niceshops group almost doubled in 2020 and the parcel volume multiplied, we were able to achieve great success with our packaging materials. Environmentally friendly, compostable, plastic-free shipping materials are currently used for all parcels - with very few exceptions. Only in a few cases, such as bulky goods and pallet shipping, is there no alternative to recyclable plastic film.

In addition, thanks to a special patent for shipping and returns, niceshops' innovative parcels can be reused without any adhesive tape - a solution that was awarded the Austrian Staatspreis der Verpackungsindustrie (State Prize for the Packaging Industry).

Our other climate protection measures include:

• The use of 100% green electricity
• An e-car fleet that is constantly being expanded, saving CO2
• The establishment of the largest e-car charging parking lot in Austria at the head office in Saaz
• Subsidies for public transport and carpooling
• Installation of a photovoltaic system on the roof of the head office, which covers 50% of the company's energy requirements on average.
• Sustainable construction of the company building with high energy efficiency and a lot of wood
• Heating and cooling with waste heat from a neighbouring biogas plant
• Conscientious recycling of waste and valuable materials
• Regional and largely organic food in the canteen
• The foundation of a working group for eco-social responsibility and the Mobi task force, which is working on ways to make the employees' commutes more climate-friendly (e.g. through carpooling, subsidised e-bikes and more)

Compensation with Helioz

We take the emissions that we cannot avoid as an opportunity to support other eco-social projects that we consider sensible and that make a significant contribution to global emissions reduction in the long term. This year, we are very pleased to be supporting the Helioz project in India.

In many areas of Bangladesh, surface water is the main source of water (alongside rainwater). However, this is often contaminated and must first be boiled, which requires firewood and has several negative effects:

• CO2 is emitted when it is boiled
• Deforestation
• Women, in particular, have to spend a lot of time collecting firewood
• Many people, especially children, have respiratory problems due to smoke in their homes

With WADI, Helioz has developed a cost-effective, solar-powered device with which contaminated drinking water can be safely sterilised using sunlight.

Thanks to WADI, water-borne diseases such as cholera or polio can be avoided. In addition, with their projects in Bangladesh and other countries, Helioz is making an important contribution to achieving the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

We have, of course, planned further activities to protect our climate in the future.