As a company that takes inspiration from our environment, travels, and the world, we have known from day one that we need to make an effort to look after our beautiful planet as much as we make an effort to create unique and high-quality designs for our customers. Sustainability has been our priority since the very beginning.

However, when we started eight years ago we certainly didn’t know as much as we do now. So besides planting three trees for each product sold and continuing to make all our shipments CO2-neutral, we're trying to keep learning about the things that impact our surroundings and how we can make a difference as individuals and as a company.

We’d like to share some of these insights with our customers, who care about this planet as much as we do. In this article, we’re learning more about what causes climate change, how it affects us and which individual steps we can take to help fight it.

What is climate change?

Climate change, in short, is a change in the average conditions of our climate, like temperature and amount of rainfall, over a long period of time.

Even though Earth’s climate has constantly been changing, the recent changes are unusual even before humans existed. Scientists have observed that the earth’s surface is warming, and the average temperature on Earth has been increasing much quicker than expected over the past 150 years. Some of the warmest years on record happened in the past 20 years.

Climate change refers to the average long-term changes over the entire planet. Besides warmer temperatures and rainfall, these also include:

• Rising sea levels
• Shrinking mountain glaciers
• Ice melting at a faster rate than usual in Antarctica, the Arctic and Greenland
• Changes in blooming times of plants and flowers
• Extreme weather conditions

Causes of climate change

Many factors contribute to the changing climate. However, scientists agree that the extreme changes in the past 50 to 100 years are due to human activities. Certain gases in our atmosphere block heat from escaping. This is called the greenhouse effect. These gases keep Earth warm like a greenhouse keeps plants warm.

Activities such as burning fuel to power vehicles and factories change the natural greenhouse, causing the atmosphere to trap more heat than usual, leading to a warmer planet.

• Burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas releases carbon dioxide into the air when we burn them.
• Deforestation results in carbon dioxide building up quicker since there are no trees to absorb it. Additionally, trees release the carbon they had stored when we burn them.
• Agriculture releases many different greenhouse gases like methane produced by animals and nitrous oxide used for fertilisers.
• Cement is another contributor to climate change, accounting for about 2% of all emissions.

The effects of climate change on humans and the environment

Humans are already experiencing the effects of climate change. Rising sea levels are causing problems for people around the world, especially those living near shores. Almost 40% of the world’s population are at risk of floods. Floods can also happen when extreme rainfall caused by climate change overwhelms sewages or river banks, so even urban areas are at risk. When they can’t use transportation, many people lose access to work, food and other essential things for living.

Climate change, as you can tell, can impact people around the world differently. These impacts are significant to less wealthy countries, where existing problems become more severe when adding to climate change.

Individual ways to fight climate change

Even if we cut all our emissions today, the effect will be felt for years to come. However, we have the opportunity to slow down the rising of temperatures. Still, many people will be forced to move, but the number is determined by how we act today. Steps we can take as individuals are:

• Support government legislation to take bold action against climate change
• Use energy wisely or switch to renewable energy
• Consume and waste less
• Eat and buy local whenever possible
• Discuss climate change with your network, friends and family to create awareness
• Bike, walk or commute to work
• Shop from sustainable brands 

How companies can help fight climate change

To scale our impact and slow down the effects of climate change faster, businesses need to step up their game and be at the forefront of changing their supply chains and finding innovative ways of reducing their impact. How to start? Here are some easy tips to get started:

• Measure your carbon footprint. Data can help to give more insight to your employees, executives and customers and drive efficient change.
• Set ambitious targets to reduce emissions and make sure you are driving the change rather than lagging.
• Support climate-smart policies from governments and lead the way for other companies.
• Choose sustainable suppliers that are aligned with your values.
• Minimise business travel. Do you need to fly around the world for every meeting?

Whatever you choose to focus on, there are several ways businesses can act to battle climate change. It all comes down to that updating your business practices to reduce emissions is good for the planet and your business too!

Many customers are already demanding more sustainable business policies, and this will only increase in the future.