The Fit 4 Sustainability programme, managed by Luxinnovation, helps companies assess and reduce their carbon footprint. Here's a first experience with the CK Group.
Abigail Okorodus
The Charles Kieffer (CK) Group completed the Fit 4 Sustainability programme in June 2023. Founded in 1946, the company specializes in office solutions (photocopying, scanning, archiving, digital solutions) to optimize work processes. While photocopying remains an essential part of the company’s business, it is increasingly focusing on digital products.
According to Managing Director Laure Elsen, the Group will continue to give priority to sustainable measures in the areas of mobility, infrastructure, operations and energy efficiency.
Sustainability is part of our strategy and vision as a family business. Given what is happening in the world, it is clear that we need to find ways to make our activities more sustainable in terms of CSR and the evaluation of all our processes. We are aware that we won’t be able to tackle everything at once.
We’re seeing a significant increase in major tenders that require us to position ourselves and demonstrate our CSR efforts.
We didn’t know where to start, so we turned to the consultancy firm Deveco, who helped us work out how to get started and also recommended that we take part in the Fit 4 Sustainability programme.
It’s also important to consider the demands of the market: we’re seeing a significant increase in major tenders that require us to position ourselves and demonstrate our CSR efforts.
On the one hand, we offer solutions, but we are also very active in the sale and rental of equipment.
I can’t deny that this equipment often arrives from Asia and requires a lot of transport and packaging, so given our activities, we are very dependent on our suppliers.
We work with major brands who, in turn, do everything in their power to remain aligned. They have a 2030 sustainability strategy, so we’re counting on them to follow us.
Sustainability is part of our strategy and vision.
On the other hand, what we can do, particularly in Luxembourg, is assess everything to do with the transport of our equipment and, above all, our employees and the building we occupy. We could also explore everything to do with energy, heating, air conditioning and so on.
We might even consider changing supplier, as some are more environmentally friendly than others. We’ve developed a dynamic within the company that has enabled us to form a working group, encouraging the emergence of ideas from within our company, and that’s a fantastic dynamic.
We had an excellent experience with Deveco and I think it would have been difficult to do without them, particularly given our status as a medium-sized company. When you’re a large company, you can assign a few people specifically to this task, but when you have to carry out an environmental impact study at the same time as doing your job, it’s difficult to find the time you need. With a consultant, it’s easier to make progress.
The cooperation was excellent and resulted in some very useful leads and recommendations.
He has worked with different groups of employees involved in different areas such as transport, human resources, facilities, etc…. Together with our employees, he put together the figures needed to estimate our carbon footprint, which was rather complex, given that we work largely abroad.
However, the cooperation was excellent and resulted in some very useful leads and recommendations.
There are a number of topics we’re working on and it’s now up to us to deal with them individually. Once we have determined what we want to explore in greater depth, we can ask for the help of a consultant.
The aim now is to draw up a list of priorities based on the areas in which we can achieve the most significant results as quickly as possible, but also taking into account the budget, because anything to do with energy or infrastructure, for example, requires significant investment.
Although these may seem like small actions, I believe they will help us make great progress.
The numerous after-sales operations, involving a team responsible for servicing our machines who are regularly on the road, and the transport of our staff between their homes and their place of work make up a significant part of our carbon footprint. We will be looking for alternatives, while recognising that we will not be able to do everything at once.
We are also dependent on government action. Although people are encouraged to use public transport, we need to provide a solid offer and find ways of making it more attractive. These are options to pursue, and we are aware that they depend on external factors.
Also, we know we need to work on our current building, so we’ll seek assistance from Energieagence on how to proceed. We’re in the process of constructing a new building where we will also take all these aspects into account.
Another action that I like a lot is that concerns the transport of our photocopiers, which we receive from Japan with lots of plastic packaging that we have to remove before repackaging the machines. We’re trying to work with a sheltered workshop to avoid all that plastic. It’s an excellent initiative from the staff and although these may seem like small actions, I believe they will help us make great progress in this direction.
Photo credit: provided by CK Group
