Not long ago at Jacobi, we set ourselves the relatively ambitious goal of becoming the most sustainable supplier of coconut shell based activated carbon. This target is now the driving force behind everything we do.

To help us reach our goal of becoming the most  sustainable producer in the industry, and ultimately protect the Earth as much as we possibly can, we launched our Go Green initiative back in October 2023. It encompasses various projects throughout the company, each fuelled by a drive to operate as sustainably as possible. By implementing these projects, we hope to empower our employees to always take the most sustainable route and to make the most sustainable options easy and desirable for our customers too.

“It is a very ambitious initiative that can make a huge positive impact on the environment – it makes a real difference,”said CEO of Jacobi Group, Remko Goudappel.

“This motivates me personally,” he continued. “Inspiring our suppliers and customers to join our journey is my personal commitment and gives me purpose, day by day.”

We’re a vast company, operating globally and consequently our impact on the planet is potentially huge. For this reason, it’s vital we take a holistic approach, looking at our processes from all perspectives.

How We’re Doing It

Back in 2022, we conducted a life cycle assessment of our activated carbon products. We worked alongside Maastricht University who were able to determine the Global Warming Potential, or GWP, of our operations. The study was crucial in terms of helping us learn where we were doing well, which areas needed improvements, and what we could do to make those improvements.

The study showed us that though the global warming potential of our direct actions was relatively low, we could make vast improvements further up the supply chain. We also saw that the GWP of our coconut-based products and reactivated carbon was significantly lower than that of coal-based products. Consequently, much of our focus with the Go Green initiative sits within these areas – though we are keen to encourage schemes and innovations in all areas of our business.

CleanTech

To support the progression of our sustainability efforts, is important to us at Jacobi to introduce and develop technology that reduces environmental impact wherever possible. One particularly prominent example is the EcoGreen Furnace which was developed alongside international partners. This equipment is used to carbonise raw materials and is far more environmentally friendly than other common methods. The furnace burns the raw materials and rather than the resulting gases being released into the atmosphere, they are burned off avoiding toxic emissions. As well as this, we can use the process heat to generate electricity for reuse in our processes and the wider community.

This technology isn’t brand new, but the way we hope to use it is. In the near future we plan to make these furnaces accessible to our suppliers, many of whom would not be able to make such an investment without support.

Changes in our Own Operations

Not only do we operate across the world, but there are several different kinds of operations that fall under the Jacobi umbrella. We are continually making changes to our processes to ensure that everything we do is as sustainable as possible. If there is an opportunity to improve our environmental impact, we will pursue it. This includes expanding the use of solar power throughout all of our sites, harvesting rainwater and water effluent recycling treatment.

Focus on Reactivation

Our life cycle assessment confirmed to us that recycling carbon has a far lower global warming potential than producing virgin carbon. The benefits are multiple, reducing our customers’ global impact as well as our own and bringing us closer toward a circular product and services delivery. We recently announced our plans to expand our reactivation facility in Europe and are putting plans in place to develop further facilities in North America too. Alongside the development of our facilities, we are also researching ways to improve the performance of reactivated carbon. We hope that this combination of optimally performing products and easy access to reactivated carbon will make using recycled products the easiest option for our customers.

Innovation

We feel coconut-based activated carbon has a huge part to play in this. Behind the scenes, our research and development teams are continually working on finding new ways to use coconut-based carbon so that we, across the globe, can eventually reap the sustainable benefits it provides. Technically, it is feasible to use coconut shell in every single application, whether the product is ready now or a product will be ready in the near future.

Go Green’s Reception

We have seen a positive reception across the board. The Earth belongs to everyone and so everyone wants to be a part of this movement including production staff, office staff, people out on the roads and the top-level management. The passion our CEO Remko and our higher-level management have for sustainability has filtered down and is now deeply embedded in our working culture.

Dr Brigitta Simon, Country Sales Manager in Hungary, gave us her thoughts on the effects of the initiative on her day-to-day work life. She told us of her pride when discussing the company’s sustainability efforts.

“Jacobi as a company is moving in the right direction with its journey to become more sustainable, at a sales level this gives me pride and confidence when out in the field talking with partners and customers, both existing and definitely the potentially new ones,” said Brigitta. “We are doing business our own way in the market and for the right reasons.”

Brigitta also told us of the importance of being able to connect and understand the products she’s selling, and how the Go Green initiative has enabled this further.

“As a sales manager, I consider it extremely important to be able to identify with the products we sell. With the help of Go Green, this can be fully realised, together with the support of entrepreneurs in Central and Eastern Europe.”

The Future

With a focus on sustainability now firmly cemented in the minds and practices of our employees, we no longer need to think about what we do to permeate this culture and can concentrate solely on the actions we can take to make measurable differences.

Continued innovation is our main priority, both in terms of our operations and our products. We will continue striving to improve our processes to limit negative effects on the planet as much as it is possible. This includes placing CleanTech in the hands of our partners. Access to this technology would otherwise be unobtainable for the majority of our partners and we know that making it accessible will have a sizeable impact on the global warming potential of our activated carbon production. Aside from the CleanTech, we will also continue to implement smaller initiatives across the company too.

When it comes to product innovation, our Research and Development teams regularly conduct research into potential new raw materials for the production of our activated carbon products. This research into new raw materials will continue but we will also place a heavy emphasis on developing blended products. This includes blending carbon made from various bases as well as carbon that combines reactivated carbon with virgin.

We hope to make our entire supply more sustainable through various innovations and initiatives. The wheels are already in motion for some of these, others will be improvements that we’ll see in the longer-term future. We intend to do everything in our power to make sustainable and environmentally friendly options the easiest and most desirable for both our customers and suppliers and by working together closely, hope to jointly reduce our carbon footprint.