FIRA Furniture Footprinter™

Situation

The Furniture Industry Research Association (FIRA) wanted to develop a tool for the furniture industry to calculate and compare carbon footprints.

Impact

The FootprinterTM tool allowed companies to compare products and supported sustainability goals.

Solutions

The saying ‘if you can’t measure it you can’t manage it’ is as true as ever when it comes to combating CO2 emissions. It’s FIRA’s aim to make carbon accounting as easy as possible so that others can concentrate on reducing their footprint. No more spreadsheets or struggling to find conversion factors, the Furniture FootprinterTM tool provides a full web-based solution backed up by the experience of Europe’s leading footprint specialists.”

Bruce Lovell – Consultant, FIRA

Situation

The Furniture Industry Research Association (FIRA) is renowned globally for its expertise in furniture testing, research, consultancy, customer care, ergonomics, training and sustainability.

FIRA identified increasing pressure on the furniture industry from specifiers, the government and retailers to reduce its carbon footprint. And with hundreds of members spanning from the United Kingdom to Tasmania, FIRA wanted to develop a tool to help its clients reach their sustainability goals and Net Zero ambitions.

Solution

Anthesis was commissioned by FIRA to configure a bespoke version of our FootprinterTM tool, with the specific goal of calculating furniture emission factors. The Furniture FootprinterTM is the premier carbon footprint calculator for the furniture industry. The online tool, with its unique ‘drag and drop’ capability, allows all parties within the furniture supply chain to quickly and easily generate and compare carbon footprints for their businesses and products.

Since its implementation, our analyst team continue to research and update emission factors relating to furniture production, as well as providing ongoing software maintenance and technical support.

Key services included:

  • Extensive stakeholder engagement with FIRA and its members.
  • Research, analysis and configuration of the furniture emissions factors.
  • Ongoing software maintenance and user support.

Impact

When combined with FIRA’s carbon footprint verification scheme, which defines the accounting boundaries of product and company footprints for the furniture sector, the Furniture FootprinterTM allows companies to compare their products with the market on a like-for-like basis.