Basically, your carbon footprint is a measure of all the carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gas emissions caused by your activities across the year. Yes, it's the emissions from all the trips you took and all the electricity you used. But it's also the emissions that went into making all the products you consumed and all the services you bought.

It works at the level of our products too. The life cycle of a TENA product starts with extracting natural resources and making raw materials. Next, we assemble all the materials in the manufacturing stage. Then the product is transported to the user, and finally, the user discards it after it has served its purpose. Each stage involves energy use, transportation and waste management. So, to get the true carbon footprint of our products, we need to consider all these stages.

In Britain, the average person's carbon footprint in 2017 was 7.7 tonnes1. What that really means is, they were responsible for the equivalent of 7.7 tonnes of carbon emissions that year, because of their activities. The same is true for TENA. The responsibility for the emissions in each stage of our products' life cycles rests with us.

A focus on reducing our carbon footprint is the honest way forward, and for TENA, the most important one. In fact, we consider it an opportunity. Looking at emissions in every aspect of our operations, and every stage in the life cycle of our products, multiplies the steps we can take. And it's all those small steps that will get us where we need to go.

1. Eurostat, Greenhouse gas emissions per capita. Retrieved from https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/tgm/table.do?tab=table&init=1&language=en&pcode=t2020_rd300&plugin=1

To avoid the worst effects of climate change, we need to shrink the annual carbon footprint of every person on Earth to less than 2 tonnes by 20503. That's less than 5.5 kilos per day, for everybody. Of course, this presents a greater challenge for some countries than for others, as not all countries have the same carbon footprint today. But it's clear we all need to make changes.

It's also clear that we are in this together, even when it comes to our carbon footprint. When you use a TENA product, that part of your footprint becomes our responsibility too. So, when we do better, you do better.

That's how we'll get there. Shrinking our own footprint, and yours, one step at a time.

*3) Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, How can I reduce my carbon footprint. Retrieved from http://www.swedishepa.se/Environmental-objectives-and-cooperation/Swedish-environmental-work/Work-areas/Climate/How-can-I-reduce-my-carbon-footprint-/*

Since 2008, we’ve been taking steps to cut our carbon footprint in half by 2030 in Europe. And so far, we're on schedule. To make our progress as transparent as possible, we publish the carbon footprint of TENA products in what are known as Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs). These are independent verifications that show environmental information about a product, based on its complete life cycle.

For example, the EPD for our TENA Lady Discreet Normal pads shows that one pad currently has a carbon footprint of 39 g. A full day of product use involves 4 pads, so that's 156 g per day.