As the sustainable footprint of the print industry comes under increasing scrutiny, CarbonQuota is proud to play a central role in the PrintGreen initiative – ensuring that brands, agencies and print specialists have access to clear, science-based carbon insight when choosing print channels.
Founded with a mission to “provide clear, accessible and accurate insights into the environmental impact of print,” PrintGreen brings together leading industry voices including Two Sides, MarketReach, The Strategic Mailing Partnership, BPIF, DMA, IPIA, Webmart, Paragon and Tradeprint.
At the heart of PrintGreen is the free print carbon-calculator, developed by CarbonQuota. By simply entering key print-job specifications such as paper type, weight, pagination, print volume and mailing options, users can instantly generate an estimate of their print campaign’s carbon footprint (expressed as CO2e) based on a UK supply-chain model.
Why this matters
For too long, print has faced misconceptions around its environmental impact. PrintGreen’s data-driven toolkit flips the narrative – showing that print can be a sustainable, measurable, and credible component of a multi-channel marketing strategy.
By powering this calculator, CarbonQuota brings sector-specific expertise, leveraging a robust database of emissions factors, industry-specific process modelling and external assurance to deliver reliable results, enabling:
- Transparency: Understand the real carbon footprint of your print activities, rather than relying on assumptions or generic factors.
- Action-led insight: Use the calculator’s output to test “what if” scenarios (for example, changing paper type, print run size or mailing method) and optimise for lower impact.
- Credible reporting: Equip internal stakeholders or sustainability leads with quantified print-footprint data, supporting broader ESG/Scope-3 discussions.
- Competitive advantage: Demonstrate to clients or procurement teams that your print campaigns are backed by verified carbon methodology — turning sustainability from risk to asset.
At CarbonQuota, our vision is to make carbon-intelligent print choices the standard. By supporting PrintGreen, we enable the print and marketing ecosystem to move from anecdote to analytics – from vague statements (“this print run is low impact”) to quantified evidence (“this print run emits X kg CO₂e”).
Explore the calculator and see how your next campaign measures up: https://printgreen.org/carbon-calculator
For more information or a deeper dive into our product carbon-footprint calculators, contact our team and see how CarbonQuota can support your print, packaging and communications sustainability goals.
