Our footprint

Data-driven decision-making

Environmental Management System

To do our part, we are committed to reducing our footprint through measuring greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, developing plans to reduce them, and dynamically managing the improvements over time. This helps us to achieve our environmental goals through consistent review, evaluation, and improvement of our performance. It is based on a continuous improvement cycle with four phases: Plan-Do-Check-Act.

In order to keep track of our results and to limit our negative impact on the planet, we use the Environmental Management System (EMS) framework. The Bolsius EMS includes a model accounting for GHG emissions of our operations, from raw material supply to delivery of the products. We measure our environmental performance in the following four main aspects: CO2 footprint, energy usage, water consumption, and waste generation.

In 2024 we have started an intensive multiple year collaboration with ROSE. Their innovative sustainability management solution helps us to further improve our sustainability data management, target setting and as such reaching our ambitious goals. Additionally, this collaboration prepares us to fully comply with upcoming (CSRD-)regulations.

Furthermore, we also conduct Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) that provide details at product level; covering the whole range of candles that we produce. We are engaged in efforts to further refine this inventory, analyzing the overall impact of our products from cradle-to-grave.

Our GHG emissions

Any organization’s GHG emissions can be classified in scopes: Scope 1: direct emissions from owned sources, Scope 2: indirect emissions from purchased energy from third parties and Scope 3: all other indirect emissions from activities in the complete value chain.

Based on our 2025 GHG inventory prepared in accordance with the GHG Protocol - which includes total Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions - our emissions have been calculated at 273,481 tCO2e (location-based). To put this in perspective, this is roughly equivalent to the total annual emissions of an average village with 30,000 residents.

Overall, the greenhouse gas emissions generated throughout the life cycle of Bolsius candles can be divided into four main categories:

1. 41% Supply of raw materials necessary to produce candles
2. 10% Bolsius’ activities incl. production
3. 4% Transportation of products
4. 45% Use and disposal of candles

Our Path to Reducing CO₂

We are working step by step to reduce our CO₂ emissions, in line with our climate goals. In doing so, we are focusing on the areas where we can make the greatest impact: from raw materials and production to transportation and packaging. With these concrete steps, we continue to move toward a way of working with a lower environmental impact.

Sourcing sustainable wax

A raw material dilemma

One of the dilemmas we face in the industry lays in the sourcing of wax. How to deliver the best quality product and make the most future-proof decisions possible? The traditional main material in a candle is wax. Typically solid at room temperature, it can come from three main sources: paraffin (a by-product of petroleum refineries producing lubricants), animal- or plant-based fats. Unfortunately, choosing the best material is not always black or white.

What is the dilemma?

There is an identified environmental potential benefit associated with maximizing sourcing from plant-based fats. It is estimated that over the whole life cycle, natural waxes will be 65% to 90% less emissive compared to paraffin wax and can come from renewable sources, whilst oil reserves are limited.

However, this transformation process can require twice as much energy as processing traditional petroleum-based paraffin to become usable, therefore a candle ‘as produced’ from natural origins can have a bigger ‘cradle-to-gate’ footprint than a petroleum-based one. But a candle is meant to be burnt, and during the usage phase, plant-based products combustion releases mostly biogenic carbon that the plant captured during its growth, whilst petroleum-based wax will release fossil CO2 that was buried in the ground for a million years. This means that the plant ‘borrows’ the CO2 that is returned to the atmosphere at the time the candle is lit, while petroleum-based wax brings a net increase of GHG in the atmosphere.

How we will tackle this:

To support strategic sustainable wax sourcing for the future, Bolsius is investing in and undertaking a Multi-criteria Life Cycle Assessment on the different raw materials. This will enable us to reduce our footprint. We take the following aspects into account in our decision-making process:

1

Crops used should not be associated with deforestation, or their overall contribution will become negative compared to petroleum-based products.

2

There must be consideration of the potential competition with human food.

3

Additional innovation is required to make their processing more efficient and improve performance in a number of areas where they can be technically challenged versus their fossil fuels alternatives.

4

Natural wax production for the volume of raw material we need would require 400km2 of land for the crops, raising biodiversity and competition of usage issues.