It started in 2014 with the question:
'How sustainable is this product?'
We found the answer in calculating a footprint through Life Cycle Assessment. Years of development and optimization of the calculation methods and the company followed. We would like to tell you more about the establishment of Greenhouse Sustainability; the 'House of Sustainability' in which you will find environmental footprint calculation, reduction, compensation and storytelling under one roof.
Vision
Greenhouse Sustainability’s vision is that sustainability should be made measurable and transparent for everyone to enable climate neutrality.
missie
Greenhouse Sustainability lays the foundation for climate-neutral operations with footprint calculation, footprint tools, advice for reduction and offsetting. With storytelling, we further contribute to positive impact on and by companies.
The
team
We would like to introduce ourselves
Greenhouse Sustainability consists of a team of various experts with a shared passion for sustainability. At Greenhouse Sustainability we are sincere, we think in terms of possibilities and we are ambitious in achieving our goals. We combine our knowledge of LCA with our knowledge of Marketing-communication to make a positive impact.
Henri Potze
Owner / CEO
Rick van der Linden
Manager Software Development / LCA
Sandra Uitenbroek - Van Schie
Commercieel Manager
Katharina Schuster
LCA Specialist
Marina Kiur
Finance
Sanne Visser
Nina Ruig
LCA Specialist
Marleen Schrijvers
Communications Specialist / Sales
From then
to now
Read how Greenhouse Sustainability originated and developed over the years.
Establishment
Benefits of Nature
Foundation
2015
Henri Potze starts the Benefits of Nature Foundation to promote sustainability in the horticultural sector and to provide consumers with beautiful, fair and sustainable products. On the one hand by calculating the footprint of companies and their products, on the other hand by helping entrepreneurs to become more sustainable. Many growers and suppliers joined Benefits of Nature, making the initiative widely known within the sector.
Start
development
HortiFootprint
Category Rules
2018
During this period Rick van der Linden worked on behalf of Benefits of Nature on the development of the Hortifootprint Category Rules, a calculation method for calculating the environmental footprint of horticultural products. An LCA standard that has since been used for product footprint calculations in Dutch horticulture.
Establishment Greenhouse Marketeers
2018
After working hard for several years to give shape to the foundation, Henri decided in 2018 to set up Greenhouse Marketeers. While Benefits of Nature was committed to the sector as a whole, Greenhouse Marketeers focused more specifically on helping individual companies. This, by calculating the footprint, advising on improving the footprint and helping companies to promote their sustainable efforts.
Start Horti Footprint Chain Program
2021
Together with a number of other companies, Greenhouse Marketeers (now Greenhouse Sustainability) starts the Horti Footprint Chain Program, a chain collaboration program to make the horticultural sector more sustainable.
Supporting
studies
FloriPEFCR
2022
Greenhouse Marketeers (now Greenhouse Sustainability) helps with the development of the FloriPEFCR (Flori Product Environmental Category Rules) by testing the framework of the method in practice. The FloriPEFCR will be used at European level to calculate product footprints. This creates reliable results that can be compared with each other and creates equality in the sector.
Launching
Flori Footprint
Tool
2022
Together with LCA software partner Simapro, Greenhouse Sustainability develops the Flori Footprint Tool; an online tool that makes it possible to calculate the product footprint for each party in the floriculture chain. The software is based on the draft calculation rules of the FloriPEFCR.
Greenhouse Marketeers continues as Greenhouse Sustainability
2023
The name Greenhouse Marketeers originated at a time when it was still necessary to emphasize that footprinting also has great added value for the marketing of companies and products, in addition to helping to map the environmental impact. We have now passed that station. We also notice that misunderstandings sometimes arise about our intentions and core business. That's why Greenhouse Marketeers is Greenhouse Sustainability, starting 2023.
Frequently
asked questions
Greenhouse gases cause heat to be retained and as a result the temperature on earth rises. Without greenhouse gases the earth would be freezing cold, but with too many greenhouse gases it will become too hot. The increase in CO2Â is mainly due to the combustion of petroleum, natural gas and coal.
A footprint is an indicator of the impact of a company or a product on the environment. It is a way of expressing sustainability as a number. Footprints are determined based on a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). During this assessment, we calculate the environmental effect of different operational processes. From raw materials, production, distribution, use to waste processing.
LCA involves different impact categories. An impact category groups several emissions into one environmental impact. The impact categories we calculate include: water, land use, biodiversity, toxicity and the best known, CO2.
A footprint is often expressed in terms of CO2-equivalent. This means that greenhouse gases other than CO2 are included, but converted to a CO2 value. So to add up the impact of different types of greenhouse gases, such as methane, nitrous oxide and water vapour, emission figures are converted to CO2-equivalent.
