Sustainability has played a central role in the Swiss family company, Mondaine Watch Ltd for decades. Today the Mondaine Group is amongst the world's leading watch companies in this category. As in the previous year, the group, and each of its brands MONDAINE, Luminox, M-WATCH and Pierre Cardin will be completely CO2 neutral in 2021. The Mondaine group strives to continue to set the highest standards for the watch industry in the years to come.
The devastating global storms, fires and floods once again put climate protection at the center of public awareness in 2021.
“We recognized decades ago that the situation was dire. We were the pioneers in sustainability in the watch industry and are now one of the world's leading watch companies in this area. The comprehensive CO2 neutrality, which we achieved for the first time in 2020, is a major milestone for us and the watch industry, but we too are striving to make even further efforts to reduce, reuse and recycle. Our great and CO2 neutral products are good for you and the environment, at no additional cost for consumers.”, says Andre Bernheim, Chairman of the Board of the Mondaine Group and Chief Sustainability Officer. “Comprehensive CO2 neutrality, which we achieved for the first time in 2020, has been a central concern for us for a long time. We will continue to reduce our CO2 emissions and are making further efforts in this regard, e.g., in the supply chain, choice of materials for watches, packaging and other areas”, continues Bernheim. “We will be able to present a remarkable carbon eco balance sheet for the Mondaine Group and all its four brands for the year 2021, with our own actions and efforts in reducing our CO2 footprint and compensating non-avoidable emissions with reforesting projects. Comprehensive CO2 neutrality for scopes 1, 2 and 3 of the Greenhouse Gas protocol has been achieved in 2021 for each of the 4 brands in the Mondaine Group portfolio, and the group. An amazing and outstanding achievement. Our aim is to remain entirely CO2 neutral in the future.
The ecological balance sheet was calculated by a specialized consulting company and includes all watch components, their transport to our factory, our factory itself in Solothurn, the headquarters in Pfaffikon in Switzerland, business trips and, from 2021, the transport of the watches to our sales partners and direct customers”, said Bernheim.
“We will continue to pursue the path we have chosen many decades ago consistently and transparently in the years to come. Further goals and perspectives are in the direction of more sustainable materials and increased shifting of transport to the railways instead of sea or air because shipping is a major cause of CO2 emissions”, continues Bernheim.“We have expanded our cooperation with #tide ocean SA in Basel and extended it to other Luminox watch models to create more watches made from ocean waste, a complete upcycling. Another important factor is that all our Swiss Made watches are produced to a large degree with the power generated with our solar photovoltaic plant on our factory roof.”
Consumers today are more informed, more demanding, and more critical than ever before. A perfect product is not only expected to be of good quality and of a good price-to-performance ratio, but consumers pay more and more attention to sustainability. We are offering our customers all of this, to their benefit and for the world, and this even with no additional cost for our consumers. Selecting our product doesn’t burden the ecology, our watches are CO2 neutral.
The importance of sustainable supply chains is increasing. In the short film by the Swiss company “Go for Impact”, Andre Bernheim explains which challenges the Swiss SME had to overcome for his company on the way to co2 neutrality. “Sustainability is not a platitude, but an integral part of the company’s philosophy. The goal is not to be “perfect”, but a constant improvement towards goals set, wherever possible. Improving step by step – which will ultimately also have a positive economic effect - is key”. The Mondaine Group of brands is constantly looking for improvement opportunities also in sustainability and optimizing the supply chains in this regard, explains co-owner Andre Bernheim in the exciting short film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fh0ZFIXFSAc
In 2020, The Mondaine Group off-sets its non-avoidable CO2 emissions for the group and all its brands by supporting reforestation projects through the cooperation with Fairventures Worldwide (a non-for-profit organization) in Borneo (Indonesia), a total of 2,000 seedlings were planted on deforest cleared land, testified with a certificate by the Fairventures Worldwide. This resulted in 400t of CO2 equivalent in the atmosphere to be withdrawn for the year 2020. We have signed a long-term agreement with Fairventures Worldwide with the aim of financially supporting their work and thereby compensating our entire CO2 emissions also in 2021 and in the future. The reforestation is also carried out with great social commitment for the local population through Fairventures Worldwide.
More information about Fairventures Worldwide FVW GmbH: https://fairventures.org
Mondaine Group, sustainability pioneer since 1973 - the milestones at a glance:
For the Swiss family-owned company Mondaine Watch Ltd the topic of sustainability has been a key issue for almost 50 years. The Mondaine Group is arguably the world's leading ecological watch company. The Mondaine Group not only developed the world's first solar analogue wristwatch in 1973, but also produced its MONDAINE and M + WATCH brand watches from 100% post-consumer recycled metal in the 1990s - a true upcycling process. Recycle, Reduce and Reuse, and the careful use of resources are the central elements for ongoing improvements in sustainability of the Mondaine Group and brands. Starting in 2015, the Group has been offering bands made from leather alternatives such as recycled rPET felt, rPET nylon, cotton, cork, recycled waste plastic from the oceans and castor oil. In 2019, Mondaine Group built a photovoltaic power plant on the factory roof that produces up to 80% of its own power consumption. The Mondaine Group was the first watch company in the world to offer a watch recycling: since 2019, old watches (except for plastic watches from other brands) can be sent to their factory in Solothurn where they are dismantled and recycled as far as possible, on its way of cradle-to-cradle, a closed, value-preserving material cycle. However, though recycling is an important factor, so are renewable and more ecological raw materials: The group evaluates and tests new sustainable materials to find leather substitutes and works closely with experts and associations to do this. Such biological materials as leather substitutes can be expected in 2022, making all watches even more sustainable and more attractive for sustainable open-minded people. Our credo is: WE CARE, for our environment and for social aspects along the value chain.
More information about the Mondaine Group: http://www.mondaine-group.com/
