How Companies Can Reduce Their Carbon Footprint with PDF
We are all encouraged to adopt a more resource-conscious lifestyle. This is not about giving things up, but about rethinking how we handle limited resources, both privately and professionally. For companies in particular, PDFs and digital signatures offer a powerful way to reduce their carbon footprint.
What does the carbon footprint have to do with PDF?
The carbon footprint describes the biologically productive area of the Earth needed to sustain a person’s lifestyle over time. At present, the Earth needs more than one and a half years to regenerate what humanity consumes in one year (Source: Federal Agency for Civic Education). Put simply: on average, we take too much from the planet. It cannot regenerate fast enough to maintain ecological balance.
That is why action is needed in all areas of life. For example: every document opened digitally instead of printed saves paper and ink. And when digital signatures are used in business processes, even fewer documents need to be printed for signing.
Good reasons to use PDF in a more resource-efficient way
Using PDF instead of printing on paper...
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...not only saves paper and ink costs, but also protects the environment, since paper production is highly energy-intensive and generates substantial CO2 emissions.
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...reduces packaging and transportation costs. PDF files can be shared quickly and easily by email or cloud storage.
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...improves efficiency in business processes. PDF files are easy to process, searchable, and quick to share. This saves both time and money.
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...is also suitable for more cost-effective long-term archiving (for example as PDF/A), since expensive physical archives or storage space are no longer required.
Of course, processing, storing, and sending PDF files also requires energy, which is a limited resource. Here too, everyone should work as efficiently as possible by focusing on data economy and data minimization.
Calculate your carbon footprint savings
Adobe offers a calculator on this website to estimate how much paper can be saved and how digital signatures can help reduce your carbon footprint. With just a few inputs, you can quickly get a sense of the potential savings.
Why PDF and not another file format?
PDF files (Portable Document Format) can be opened and displayed on all computers regardless of platform or operating system. Their formatting remains consistent everywhere. Few file formats have become such a de facto standard as PDF, and it will continue to play an important role, especially in business environments.
Even if using PDF is only one measure to reduce your carbon footprint, it is an important step in the right direction. With solutions like webPDF, we help companies take this step even further.