Our Differentiator - Research and development for biodynamic plant breeding

Research and development is a key element for us and crucial for successful seed multiplication. Therefore, Living Seeds International has established a network of scientific centers participating in research programs.

SEMENTES VIVAS
A climate neutral company

Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time. Every step counts on the way to using our resources and fragile environment in a conscious manner. Therefore, sustainability and climate protection traditionally are at the centre of our value culture at SEMENTES VIVAS. Our company was founded in 2015 and is one of the pioneers of organic seed production, based in Idanha-a-Nova, in central Portugal, close to the border with Spain. We specialize on seed and vegetable production. Our team and the independent farmers we work with farm according to the principles of biodynamics, with the ambition to be an ecological and economic model of sustainability. We specialise in local seeds adapted to the Mediterranean climate. While we strive to work our lands as environmentally friendly as possible, the production, storage, packaging and distribution of our seeds as well as other activities carried out on our farm cause emissions of greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. In terms of climate, we have a responsibility to focus on the emissions we cause, quantify the climate impact of our company and take appropriate action to mitigate and offset our greenhouse gas emissions as much as possible. Together with our German-based sustainability partner AIM - Advice in Motion GmbH, we carried out a project in 2022 to calculate our first corporate carbon footprint. In the process, we recorded direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions we originate, using the internationally established standard of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. Our ambitious goal was to achieve climate neutrality for SEMENTES VIVAS. Our first carbon footprint calculation resulted in a total emission of 118 tonnes of CO2-equivalents based on consumption in the calendar year 2022. All climate-damaging greenhouse gases were considered in our calculation, expressed in CO2-equivalents according to their individual warming potential. We considered Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions as defined in the Greenhouse Gas Protocol plus selected Scope 3 emissions:

• Scope 1: all direct emissions, notably fuel consumption, at SEMENTS VIVAS,

• Scope 2: all indirect emissions stemming from electricity we have purchased and used at our premises in Portugal,

• Scope 3: we have considered other important indirect emissions at SEMENTES VIVAS, such as upstream fuel and energy-related emissions, emissions due to business travels, employees commuting to our farm and even emissions attributable to home office work of our client-facing colleagues in France, Spain, Germany and Switzerland.

Although the inclusion of Scope 3 emissions is voluntary, we felt it was appropriate to include as many of these as possible. We excluded emissions that do not contribute significantly to our overall carbon footprint and when data was not available at this point in time, for example for emissions due to waste, logistic and purchased goods. We are conducting further research to broaden our Scope 3 coverage as much as possible with future calculations.

We define climate neutrality as CO2-equivalents neutrality and facilitate this by compensating our unavoidable emissions. We compensate by investing in a certified climate protection project, the Paradigm Healthy Cookstoves and Water Treatment Project in Kenia. The project is certified by the internationally recognized Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) seal of approval for high quality climate protection projects. The purpose of this project is the dissemination of improved energy efficient cookstoves in the Republic of Kenya. The project will replace traditional cooking devices with energy efficient cooking ovens, thus reducing the consumption of wood and charcoals. The project also helps to achieve further sustainable development goals that are important to us at SEMENTES VIVAS, such as improving health and providing local income opportunities. In total, 150 tonnes of CO2e were offset in December 2022, including a safety surcharge on our calculated emissions of 118 tonnes. The following link leads to the VERRA registry and confirms the decommissioning of emissions for SEMENTES VIVAS: Verra Registry.

With our climate protection initiative, we are among the pioneers in Portugal. Nevertheless, we are consistently pursuing our climate protection path further and have initiated measures to reduce our emissions in the coming years:

• Switch to green electricity,

• Increase the production of our own clean electricity through photovoltaic,

• Increase energy efficiency and save energy consumption,

• Focus on regional suppliers and partners to reduce transport distances.

We will continue to improve our carbon footprint by avoiding and reducing emissions and offsetting unavoidable emissions to keep SEMENTES VIVAS climate neutral in the future. Our sustainability project partner will therefore calculate our carbon footprint on an annual basis. The next calculation is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2023. Climate protection at our company is on track, making continuous progress, and we hold this as an important priority at SEMENTES VIVAS.