CO₂-neutral production with carbon offsetting

What good are the best premium glasses without a beautiful world around us to look at? As a family business, the Silhouette Group thinks long-term and has the future of the planet in mind. Since September 2022, the company’s eyewear production is carbon neutral thanks to carbon reduction actions and offsetting projects independently verified by TÜV Austria. The full-service eyewear brand is continually working to slash CO₂ emissions even further through its environmentally friendly policies. And the results speak for themselves: In just seven years, the company has cut its CO₂ emissions in half, reducing them to around 2,000 tons last year.

Solar panels on every roof
By 2023, the Silhouette Group plans to have installed solar panels on all suitable roofs of the production and administrative buildings at its company headquarters. From 2020 to 2021, the company installed over 35,000 square feet of rooftop solar panels. Another 43,000 square feet will be installed by the end of 2023. After that, Silhouette International will be able to self-generate 13% of the energy it needs to produce its eyewear each year (1,142,000 kWh). This will prevent 450 tons of CO₂ emissions annually. This is equivalent to the amount of CO₂ that it would take 13,361 trees to absorb. The Silhouette Group is also switching to using electric vehicles. Currently, over a quarter of the company’s fleet is already electric or hybrid.

Production powered by 100 % green electricity
To create its premium eyewear, the Silhouette Group relies on the help of some powerful elements: sunlight, wind and water. As a result, the global market leader in rimless premium eyewear uses only CO₂-free, sustainable, green electricity. This results in a significant reduction in CO₂ emissions, because electricity is the most widely used form of energy in eyewear production.

Gold Standard projects in the Global South
The Silhouette Group is committed to projects that continuously reduce its carbon footprint. The remaining 2,000 tons of CO₂ that the Austrian company has emited last year is offset through purchasing certificates from social Gold Standard projects that have been proven to reduce greenhouse gases while supporting local ecosystems and the people who live in them.

The Silhouette Group’s three brands each promote a different Gold Standard project. The parent brand Silhouette is focusing on solar power in the Global South by supporting a 6-megawatt solar panel farm in India in its first year. The urban lifestyle brand NEUBAU EYEWEAR with its sustainable brand philosophy is supporting a reforestation project called BaumInvest in Costa Rica. And sports eyewear brand evil eye invests in a project that reflects its own powerful brand values: building a hydraulic power plant in Colon, Honduras. By supporting these projects, among others, the Silhouette Group is proving its commitment to protecting our planet for generations to come.