1kg CO2e – materials

What impact does our material have on the climate? 1kg CO2e is an exhibition first shown at the Stockholm Furniture Fair 2023 together with EY Doberman and called Now or Never. After that the material exhibition has been around in different ways, right now one version is shown at the Arper showroom in Stockholm. The exhibition always display different materials all in the amount of 1kg of CO2e emission. So the piles of material vary a lot in size but they all have the same amount of emission 1kgCO2e. Materials are shown together with their climate impact. By measuring carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e) – the metric for all greenhouse gases not just carbon, is used to understand the climate impact of  for example products – we can clearly see that our choice of materials is important. A single chair can cause everything from a few kilograms of CO2e, to several hundred.

For furniture, the material choices we make as an industry typically accounts for around 50% of the carbon footprint. Material choices do matter. This is why we have dedicated this exhibit to materials and the invisible differences between them. In the exhibit you can see how much of different materials you get for 1 kg of CO2e. What materials do you choose for the future?

To achieve climate safety, by 2030, each person on the planet should emit no more than approximately 2,5 tonnes of CO2e per year. Today, Swedes on average, emit around 10 tonnes per year. This means that we now have 4 years to cut emissions by around 75%. If we assume that the climate footprint of furniture has to follow the same reduction curve – then we have precious little time to change how we produce and nurture furniture to give people access to seating, comfort, relaxation, beauty and all of the other things that furniture does.