David Brown Santasalo expand Carbon Footprint Products Reporting to Girth Gears

16.01.2025

As a part of David Brown Santasalo’s (DB Santasalo) ongoing commitment to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), the global gear manufacturer introduced “Carbon Footprint of Products (CFP) Cradle to Gate CO2 equivalent” reporting for all of their mining products in early 2022. Since that time, they have continued to develop this groundbreaking project and are pleased to introduce the CFP Cradle to Gate CO2eq for their segmented girth gear range of products!

Setting the Benchmark
In 2021, David Brown Santasalo was one of the first gearbox manufacturers to commit to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). Their SBTi commitments include reducing absolute scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 53.9% by 2032 from a 2021 base year. Additionally, 67% of DB Santasalo suppliers by emissions covering purchased goods and services will have science-based targets by 2027. DB Santasalo further commits that 70% of its customers by emissions covering use of sold products, will have science based targets by 2027. Their targets were submitted for official evaluation by the SBTi Validation Team and following a rigorous review against the SBTi science-based criteria, DB Santasalo’s targets were officially approved.

The initial groundbreaking study
The initial project calculated the Carbon Footprint of Products (Cradle to Gate CO2eq) of all of their mining products, manufactured in the purpose-built, energy efficient factory in Jyväskylä, Finland. This project has enabled DB Santasalo to develop a better understanding of the Scope 3 inventory of their value chain, in line with their SBTi commitments. 

Did you know? “Cradle to Gate” is the process from raw materials through to the finished product, prior to being shipped to the customer or end user? It means from the raw materials through to the factory gates!

Developing CFP for Girth Gears
In order to build on this knowledge, DBS engineering specialist’s identified a need to screen the greenhouse gas emissions associated with their multi-segmented ring gears and develop a simple tool for emission calculation. In this way DBS engineers could evaluate the impact of varying supplier and distribution scenarios on greenhouse gas emissions.  

This study, undertaken in accordance with ISO14067,  focused on three DB Santasalo girth gear products, comprising one spring mounted and two flange mounted products. The system boundary was defined as cradle-to-gate + distribution ensuring that the emissions profile was clearly understood across the life-cycle phases including raw material supply, transport, manufacturing processes and onward distribution to the customer. The manufacturing phases included the sub-contracting foundry and heat treatment phases, together with the DBS machining, painting and assembly.  Use phase and end of life phase were excluded from the study.  

The carbon footprint calculation tool analysed all inputs and outputs including energy consumption in manufacturing, transport, packaging and ancillary materials, water consumption and waste generated. The results were presented as kg CO2eq/per 1 kg of product, per life cycle phase, in order to understand the varying impacts on emissions of each phase. The kg CO2eq was then multiplied by the  product mass to provide the total carbon footprint of each of the products once manufactured and delivered to the customer.

It was identified that the greatest proportion of emissions are associated with the foundry production processes due to the energy intensive nature of the industry. The second largest element of climate impact was the raw material supply. The transport element of both raw materials to manufacturing and that of the finished product to customer was limited.  Emissions associated with DBS machining and assembly were also minimal, primarily as a result of the Jyväsklyä facility benefiting from hydro-electric power and district heating.

This is an outstanding achievement for the business and continues to position David Brown Santasalo at the forefront of leading the industry in sustainable practices and working towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions. We look forward to continuing to expand this programme across further industrial products.

To discover more about David Brown Santasalo, and in particular their girth gear range of products, please visit their website: dbsantasalo.com.

Share this article

LinkedIn
See all news