Silhouette unveils sustainability initiatives

Silhouette pans to roll out solar panels across its Linz HQ buildings

Silhouette has announced that it has achieved carbon-neutral eyewear production (with offsetting).

Installing large solar panels on the roofs of its eyewear production facilities, along with further carbon reduction projects and offsetting, has resulted in a 50 per cent reduction in the brand’s carbon footprint over the last seven years, reducing emissions to approximately 2,000 tonnes last year alone.

Investment in solar energy ensures the brand now produces eyewear using 100 per cent climate-neutral green electricity. By 2023, Silhouette plans to install solar panels on all suitable roofs at the production and administrative buildings at its headquarters in Linz, Austria. Annually, this will prevent the release of 450 tonnes of CO2 emissions, the equivalent of what would require 13,361 trees to absorb, said the company.

Part of Silhouette’s long-term plan to cut out remaining emissions focuses on solar energy production in the Global South, a Gold Standard carbon offsetting project independently verified by TÜV Austria. Silhouette has purchased Gold Standard certificates for a six-megawatt solar energy farm in Kolanupaka, India.

With power grids still largely dominated by fossil fuels, Silhouette is championing a solar farm, which supplies 9,899MWh of clean energy each year to the local power grid, producing a cut of 9,535 tons of CO₂e (CO₂ equivalent) each year. The solar farm also improves air quality and living conditions locally, with a health camp in the works to provide essential medical treatment in cooperation with the nearby Kamineni Hospital for 400 people.

Silhouette has also committed to expanding its range of electric and hybrid alternatives, steadily phasing out combustion vehicles throughout its operations. Across transportation and supply chain, the company has long-term solutions in place to use electric vehicles now and in the future, with over a quarter of the company’s fleet currently being electric or hybrid.