How we calculate carbon savings

Every new piece of office furniture comes with a carbon cost. Raw materials have to be extracted and processed, parts are shipped to a factory, and the product is manufactured. When you buy a refurbished item from us, that new item doesn’t need to be made. The figure on our product pages is our estimate of those avoided manufacturing emissions.

What the figure means

“Saves an estimated 72 kg CO₂e” means that buying the refurbished item instead of an equivalent new one avoids about 72 kg of carbon dioxide equivalent. That’s the emissions from making the new item, from raw materials up to the factory gate (life-cycle stages A1–A3).

CO₂e (carbon dioxide equivalent) combines all greenhouse gases into a single figure, expressed as the amount of CO₂ that would have the same warming effect.

Where our figures come from

We use the most specific data available for each product, in this order:

1. Manufacturer data. Where the manufacturer publishes an independently verified Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) for the model, we use its figure. For example, Herman Miller’s EPD for the Aeron chair made at its UK plant gives 80.6 kg CO₂e.
2. Industry averages. Otherwise we use category averages from the Furniture Industry Research Association (FIRA), the UK furniture industry’s research body. For example, the figure for a typical office task chair is 72 kg CO₂e.
3. No figure. Where neither source gives a credible figure, as with spare parts and accessories, we don’t show one.

What’s included, and what isn’t

Included: the emissions from manufacturing an equivalent new product.

Not included: delivery to you, use of the item, and its eventual end of life. These happen whether you buy new or refurbished, so they don’t change the comparison.

Refurbishing an item also has a smaller impact, from replacement parts, cleaning materials, workshop energy and collection. Our current figures don’t yet subtract this. We’re measuring it and will update our figures once we have reliable data.

An example

An office buys 25 refurbished task chairs. Using the industry average of 72 kg CO₂e per chair, that order avoids an estimated 1,800 kg (1.8 tonnes) of CO₂e compared with buying 25 new chairs.

Limitations

These figures are estimates. Category averages can’t reflect every model, size or material. Published figures also vary between manufacturers and methods, and some industry averages date from 2011. We aim to be conservative, and we replace averages with manufacturer data as it becomes available.

Common questions

Is this carbon offsetting? No. We don’t buy offsets. The figure shows emissions that are avoided because a new item doesn’t need to be made.

Why do some products have no figure? We only show a figure where we have a credible source for it. We’d rather show nothing than guess.

Reviewing our figures

Methodology version 1.0, published 1 November 2026. We review our figures every year. Savings shown on past orders stay at the version that was current when the order was placed.

Sources

• Furniture Industry Research Association (FIRA): Benchmarking Carbon Footprints of Furniture Products, feasibility study, 2011
• Manufacturer Environmental Product Declarations, verified to ISO 14025, referenced for each model where used