BERLIN and WADDINXVEEN, Netherlands, March 3 /PRNewswire/ --

- Nature More and Soil More at the Product Carbon Footprint Summit in Berlin

Practitioners and experts in product CO2 balancing met on 26 and 27 February in Berlin to discuss concrete possibilities for climate protection by business enterprises. ...for the first time, all the relevant international participants in the field of 'Product Carbon Footprinting' (PCF) are [coming] together for the first summit meeting of the PCF World Forum in Berlin, to exchange their shared experiences of determining and communicating product-related CO2 balances, states a press release from the PCF Forum. Heavily involved with a central presentation and a working group are the organisations created by the Dutch bio-enterprise Eosta: the Nature More Foundation and the company Soil More International. Both are already well beyond the stage of theoretical considerations and can highlight economically and ecologically attractive methods of achieving climate-friendly consumption that is also transparent for consumers.

The companies involved in PCF (Product Carbon Footprint) (BASF, dm-drogerie markt, DSM, Frosta, Henkel, REWE Group, Tchibo, Tetra Pak, T-Home and the Tengelmann Group) have determined the CO2 footprint for 15 products in a pilot trial. The main point of interest here is the global networking of all relevant parties active in this area. When we first announced the CO2 values for the transport of organic fruit from overseas just over 2 years ago, we seemed to be standing pretty much alone in the world, reports Volkert Engelsman, founder and CEO of Eosta and initiator of both the Nature More Foundation and the company Soil More International. A little later, we were then able to provide a TÜV-certified 'Full Product Cycle Assessment' for many of our products. Furthermore, by purchasing certified emissions certificates which were generated by organic growers through the use of special composting techniques, we were able to offset the CO2 balances achieved and thus guarantee the CO2 neutrality of a product from grower to shelf. That was about a year ago, when Eosta, together with Nature More and Soil More, presented the world's first climate neutral products from the international organic industry. In a manner of speaking, it was our aim to 'make a square out of the circle', continues Engelsman, High quality organic products, which are fairly traded, which offer the consumer complete transparency and which do not harm the climate. Even if the visionary from Waddinxveen in the Netherlands was initially mocked as a Utopian, it now appears that the trio of Eosta, Nature More and Soil More really works:

Eosta has been trading organically with growers from developing and newly industrialised countries for 17 years, treating the local farmers as partners and providing intensive advice.

Nature More was initially developed as a concept within Eosta, but has been an independent foundation since 2004, promoting social and ecological development among growers on one hand and explaining the history behind the product and the product-specific CO2 balance to the end consumer on the other - all under the slogan Meet the Grower.

Lastly, Soil More was also created from the combined efforts of Eosta and Nature More, to create ecologically meaningful and economically effective additional benefits for farmers in such economically disadvantaged areas of the world. In the case of composting green waste (which, if allowed to rot with little or no oxygen, generates methane, which in turn harms the climate), we killed two birds with one stone: The formula is simple: the farmers can use the compost and receive additional income because they generate 'Carbon Credits' by composting. These are emissions rights which can be traded thanks to our recognition by the UN Climate Council. This was certified at the beginning of 2008 by TÜV Nord. Tobias Bandel, director of Soil More International explains the concept, which, although rather complicated at first glance, is impressive in its logic.

It is also logical that Soil More initially provided its parent company Eosta with Carbon Credits, so that its products are climate neutral from grower to shelf. Since then, the company has also been working intensively with other companies in all parts of the world, such as Weleda (Netherlands), Dovex (USA), Lebensbaum (Germany), Alnatura (Germany), Daltex and Magrabi-Agriculture (Egypt), Sekem (Egypt), TWS (Technische Werke Schussental - Germany).

Engelsman concludes, We were looking for an all-round solution for our niche. We have found a concept that may well encourage enterprises in completely different sectors to look for innovative solutions for climate-friendly consumption themselves - or simply to work with us.

Further information: http://www.eosta.com http://www.natureandmore.com http://www.soilandmore.com Press server: http://natureandmore.zukunftsnetz.org

Volkert Engelsman, Phone: +31(0)180-635500