Our journey towards Carbon Negative

At Paragon Studio, we’ve worked hard to produce a unique dumbbell that is made with precision and to an exceptionally high standard. We are taking sustainability seriously and so we’ve made it our mission to assess the impact our dumbbells have on the environment so that we can learn how to balance our footprint and take the right steps as a responsible brand.

Who was involved in this work?

For this project, we wanted to carry through our brand’s precision and premium philosophy into our environmental accounting. So we used a third-party sustainability partner who provided us with a robust methodology. They provided all the necessary data capture instruction and engaged with us, our office team and our suppliers to collect as much primary data as possible to meet the reporting criteria and make independent calculations.

Which method did we use?

We carried out a cradle-to-grave Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of our Diabolo Dumbbells which gave everyone in our team, from the office through to the supply chain, several key insights for us to reduce and/or mitigate our footprint over time. This type of product carbon footprint report includes an assessment of all greenhouse gases required by the UNFCCC/Kyoto Protocol, and they are converted to CO₂ equivalents (CO₂eq). The GHGs are assessed to the 100-year Global Warming Potential (GWP) values, as defined in IPCC Assessment Reports.

Why have we conducted this study?

The LCA allowed us to understand more about the components and materials that go into making our dumbbells and their packaging. The report showed us the carbon emissions equivalents (CO2e) of obtaining raw materials, manufacturing and processing, energy usage, waste, the use-phase of the products and any associated impacts, the delivery of our Diabolo Dumbbells to our customers and finally, the end-of-life treatment.

What are they key findings from our independent report?

1. Our sustainably sourced wooden handles account for <1% of the product carbon footprint however we assessed the different wood types for their avoided CO2 emissions from wood carbon storage.
2. Most of our product carbon footprint (over 90%) comes from the steel we use to make Diabolo Dumbbells.
3. Our Diabolo Dumbbells are plastic-free.
4. There is no environmental impact in the use-phase of the life cycle.
5. Our Diabolo Dumbbells are 100% recyclable.
6. We already use recycled materials in some of our packaging components.
7. We use packaging materials which are recyclable.

What comes next?

We have commenced the process of selecting an offsetting partner, so that we can make our Diabolo Dumbbells 100% sustainable. This will be done through investment in Carbon Credits which cover our yearly footprint from dumbbells sold, plus awe will invest an extra 10%. This will mean our dumbbells are the first dumbbells on earth to be truly certified carbon negative.