We previously announced becoming Climate Neutral Certified, and now we have a detailed footprint report to share! In our effort to become carbon neutral, we measured and analyzed our 2020 carbon footprint, then offset our total greenhouse gas emissions for the year through supporting a variety of carbon sequestration projects. Through this process, we discovered that our 2020 carbon footprint was equal to 256 metric tonnes (tCO2e)! This is equivalent to 30.8 homes' energy use for 1 year or 55.7 passenger vehicles driven for 1 year— that's a lot! Here's a breakdown of our largest footprint drivers:
Manufacturing
Our manufacturing process makes up 66.2% of our energy consumption, which includes the following at our shared manufacturing facility:
- Gas & electricity are used in the production of all our products.
- Steam & hot water supply services.
Materials
The materials we use for our products make up 28.4% of our energy consumption use of gas & electricity for the production & transport of:
- Raw materials needed for our products, including emissions released from extracting ingredients.
- Packaging materials including paper, plastic, and glass
Shipping
Shipping includes the transport of finished Seed Phytonutrient products to our distribution center, retailers, and consumers. This process makes up 2.6% of our energy consumption as a brand.
Corporate Utilities
As a brand with no physical headquarters, our estimated at-home electricity consumption used to power our company-owned computers makes up 0.8% of our total consumption.
Capital Purchases
Machinery purchased specifically for the production of Seed Phytonutrients products makes up 1.5% of our total consumption.
What We're Doing About It...
Offsetting
We’ve offset our 2020 greenhouse gas emissions entirely through purchasing verified "carbon credits.” One credit equals one metric tonne of carbon being offset. These carbon credits are essentially financial investments in climate change solutions. See our Climate Neutral page to learn more.
We're investing in:
- Forest protection
- Geothermal energy
- Converting landfill gas to energy
Our Reduction Plan
We commit to recalculating our emissions and re-certifying with Climate Neutral each year. We’ll reduce our emissions by streamlining some of our manufacturing processes and making major changes to our packaging, so keep an eye out for the transformation!