How does Climate Neutral work?

This involves assessing the carbon footprint of each step in our operations, including

• Electrical consumption
• Natural gas consumption
• Business Air/Car travel & hotel stays
• Purchase Orders
• Capital Purchases
• Employee Commuting
• Downstream Shipping
• Upstream Shipping

Our Reduction Action Plan (RAP) involves detailed and time-bound goals to reduce our emissions, spearheaded by internal committees and oversee planning and goal execution

Food Waste:
• Using a TerraCycle box to recycle hard-to-recycle materials (like commercial chewing gum, plastic-lined coffee cups, and chip wrappers)
• composting in the office
• shopping for snacks at our local bulk and packaging-free store
• promoting and leading education around food waste in the office through mini-trainings

• Installed smart technology for lights
• Track our electric-energy consumption
• Set reasonable year-round goals to reduce our electricity usage

• De-incentivize “hassle-free” returns
• Educate customers on the environmental impact of trend-based shopping and impulse buying
• track returns and set goals for overall reduction

Product Sustainability:
• Reduce product packaging waste
• Support brands with reducing their own packaging emissions

Employee Emissions

We worked with Climate Neutral to calculate the cost of offsetting our carbon emissions and selecting projects to support

• Reforestation in Brazil (2020): We support Fazenda Sao Nicolao, which is a reforestation project that works in the Amazon rainforest / Atlantic forest boundary. It is the first reforestation project certified by Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) and was founded with the intention of reforesting lands decimated in the 1980s and 1990s for cattle ranching and coffee production. The goal of the reforestation project is to increase the forest’s carbon stock and increase its biodiversity by replanting 54 native Brazilian plants into the region.
• Avoided Deforestation in Peru (2020): This project supports brazil nut harvesting as a secondary income source for local communities to reduce deforestation. In addition, this project is working to educate locals on the ecological value associated with keeping the rainforest intact.
• Agrocortex Forestry in the Amazon (2021, 2022): This project involves the protection of some of the most threatened forests on the planet in an important biodiversity corridor that connects the Andes to the Amazon. Located in the Southwest Amazon, this initiative contributes to the long-term conservation of forestry in the area and serves as a barrier to deforestation.

• Wind Energy in China (2020): The Gansu Province Wind Project increases electricity generation from wind-powered technology to support greater renewable energy usage throughout Northwest China. Not only does this project reduce the dependency on fossil fuels but it also supports the development of a greener industry in the region for local job stimulation.
• Renewable Energy in the US (2021): This project called the Dempsey Ridge Wind Project generates wind near Cheyenne, Oklahoma to reduce dependence on fossil fuels in the area for energy production and use.

• Clean Cookstoves in Kenya (2020): This project involves the manufacturing and distribution of fuel-efficient Jikokoa cookstoves throughout Kenya which helped prevent carbon from entering our atmosphere and reduced deforestation associated with fuel collection.
• Biomass in India (2020): This project supports renewable heat production and alternative crop residue disposal for two small cogeneration plants in Punjab, India.
• Landfill Gas in China (2021): This project called the Haicheng Landfill Gas Project is to reduce methane emissions from the Haicheng Landfill site in Laojianshan, China from entering our atmosphere. The power generated is expected to be 16,000 MWh
• Landfill Gas in Illinois (2022): This project involves the capture and combustion of methane via combustion engines at the Clinton Landfill in Clinton, Illinois where electricity generated is sold to the local grid for public use.