I’m extremely happy to announce that Tripulse is now officially Climate Neutral Certified.
In our recent blog post we already announced that we are committed to be certified and why we think that’s so important.
While Tripulse has sustainability at the very core from day one and we have brought the CO2 emissions connected to our brand and products to a very low level from the very start, there are still CO2 emissions that occur as part of running a business and making products.
We exist to protect our planet, people and health. And for us, it’s important to do whatever we hold in our power to help combat climate change, which is the single biggest threat to humanity and life on Earth. And that is why we became Climate Neutral Certified.
Together with 300+ other Climate Neutral Certified brands we are now taking meaningful action for the climate.
Why now?
Because we simply don’t have any time to waste.
Globally, we emit almost 60 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases every year. These are the carbon emissions that cause climate change, and the fashion industry, including the production of all the clothes which people wear, is responsible for around 10% of these emissions due to the resources and energy required to make and deliver the products (read more details about it here).
If we don’t take responsibility for this problem now, then there’s no way we’ll hit the 2050 goals set out by the Paris Climate Agreement. These are make-or-break goals. Reach them, and we avoid the devastating effects of climate change. Miss them, and life on Earth will change for all of us and the billions of people on our precious planet.
We’re acting now because scientifically-vetted solutions to climate change exist, and they are luckily accessible to brands like ours. We know that carbon emissions are the root cause of climate change, and we understand how our activities lead to greenhouse gas emissions. All that’s left to do is connect the dots.
What does it mean to be Climate Neutral Certified?
Starting today, you will see the Climate Neutral Certified label on our digital channels, our packaging and products. This shows that we are officially certified and that you can rest assured that all we do including our products are climate neutral.
Climate Neutral is a nonprofit committed to solving climate change by making carbon neutrality simple and accessible. The label is essentially shorthand for the process outlined below. Austin Whitman, CEO of Climate Neutral says, “Consumers hold massive power to shape the economy, and their power is exerted through the actions of the brands they support. With our climate label, we’re helping consumers find the brands that are willing to invest immediately in climate solutions.”
We all vote with our wallet, and each of us has a choice which vote to make.
How did we get there?
We are doing our share to eliminate carbon emissions. We partnered with Climate Neutral to measure, offset, and reduce last year's carbon emissions. This process took a significant amount of time and resources from our team, but ultimately that’s what it takes and it’s a reasonable cost compared to the threat of climate change.
These are the three steps we took to get Climate Neutral Certified:
1. Measure
We measured our 2020 carbon footprint at 16 tonnes. To arrive at this number, we used Climate Neutral’s BEE emission estimator which reflects company behavior by sector and country and which measures emissions very "generously".
It includes emissions created from making and delivering our products, including supply chain emissions, team commuting, business travel, and more. These are the so-called scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions scope per the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and include the entirety of a carbon footprint from a company’s activities.
It’s important to highlight that indeed all emissions tied to our company are included, not only those linked to our products or shipping. As only by considering the entirety can we then be climate neutral as a company.
2. Offset
We “zeroed-out” these emissions by purchasing 18.4 carbon credits which even includes a 15% markup for assurance.
One carbon credit is a certificate generated when someone takes an action to eliminate or avoid the emission of one metric tonne of greenhouse gas emissions. These 18.4 carbon credits support a portfolio of projects from nature-based solutions including avoiding deforestation, tree-planting, soil health and mangrove protection.
Climate Neutral buys the carbon credits on our behalf from the voluntary market. We will update you with more details on the projects that we supported once we received this information from Climate Neutral.
3. Reduce
Last, but not least, we created an Reduction Action Plan to help lower the emissions we produce over the next 12-24 months. The actions include minimizing air travel for business trips, choosing remote working and digital events where possible, and reducing emissions related to shipping by minimizing return shipments.
We will share more details on our reduction plan and why we chose these actions in the coming weeks.
What happens next?
Now we are officially Climate Neutral Certified. But we don’t stop here and there is always more to do.
In the next months and year we’ll be taking action on our reduction plan and bringing our CO2 emissions down even further. After a year’s time, we’ll measure our emissions again and repeat the process.
Our ultimate goal is to become carbon negative.
We are already now doing additional efforts to be more than neutral by compensating more than required, and do this by extra climate-compensating all our shipments to our customers as well as occasional additional tree planting. This makes us more than “just” neutral. But there is no standard or measure for carbon negativity just yet so at this point Climate Neutral certification is as far as it gets in terms of standards.
To The Future
We’re thrilled to be in good company with this year’s Climate Neutral Certified brands. We believe in Climate Neutral’s mission of taking action now to solve a problem that we understand to be an urgent threat. We’re glad you’re with us for the journey. Let’s work together to tackle climate change faster.
If you have any questions in regards to our Climate Neutral journey, we'd love to hear from you.
With love and to a better future,
Franziska (founder of Tripulse)
