Climate Neutral Certified is seeking to bring some rigorous standards to the world of sustainability claims.
The nonprofit, which launched in 2019, has so far certified more than 330 brands, including dozens of food companies, that are offsetting their entire carbon footprint and taking steps to make their operations more sustainable. This year, Climate Neutral Certified said it plans to work with more than 500 brands as it seeks to differentiate companies that are taking meaningful action on sustainability from others that may be hyping their less impactful efforts.
In order to become certified Climate Neutral by the organization, companies must offset their carbon footprint by purchasing verified carbon credits, and must set emissions reductions targets that align with the Paris Agreement.
In an interview with SFA News Daily, Austin Whitman, CEO of Climate Neutral Certified, said it’s nearly impossible for a specialty food company—or any company, for that matter—to be 100 percent carbon neutral without purchasing carbon credits.
“People come into the process with a lot of hope that there are going to be obvious ways they can choose one alternative over another, and that’s going to reduce their emissions by a meaningful percentage,” he said.
What companies—especially small food manufacturers—often quickly learn as they start to analyze their carbon footprint is that they are dependent upon suppliers whose business practices they have little influence over. In addition, unless they are vertically integrated from farm to fork, companies’ options for truly carbon-neutral sourcing are limited.
“The biggest steps in the total footprint are the hardest to implement, because we still live in a world that’s dominated by fossil fuel production and conventional agriculture practices,” Whitman said.
That is why Climate Neutral Certified focuses on carefully vetting the carbon credits that are available to companies. Purchasing credits is one of the first steps most companies will need to take if they wish to become Climate Neutral Certified, after estimating their own carbon footprint using the organization’s calculator.
Over time, Whitman said, his hope is that companies will shift toward making more and more operational changes that minimize their own carbon footprint and reduce their dependence on carbon credits.
A carbon credit is a certificate that is generated when someone takes an action to eliminate or avoid the emission of one metric ton of greenhouse gas emissions, such as switching to renewable energy or engaging in reforestation projects. Climate Neutral Certified monitors the carbon credit market carefully and only allows certain third-party verifications to be used for its certification. Most companies should expect to pay about 0.5 to 1 percent of their annual revenues in carbon credits in order to become carbon neutral, according to Climate Neutral Certified.
Although organic and regenerative agriculture have come to be thought of as being more sustainable methods of food production than traditional farming practices, Whitman said their relative impact on the climate has not been quantified.
“Organic at best for most products has minimal benefits for the climate,” he said. “Regenerative probably has more significant benefits, but no one has produced compelling evidence because practices are fairly new.”
Among the specialty food companies that have already earned the climate neutral seal are Numi Organic Tea, Bonterra Organic Wine, and Cool Beans plant-based frozen burritos.
Bonterra, for example, said in a statement on the Climate Neutral website that it has offset its carbon emissions by purchasing carbon credits that support forestry projects, while it is working on projects to reduce the emissions from its farming equipment and other aspects of its operations, such as packaging.
Cool Beans, meanwhile, said it has purchased carbon credits related to forestry projects, renewables, and cookstoves, and is planning to minimize its carbon footprint going forward by limiting employee travel and transitioning to a sustainable web-hosting service. The company also said sustainability is baked into its mission as a plant-based food company.
“We continue to look for ways to reduce our carbon footprint further and hopefully will become climate positive in the future,” the company said in a statement on its website. “We continue to search for compostable or biodegradable packaging, and are eager for that technology to be readily available in the frozen aisle.”
Related: Complete Carbon Neutrality in Reach for Organic Valley; Hundreds of Brands Become Carbon Neutral Certified.