Carbon Neutral Black Friday
We don't go in for Black Friday, instead, we champion the skilled people making our garments, the people that have laboured over the cutting or sewing to craft something that has real value.
This Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) weekend, we're doing something different. We’re offsetting all carbon emissions from order deliveries placed through our online store.
It's no surprise that shipping is a dirty process, with the transportation sector responsible for one-quarter of total global carbon emissions. For every package shipped, an average of one kilogram of carbon is emitted into the atmosphere. With Black Friday and Cyber Monday fuelling consumption rates and a high-traffic shopping weekend, this equates to an awful lot of delivery emissions.
Carbon offsets
Whether an order is delivered via boat, plane, train, or truck, almost all these vehicles still run on fossil fuels. To decarbonize the shipping industry, businesses need to adopt clean fuels and improve vehicle efficiency, among other things. It's all part of a bigger conversation that is slowly taking place, however, in the short term (and this BFCM weekend) carbon offsets are something we can tap into right now.
That’s why we are offsetting the shipping emissions of every order placed on our store between November 27-30. Whether you’re across the city or on the other side of the globe, carbon offset costs will be completely covered, at no cost to you.
Where will our offsets come from?
This weekend, our offsets are set by our commerce partner, who have done their due diligence to make sure these are high quality, scientifically and technologically sound offsets making a real difference fighting climate change. A percentage from each sale will go towards these offsets. Moving forward, we are looking at permanently offsetting all our delivery emissions with local nature-based offsets that are equally making a real difference in the fight against climate change.
- Pachama: A verified marketplace for forest carbon offsets. They connect environmentally-minded companies with projects that restore and protect forests, removing carbon from the atmosphere. Pachama uses satellite images and AI to validate and monitor every project on its platform. Specifically for BFCM, we purchased offsets from projects in Alaska, Uganda, and Colombia.
- Nori: A marketplace focused exclusively on carbon removal credits from verifiable sources. Currently, Nori is working with regenerative agriculture projects that connect farmers with buyers looking to negate their emissions with soil-based carbon sequestration.
- Soil Value Exchange: Focused on changing animal grazing methods on ranches to enable the soil to store far more carbon dioxide. Shopify was SVX’s first customer. Since our announcement in September, SVX has signed a second purchaser and is exploring collaborations with several ranching organizations.
- CarbonCure: Their technology injects CO₂ into concrete during the mixing process. The CO₂ then mineralizes, improving the concrete's strength and performance while permanently removing the carbon. The company recently closed a significant investment round to continue its international expansion. CarbonCure is used in nearly 300 concrete plants worldwide, resulting in the permanent storage of more than 90,000 tonnes of CO₂ emissions to date.
Of course, the best solution to tackle our impact on the planet would be to simply stop overconsuming. Buying less, wearing and caring for what we have for longer. Our purpose is to help understand the impact our purchasing habits have and to help leave a lighter carbon footprint.