what we're doing more widely

Welcome to the page with all the fancy words and exciting numbers on it. If you’re into that kind of thing, pour yourself a nice cup of tea – it’s about to get scientifical.

Climate change is one of the biggest challenges facing us right now, and that's why we're doing everything we can to keep global warming below 1.5°C (basically, we don’t want the world’s temperature to rise more than that). But to do it, we need to stay on top of quite a few things.

Like our supply chain. Here's a diagram that shows the percentage of carbon emissions at each stage

supply chain

how we're going to tackle our carbon

reducing our carbon footprint

Our main aim is to reduce the carbon footprint of our drinks. That’s why in 2019 we sent off our carbon reduction pathway to be approved by the very-important-sounding Science Based Target (SBT) initiative. They were happy with everything, so by 2030, we’ve promised to reduce: 

• Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions  by 100% (a fancy way of saying emissions from our factories and vehichles)

• Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions by 50% per litre of finished product (the rest of our supply chain)

CO2 icon

going big on state of the art stuff

We've been sourcing renewable electricity in our offices for years, and we’re building our very own carbon-neutral drinks factory in Rotterdam. We’re calling it 'the blender' for short. Silly name, important building.

We’ve also got ourselves some of Europe’s first fully electric tanker trucks to carry our juice to and from the blender. They're pretty fancy.

• read more about the blender

• read more about our electric tanker trucks

electronic tonker truck

going carbon neutral by 2025

Our carbon neutral orange juice is the first step to becoming fully carbon neutral. Because according to some very clever scientists* if we’re going to stay below 1.5 degrees, we also need to restore nature and our forests. To get there, we’ll be supporting climate action projects through carbon credits and environmental charities all around the world.

But don’t just take our word for it. We’ve also been working with an organisation called South Pole, who tell us off if we make wild claims without backing them up. Thankfully, they’ve been through all our numbers, and have officially confirmed we can use their “certified carbon neutral product” logo for our orange juice in 2022.

South Pole are also linking us up with carbon-offsetting projects around the world. Each of them is certified to the ‘Verra verified carbon standard’, which you can read more about here. And if you haven’t had enough of reading more about things, then why not learn all about these projects below.  

*the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (so very clever)

• find out more about certified carbon neutral products

• find out more about our projects

planet

going net zero by 2040

Once we’ve reduced the carbon footprint of each drink by 50% by 2030, we’ll keep going until we’ve reduced our emissions to as close to zero as possible by 2040. 

That’s not to say we haven’t already started though – we use a fleet of electric zero emission trucks, our Rotterdam factory only uses renewable electricity, and we’ve got loads of other measures in place (plus big plans going forward).

net zero

a short interlude: what’s the difference between carbon neutral and net zero?

Brace yourself for an extremely exciting* metaphor:
 

*not a guarantee

water

working with suppliers

In 2020, 57% of our carbon emissions came from our ingredient suppliers, and 99% from our wider supply chain. But for many of our suppliers, carbon reduction is a new thing. That’s why we’ve created our Farmer Innovation Fund, to help our farmers reduce carbon and bring new ways of working to the industry.

read more here
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future bottles

It’s not just all about ingredients, we also want to find ways to shrink the impact on the planet of our bottles. By making them lighter we’ll be saving 2500 tonnes of plastic by 2023, but the big ask is for 2025. By then, we’re aiming to have none of our bottles made from fossil fuels, and instead from recycled or biobased material (as well as being recyclable).

find out more
electronic tonker truck

spreading the word

We reckon it’s not enough to just go at it alone. The more everyone works together, the healthier the planet will be, which is why you’ll often find us shouting from various rooftops about climate action. You can come and shout with us too, if you like. It’s a bit cold up here though, so bring a hat. 

spreading the word

launching the Big Rewild

We needed a whole extra page to talk about this, so head on over here to find out what it’s all about and how you can get involved.

what's it all about
logo big rewild

so, any burning questions?

question

It means we’ve worked out how much carbon it takes to make our orange juice, across the whole product life cycle. We then work with our partner South Pole to support projects that remove or stop the same amount of carbon from being released into the air. All this on top of carbon reduction across our supply chain.

It’s difficult to remove the carbon from some parts of our supply chain. Until we can switch to alternative options (which we have in some cases), we buy carbon action credits to support projects that avoid or remove CO2 from the atmosphere.  This handy video explains more if you're interested https://youtu.be/uaqwMEltIrc 

We’re going to be carbon neutral across everything as a business by 2025, but we wanted to start with orange juice (smooth and with bits, if you’re asking*) as it’s one of our biggest-selling drinks. We’re also hoping it’ll spark some good conversations around the breakfast table for families across Europe. 

*You are, this is an FAQ

Project 1:  
Envira Amazonia Tropical Forest Conservation 

Protects and conserves Brazilian tropical forest from logging and growing cattle ranches. Also helps biodiversity and supports local communities through sustainable farming programmes.   

For more info head here: https://a.southpole.com/public/media/301895/1895.pdf  

Project 2:   
Guanaré Forest Restoration

Restores damaged grasslands in Uruguay to improve soil quality and biodiversity, and suck up carbon from the atmosphere. Also creates job opportunities in this rural part of the country.  

For more info head here: https://a.southpole.com/public/media/302134/2134.pdf  

Project 3:   
Vaupés Forest Protection 

Helps 75 communities in Columbia who have protected their Amazonian forest for generations. Also supports sustainable land use, provides food and offers jobs for locals.  

For more info here head here: https://a.southpole.com/public/media/302291/2291.pdf  

By planting and protecting trees, mainly orchards across Europe. We’re working with a host of charities all over the continent, and a bunch of them plant or restore fruit orchards, to lock up carbon and increase biodiversity. Some of them even make cider, if that’s your bag.

Well done you. There are plenty of places to do this, but we work with South Pole (www.southpole.com), who you can use to buy offsets. But don’t forget, the most important thing you can do is to cut your emissions in the first place. 

As well as everything we’re doing to reduce our emissions, we wanted to work directly with charities to protect and restore natural ecosystems. Doing this helps lock up carbon and supports nature (which is also under threat). We wanted to talk to encourage our drinkers to help make a bigger change, as well.

We’re buying carbon action credits to support three projects with our partners South Pole, that will protect and restore forests. Trees are great carbon sinks (they literally suck carbon out of the air), so the more trees and healthy ecosystems, the more carbon they can absorb.  

We reckon that plastic bottles are the best option for our drinks at the minute. They have a smaller carbon footprint than glass and are recyclable (particularly if collected as part of a DRS [link to our campaign in Germany]). We’re also reducing the climate impact of our bottles by making them lighter and removing extra packaging where we can. 

In 2022 we’re working with a partner called South Pole to offset our carbon emissions. We chose these projects as they not only locked up carbon but also helped local communities. We also only support projects that have been certified by a standard (in this case by Verra).

It might well be, yes.

It is, yes.

You do not, no.

Maybe, we’ll have a think about it.