Climate Action is Our Business
“Climate change is now everyone’s business, even if it’s not your core business.”
Climate neutrality is a state in which human activities result in no net effect on the climate system. This requires balancing of residual greenhouse gas emissions with reductions or removals.
How often do you hear about a company committing to achieve “net-zero” carbon emissions by 2030? 2040? 2050? These future pledges sound good. But right now, it’s not getting the job done.
In 2019, global carbon emissions hit an all-time record level of 36.7 billion metric tons of CO2, breaking the previous record from 2018. Following a temporary dip in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, emissions rebounded in 2021 to 36.4 billion tCO2e.
As emission levels surge, climate change only gets worse. Scientists and policymakers agree that global warming beyond 2 degrees above the pre-industrial average would pose large and escalating risks to humans and wildlife as we know it. To further curb the potential of extreme weather, sea-level rise, heat waves, droughts, and water stress, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) now emphasizes a 55% reduction before 2030 to limit the increase to 1.5 degrees.
What’s Driving Climate Change?
Human consumption.
For example, our industry (i.e. consumer electronics) is responsible for about 3.7% of global greenhouse emissions due to the resources required to create and deliver products to consumers all over the world. This is predicted to snowball over the next decade, potentially reaching as high as 14% of emissions by 2040. All together, household goods and services account for 60% of all global greenhouse gas emissions.
Companies like us must take aggressive action to reduce & remove emissions from our supply chain, immediately. Paper straws and carpools won’t get us to net-zero. Brands making far-off promises isn’t enough. A credible climate plan is now mission critical for all businesses. Carbon accountability involves investing beyond our value chain to accelerate the changes needed.
If consumers demand this higher standard, companies will respond.
The Trusted, Independent Climate Label
How do you find companies that are answerable for their carbon? Not just talking about climate change, but actually doing something about it right now?
Look for the Climate Neutral Certified label. It’s the globally-recognized standard for carbon accountability.
From Carbon Accounting to Carbon Accountability
STEP 1: Measure
Measuring carbon emissions is important - but it’s only the first step. By first understanding our company’s true footprint, only then can we make adjustments that lead to direct action on decarbonizing across our entire business.
We measured our 2021 carbon footprint at 1,539 metric tonnes of CO2. This number includes all of the impacts of operating our company from production to delivering the final product to customers. To calculate, we analyzed all emissions generated across Scope 1, 2, and 3; from manufacturing and shipping our products, to evaluating our entire supply chain, employee commuting, business travel, and utility consumption.
STEP 2: Offset
To compensate for 100% of our measured CO2 output, we invested in several verified carbon reduction projects, enabling us to take responsibility for historical emissions that can’t be reduced. These projects include:
- The Agrocortex REDD Project, which aims to avoid deforestation by preserving and protecting 186,067 hectares of land in the most threatened areas in Brazil, a key biodiversity corridor consisting of 100% Amazon rainforest. The project is estimated to achieve over 14.5 million metric tonnes in emissions reductions over a 30 year period.
- The Dempsey Ridge Wind Project, focused on generating wind energy near Cheyenne, Oklahoma to reduce dependence on fossil fuel energy. This wind farm helps power approximately 46,000 homes per year and corresponds to a reduction of nearly 225,000 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere, annually.
- The Haicheng Landfill Gas Project, which reduces methane emissions from the landfill site in Laojianshan, China. Methane is roughly 30 times stronger than CO2 emissions. This project collects landfill gas and uses it for electricity, generating 16,000 MWh, annually, and reducing 80,000 metric tonnes of carbon each year.
STEP 3: Reduce
Out of all three steps, this is the most critical.
Nimble was founded on the idea that personal tech accessories should be made better for the planet. As product makers, we’re responsible for our own impact on Earth’s climate. This means designing and manufacturing all Nimble products using certified recycled materials, 100% plastic-free packaging, and shipping everything carbon neutral. We believe it’s also our duty to reclaim more technology goods than we put out into the world. Through our free nationwide mail-in & drop-off recycling programs, we provide every person in our community the chance to help close the loop on electronic waste.
In addition to these ongoing efforts, we’ve taken our learnings from this year’s certification process to set additional goals that lower our carbon output. This led to 1) replacing air freight shipments with ocean transport of all goods to reduce emissions in our supply chain from upstream shipping by 72%, and 2) decreasing the size and weight of new products & packaging to reduce emissions from materials used by 52%.
When it comes to fighting climate change, every minute counts. It’s why carbon reduction isn’t part of what we do. It’s the heart of what we do. Our hope is that Climate Neutral Certified becomes the new standard for corporate action everywhere.
To learn more about Climate Neutral, visit climateneutral.org. Explore Nimble’s Climate Neutral profile here.
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