What Exactly is Carbon Neutral Shipping?

When most of us buy a product, we look at the ingredient list or product description to determine how sustainable it is. But some of the impact on our environment happens before and after the product is made. The majority of our daily purchases are made with materials that come from all around the globe, meaning that they require a pretty significant amount of fossil fuels during transport. 

In the United States, our largest source of greenhouse gas emissions comes from the transportation sector. While we may cycle and use public transportation until our heart’s content, humans aren’t the only thing being transported. 

Unless we return to the use of carrier pigeons or quickly develop a solar-powered drone delivery service, the items that end up in our homes are contributing to these transport-related emissions. 

While air travel for us seems like just a thing of the past, many of the products we buy are still jetsetting in order to make it to our doorsteps. And with the popularity of services like two-day shipping, these items are going further and faster than ever before—which requires something to fuel them. 

Maritime shipping (by sea) is the most carbon-friendly way to get products from A to B, and we’re attempting to make it even better for our planet. We’re packing our shipping containers fuller and more efficiently. 

Across our industry, companies only utilize around 70% of a ship’s space. We’re packing them 86% full—which means less trips and less greenhouse gas emissions. 

But these efforts are nothing compared to the fact that we’re using carbon neutral shipping, too! Carbon neutral shipping sounds great, but what is it exactly?

• We partner with an organization called Flexport, who partners with the Carbonfund.org Foundation to offer a carbon footprint offset program. 
• We’ve calculated the emissions of our international shipping and pay a fee to offset the equivalent of those emissions.
• Our annual fees are used to support projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Essentially, we “cancel out” the same amount that we use to ship our products.
• So far, we’ve supported projects that avoid deforestation in the Amazonian Basin, Brazil, convert landfill gas to renewable energy in the U.S., generate international wind energy, and electrify truck stops in the U.S. 
• Don’t just take our word for it! We’re verified by Carbonfund.org to use Carbonfree® shipping, too!