Innovation & Technology

The Allbirds Carbon Fund:
We’re Changing, So the Climate Doesn’t

We have a contract with our customers to continuously improve our products and business. We’ve relentlessly sought out new ways to lessen our environmental impact — and when we can’t find one, we invent it.

By Allbirds | Published 5 years ago | About a 2 minute read

Image: Allbirds

At Allbirds, we’ve never stopped looking for better ways to do things. We don’t see sustainability as just a “nice to have,” and as a Public Benefit Corporation, it’s woven into the very fabric of our company; the environment has held a seat at the table from the beginning. Unlike most brands, we challenged ourselves to build programs and solutions that minimize the carbon footprint into our supply chain right from the start. By sourcing natural and renewable materials — such as New Zealand family-farmed merino wool and sugarcane byproduct to replace petroleum in EVA — we’ve actively sequestered carbon through nearly every element of our bio-based shoes.

But we didn’t stop there. We have a contract with our customers to continuously improve our products and business. We’ve relentlessly sought out new ways to lessen our environmental impact — and when we can’t find one, we invent it. Where others see plastic bottles, we see recycled laces; where others see plants, we see green shoe soles. Next up, we’re working to remove the small amount of virgin plastic in our supply chain.

That said, by simply existing in this world, we create a carbon footprint. And while we love some footprints (like the ones you leave on a sandy beach), the carbon kind get us down. More importantly, businesses — whose footprints are way bigger than any individual’s — need to change.

That’s why we’re going 100 percent carbon neutral with the Allbirds Carbon Fund — a self-imposed internal carbon tax which funds emissions-reduction projects.

Globally, the footwear industry emits 700 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year. And while our environmental impact is much smaller than most, one tonne is still one too many. Beginning this year, for every tonne of carbon we emit as a business — from the sheep on our farms to the lights in our headquarters — the Allbirds Carbon Fund will support verified emissions-reduction projects, such as planting trees that capture and store carbon, and building wind energy to replace dirty fossil fuel energy. And beginning on Earth Day (April 22), Allbirds customers will be able to help us decide which projects we support with each new purchase — land, energy or air.

This is only the beginning. Just like with the rest of our brand, we’re making the commitment that the Allbirds Carbon Fund will continue to grow and change as we find new ways to get better. We’re out to prove that when you give the environment a seat at the board table, businesses can be part of the solution rather than part of the problem.

We’ll be the first to admit that this is a marathon, not a sprint, and that there’s much more work to be done. Luckily, we’ve got comfortable shoes to take us there.