Few things are more important than protecting our planet for future generations. As a company, we strive to do our part to preserve and restore the world around us. Today, we’re honoured to share another step forward on our journey to becoming a climate leader: Rocket Charities and TCCC have earned the status of a Climate Positive company for transportation. This meaningful certification comes from Earthly, a global movement led by experts and businesses in partnership with nature. The Earthly platform connects businesses to high-quality and effective, nature-based solutions. To earn this certification, we have worked to offset 110% of our total carbon emissions from freighting our goods (from our suppliers and manufacturers to our offices.).
We’re thrilled to achieve this milestone because it is a great addition to the range of efforts we’ve undertaken to live and work better. For example, Rocket Charities and TCCC recently achieved the Climate Positive business accreditation, also through Earthly. As a company, we’re passionate about improving our working practices for our people and our planet.
Today, we’re proud to share a little more about how we reduced our transportation footprint.
Taking Steps to Reduce our Transportation Footprint
At Rocket Charities, our business focusses on high-quality fundraising merchandise. We’ve helped more than 7,000 charities create the perfect products for their campaigns. It’s no surprise that freighting is a crucial part of running our business, but we also understand the detrimental impact that transport-generated carbon emissions have on our planet.
When it comes to the climate, we want to do what we can to mitigate our impact. So, we’ve removed the equivalent of 110% of the total CO2 emissions we generate in freighting goods. How? First, we partner with Earthly to calculate our transport emissions for the last year. At Rocket Charities, our annual transport-based carbon emissions was equal to 294 tonnes across 1,628 shipments.
Then, we invest more than the equivalency of these emissions back into nature-based projects, so we’re offsetting 110% of our annual emissions, or 323 tonnes. We chose to invest in the Rimba Raya Biodiversity Reserve project to help protect a highly endangered ecosystem. The project protects the carbon-rich peatland forest of Rimba Raya in the Indonesian portion of Borneo from being turned into palm oil estates, which would emit over 100 million tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere. So far, the project has reduced more than 3.5 million tonnes of carbon emissions annually, protected the biodiversity of more than 120 threatened and endangered species, and provided more than 9,000 people with improved healthcare, the majority of whom are women.
A Continuous, Evolving Journey to Sustainability
We’re thrilled to share our Climate Positive Transportation journey with you, but we also know that reducing our carbon footprint is an ongoing effort. Early next year, we’ll share a responsibility report to further highlight the steps we’re taking to become a more sustainable business. Please stay tuned! For now, here’s a link to our interim report, and we hope that it inspires your own charity to learn more and work together to reduce our impact on the planet.
Of course, we’ll continue to expand our eco-friendly offerings, including details on product composition and where and how your merchandise is made. It’s important to give you the tools and information you need to choose thoughtful products that match your own sustainability values. For more, check out these recent articles on planet-friendly fundraising ideas, simple swaps for more eco-friendly merchandise, and more.
At Rocket Charities, we believe that everyone has a role to play to reduce the impact of climate change and eradicate environmental and social injustices. How are you doing your part? We’d love to hear more. After all, we’re all in this together! Please get in touch with us anytime to share your own planet-positive journey.