Carbon Neutral, Carbon Positive and Net Zero
If you want the simple version then you can be re-assured that when you buy a Fish4Ever product, it’s not just carbon neutral, it’s even carbon positive. That’s because we’ve done a third-party independent carbon accounting of our footprint, for both our organisation and the products we sell, and we’re offsetting by more than our Co2.
The truth is we’re uncomfortable with the net zero term been deployed by business – we believe it’s a term that should only be used at a country level. We also know that there simply isn’t enough land available to plant the forests that would be needed to offset all current carbon neutral claims, let alone all the Co2 been generated. Furthermore, we know that many offsetting schemes and claims are highly criticised and we also realise there is some debate around the accounting of Co2 and the actual effectiveness of corporate carbon pledges when what is needed is a massive break on the use of fossil fuels.
Our Better than Net Co2 policy navigates a way through the maze. We also know that planting trees IS good, if done well, and that trees are one of the fastest and most reliable ways of capturing carbon during the next 20 to 30 critical years. So we’re planting trees with a reliable charity that works with indigenous people and helps poverty alleviation – ½ a million trees in 5 years.
The tree planting maths adds up to a fair bit more than the Co2 our products generate. But we’re doing more than that. We’re doubling our carbon donations with an annual pledge to two charities: The Environmental Justice Foundation, working with climate refugees and climate justice and Ecosystem Restoration Camps which work towards regenerating heavily degraded farming land.
Finally, and fundamental to the Better than Net approach, we’ve pledged to invest approximately 1% of our annual turnover into to companies that provide 100% renewable energy generation. The truth is that global warming is mostly about fossil fuels and the need to rapidly de-carbonise the world economy. By 2030 we expect our renewable energy investment pledge to compensate for over 50% of the Co2 generated by our product supply chain.