Allbirds launches carbon footprint indicator number concept

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Apr 14, 2020

Allbirds, the San Francisco-based footwear label, has launched its latest carbon-neutral initiative: creating a label for each of its products with an indicator number to reveal the item’s carbon footprint. 
 
The San-Francisco-based footwear brand, whose key material is Merino wool, already became 100% carbon-neutral last year. Allbirds’ new carbon footprint number, which launches on its website on Tuesday, April 14, takes its eco-goals to a new level.

Henceforth, each Allbirds product, from the Wool Runners to the Mizzle Collection, will carry a physical sticker with a number that shows in kilograms how much Co2e was emitted to create it. 
 
“All the product pages on our website will display a carbon footprint label. For example, our Wool Runners emit 7.1 kg CO 2e – this takes into consideration sourcing materials, development, manufacturing, customer care and end of life,” stressed Tim Brown, co-founder and co-CEO with Joey Zwillinger.

Allbirds defines itself as a carbon neutral B Corp company, which engages in various certified compensation projects, with the motto: "we are changing so the climate does not".
 
The long-term goal of Allbirds is to encourage consumers in the future to compare this figure for carbon dioxide before buying, just like people compare nutritional values ​​of food products.
 
“Allbirds went 100% carbon neutral with the Allbirds Carbon Fund, a self-imposed internal carbon tax which funds emissions reduction projects such as regenerative farming, landfill gas destruction and wind farms. But it doesn’t stop with offsets – we intend to keep on finding ways to bring our carbon footprint down,” added New Zealand-born Brown.
 
He named the brand after the legend that says that when the first Maoris settled in New Zealand in about 1200, they discovered no mammals – just birds. Hence Allbirds. Though up-front about carbon emissions, Allbirds is opaque about its turnover and its ownership structure.
 
By way of comparison, the average Allbirds cloth-covered sneaker represents roughly 7.6 kg of Co2e in the atmosphere. That same figure translates as the equivalent of toasting 258 sandwiches; charging your mobile phone 967 times; brewing 149 cups of coffee; or taking a 30 km journey in an average car.