Last week in Low Carbon Commerce

Last Week in Low Carbon Commerce
October 23, 2023

What’s Hot

📄 AfterClimate, a boutique research and advisory firm dedicated to calculating GHG emissions for video game studios and developers, released their 2023 Game Industry Net Zero Snapshot examining the digital games industry's progress towards net zero. The report looks at 35+ global games and technology companies, accounting for around $1.2Tn in revenue and 10s of millions of tonnes of CO2 emissions.

🌱 A recent study by Kerry, the global nutrition and taste ingredient company, found that one third of consumers are willing to switch to brands or products that offer better shelf life in an effort to curb food waste, and 98% of customers surveyed were actively trying to minimize food waste.

🏷️ Oat milk brand Oatly is hosting a Reddit AMA on climate footprint labels on Oct 19th at 10am ET / 2pm GMT and, aligned with its related ad campaign, is cheekily looking for a “Big Dairy exec” to co-host.

🫱🏼‍🫲🏽 The Consumer Goods Forum recently launched a #TooGoodToWaste initiative as part of their Food Waste Coalition of Action (FWCOA) which involves major global retailers such as Walmart, Majid Al Futtaim, Tesco, and consumer goods companies such as Unilever. The initiative is a food loss and waste education project designed to increase the minimization of waste among CGF members and their millions of customers.

Retail

📦 After a successful pilot earlier this year, a “buy anywhere, return anywhere” reusable packaging platform will expand with the eventual goal of up to 100 products and 200 stores across the UK. Retailer Marks & Spencer, household brand Ecover, start-up Reposit, and environmental group City to Sea provide a packaging solution to help accelerate the transition from single-use to reuse in supermarkets. The pilot in 6 M&S stores across 10 homecare products saw sales and return rates exceeding targets, and in some cases even exceeding that of the single-use equivalent.

🫱🏼‍🫲🏽 The Sustainable Wine Roundtable (SWR) launched the SWR Bottle Weight Accord, a global agreement to reduce the average 750ml still wine bottle weight from 550 grams to less than 420 grams by the end of 2026. The Accord includes leading wine retailers such as Lidl GB, The Wine Society, Alko Oy, Systembolaget AB, and Whole Foods Market.

🎯 Target released its 2023 Sustainability Report, including updates on its climate and circularity initiatives and plans to engage suppliers.

• In 2022, Target achieved its first-ever year-over-year decrease in scope 3 emissions. Absolute Scope 3 emissions in 2022 were still greater than in 2020, however.

• By the end of 2023, Target aims for 80% of its suppliers by spend (covering all purchased goods and services) to set science-based scope 1 and scope 2 targets

• Target plans to source low carbon products, materials and assortments and increase their availability to guests

• In March 2022, Target launched Target Zero, a curated collection of products aiming to replace single-use packaging. Products and packaging marked with the Target Zero visual icon are designed to be refillable, reusable or compostable; concentrated; made from recycled content; or made from materials that reduce the use of virgin plastic

Did someone forward you this newsletter? Click here to subscribe.

Brands

☕ Seattle-based startup Atomo Coffee has created a beanless brew made from upcycled ingredients such as sunflower seeds, date pits, and caffeine left over from decaffeinated green tea. They launched their product last week at Gumption Coffee in New York’s Times Square well as at a recent NY Coffee Festival. Their product aims to be a sustainable alternative to the current coffee supply chain, with 93% fewer carbon emissions and using 94% less water than regular coffee.

🍺 Molson Coors is investing £10 million in its Tadcaster brewery to increase efficiency while reducing emissions, an investment that follows the near completion of the brewery’s carbon dioxide recovery facility. The company has also recently achieved and recommitted to the aims of its 2019 Revitalization Plan, which include two of five key pillars dedicated to sustainability.

🌱 A new healthy and environmentally friendly cooking oil from startup Zero Acre Farms is being used in select Shake Shacks in New York City as part of a sustainability pilot program. The oil is made from naturally fermented raw sugar and uses 99% less water than olive oil, 87% less land than canola oil, and accounts for 86 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions than soybean oil.

Deals and funding

Scope3, a collaborative sustainability platform for decarbonizing media and advertising, raised a $20M Series B from GV (Google Ventures).

Don’t miss Scope3 co-founder and COO Anne Coghlan on the Decarbonizing Commerce podcast.

Featured jobs