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- The Week in Low Carbon Commerce - Dec 18, 2023
The Week in Low Carbon Commerce - Dec 18, 2023
A last-minute surge before rest and reflection
Keith Anderson
December 18, 2023
The Week in Low Carbon Commerce
December 18, 2023
As we close out the year, a flurry of funding rounds and new retail initiatives in the U.S. and U.K. presage the continued acceleration of retail and CPG industry climate innovation and action in 2024.
Now, I don’t mean to be sappy — but it is the holidays after all, and I do want to share how much fun I’m having covering all this activity, and how grateful I am to be doing this work.
So, as a holiday treat for you early adopters, you can save 40% while supporting Decarbonize.co during this foundational launch phase.
Just pick your plan on this page, scroll down and click “View Active Offers,” and apply the coupon.
Not ready to become a member, but still want to spread the love? Share the newsletter or podcast with a colleague or industry connection that you think could benefit from the latest on commerce and climate action.
We have an incredible research and event agenda planned for 2024, and I’m excited to keep growing the community.
But first: a brief break. The podcast and newsletter will return early next year after a brief pause for rest and reflection.
Happy Holidays!
Keith
What’s Hot
🏪 The National Retail Federation (NRF) launched the Center for Retail Sustainability, with an initial focus on consumer insights around sustainability products and practices, supporting growth of the circular economy, and improving supply chain traceability within the retail industry. The Center is sponsored by Deloitte.
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🏷️ The British Retail Consortium and Mondra, an AI-driven environmental intelligence platform, have formed a coalition to standardize an approach to product-level climate footprinting and accounting for Scope 3 emissions. Participating retailers include Tesco, M&S, Co-op, Ocado Retail, ASDA, Lidl and Sainsbury’s, as well as major brands including Starbucks and Nando’s.
For a fast-paced overview of this and other global initiatives, check out our February 8 webinar on Product-Level Climate Footprinting and Labeling.
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🎁 The Atlantic did a deep-dive into the industry’s holiday returns machine.
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Deals and funding
🥣 Martie, an online discount store featuring shelf-stable groceries (for now), raised $7M and launched nationally in the U.S. The discounter prioritizes savings over shipping speed and has plans to expand to personal care, home, and other categories.
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☕ Swiss-Ghanian start-up Koa raised a $15M Series B to scale-up its cocoa upcycling. Koa produces a cacao fruit juice and provides ingredients to other food companies using traditionally unused parts of the cacao plant.
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🌱 Farmless, based in Amsterdam, raised €1.2 for its nutritionally-complete proteins produced via fermentation.
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🐑 Estonia-based Woola raised an additional €2.5M for its upcycled wool packaging to replace plastic ecommerce packaging. The company is using the funds to grow its sales and marketing teams.
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☕ Seattle-based Atomo Coffee received a multi-million dollar investment from Japanese beverage company Suntory. Atomo had previously raised more than $50M, including $40M in 2022.
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🪸 Switzerland-based Noriware received a CHF 1.4 M grant from Innosuisse, The Swiss Agency for Innovation, for its algae-based packaging technology.
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🌴 Clean Food Group received a £1 million project grant to fund development of its microbial oils and fats, which are used as food and cosmetics ingredients.
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From the podcast
In the latest installment of the show, we hear from Danielle Jezienicki, former VP of Sustainability at Grove Collaborative and Founder of FWD Impact, a new sustainability consultancy.
Danielle shares her perspective on sustainability in the consumer packaged goods industry, how to address the plastic crisis, and transitioning from Sustainability 1.0 to Sustainability 2.0.
Bonus: Check out the show notes for Danielle’s curated household product suggestions.
Featured jobs
Check out all of the jobs (or post yours) on the Decarbonizing Commerce Career Board.
