BONZA , ONE TRIBE AND THE RAINFOREST TRUST
A healthy Planet sits at the heart of our mission at Bonza - Healthier Dogs. Healthier Planet.
We considered becoming climate or carbon neutral, both our company and products. We discussed this with many companies offering various certifications - climate neutral, carbon neutral etc. All offered to help us calculate and reduce our corporate emissions as well as our product emissions where possible Once this was achieved to offset our remaining emissions through the purchase some form of certified carbon credits.
This would allow us to claim our products as carbon or climate neutral, in some cases even climate or carbon positive if we purchased sufficient offsets!.
As we pursued our due diligence on adopting this approach a number of red flags appeared foe us. There appears to be a significant amount of uncertainty surrounding the 'gold rush' that is the Voluntary Carbon Credits (VCC) market. These are markets where carbon credits are purchased, usually by organisations, for voluntary use to 'offset' their emissions rather than to comply with legally binding emissions reduction obligations.
Unfortunately investigative reports have uncovered multiple instances of credits being sold and claimed twice and a 9-month investigation, the most recent report on the VCC market, found hat, based on analysis of a significant percentage of the projects, more than 90% of their rainforest offset credits – among the most commonly used by companies – are likely to be “phantom credits” and do not represent genuine carbon reductions.
For this reason we chose to follow a path of minimising our carbon emissions and environmental impact as best we could through our selection of ingredients, their source, our production methods and our packaging and transportation.
However we remained convinced that there are charities and organisations who have the environment, and those most affected by our impact on it, and the ensuing climate change. We decided that planting or protecting trees would deliver on the 'Healthier Planet' part of our mission in the most honest fashion. Without the need for 'neutral', 'zero' or 'positive' labels or certification.
When we were investigating the most impactful ways we could mitigate the impact of emissions on the environment, and make the Planet a healthier place, we initially thought planting trees was our best option.
However the more we read the more obvious it became that preventing deforestation has a far bigger impact.
Often referred to as the 'Lungs of the Planet', rainforests generate about 20% of the world's oxygen, store vast amounts of Carbon (approximately 0.5 tonnes per mature tree) and sequester a further 0.08 tonnes per year.
It has been calculated that 73 times more carbon is absorbed by preserving a mature rainforest tree than planting a new tree.
Apart from carbon storage and sequestration, our rainforests are home to a vast range of animal and plant species and provide indigenous people with their homes and livelihoods.
For this reason we have chosen to partner with One Tribe and the Rainforest Trust to preserve our Planet's rainforests.
We chose the Rainforest Trust because 100% of your/our contributions are invested in truly protecting trees and without the commercial incentive of selling carbon credits. This non-commercial and transparent approach to preservation, together with the empowerment of the local indigenous 'owners' of these lands, resonated with us.
So, for every box of Bonza plant-based goodness delivered on your subscription, we pledge to protect 400m2 of rainforest and 20 trees, preserving the storage of 9.8 tonnes of CO2 and sequestering an additional 0.4 tonnes per year.
Your Dog's Gift to the Planet.
