The Importance Of Sustainability Pt 2.
As explained in our previous blog (if you haven't read it then..what are you doing?) where possible we reduce our carbon impact through our sustainability policies. We believe that there is far too much greenwashing happening in the media right now, it’s exhausting!
As long as we need to import coffee (we wish we could grow it in Wales!) there is an unavoidable carbon cost of brewing some of the best coffee around. This is where Climate Partner comes in, they use internationally recognised methods to calculate any emissions created and then point us towards fully regulated + audited projects for us to support that offset the calculated unavoidable carbon costs.
In their own words “Climate Partner guarantees transparency and traceability in climate change.”
We have offset the importing, roasting and packaging of our direct trade coffee Finca El Corozo. But what does offsetting really mean? Offsetting carbon is the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to counter the greenhouse gases that we have put into it. It is an extremely important step in effective climate change alongside avoidance and reduction.
We have taken part of 3 major issues to do with climate change; Biomass. Ocean Protection and Wind Energy. Again..What do these words really mean?
Biomass refers to organic products such as tree branches, leaves, sawdust or wood chips - these are residues that can be used to generate renewable energy. The region which has been chosen is Soacha. Soacha is based in the metropolitan area of Bogota, Colombia. Majority of this area uses coal to fire their kilns as it is easily accessible however coal releases harmful smoke and large quantities of CO2 emissions. However the Santander brickyard owner Miguel Diaz has converted his business so that it operates modern, energy- efficient kilns running them with up to 80% renewable biomass. The aim for us is to help phase out fossil fuels and introduce renewable biomass into Soacha. This project saves around 18,400 tones of CO2 per year which we are incredibly happy to be a part of.
The next project we are involved in is Carbon offset and Ocean Protection. ClimatePartner has done their ECO2 offsetting through the following carbon offset projects. Every tonne of CO2 offset enable the Plastic bank initiative to stop 10kg of plastic waste before entering the ocean.
Solar energy for sustainable power generation (climatepartner.com/1390) in the Indian states of Maharastra, Orissa, Jharkhand, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.
A wind farm on the Philippine island of Luzon (climatepartner.com/1091) ensures an increasingly independent supply of clean electricity for the population.
And on the Caribbean island of Aruba, a wind farm provides a sustainable alternative to electricity from fossil fuels (climatepartner.com/1040).
The final project in which we are involved in is Wind Energy, this is based in Northeast Brazil. ClimatePartner has already set up 14 wind parks that boost sustainable development. Since wind energy is created without burning fossil fuels, it is considered emission- free. In the 14 wind farms there are 156 turbines which supply renewable electricity to the Brazilian power grid. This way, the project saves approx 652,150 tons of CO2 per year that would have otherwise been generated by power generation.
Find out more by following the link below!