The Daily - January 29, 2020 - 14

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Sustainability
Simplified

OIA announces new tools for helping
companies get green. By Jenn Fields
AMONG THE BARRIERS TO A

company going carbon neutral,
the first step in the process-just
calculating the footprint-has remained a tricky, sticky problem.
A building's energy requirements
and employee travel are just the
start. What happens as you move
down the supply chain?
Two new initiatives are simplifying the process in the hopes that by
helping companies reduce analysis
paralysis, they can move forward
into a lower-carbon future.
At its sustainability meetings the day prior to the Show,
Outdoor Industry Association
announced that anyone can now
join its Climate Action Corps,
which is designed to help companies collaborate as they measure
and reduce their greenhouse gas
emissions-and share their progress annually.
"Our outdoor playgrounds are
under threat," says Amy Horton,
senior director of sustainable
business innovation at OIA. "I
think our consumers, maybe
even more than other industries,
really expect this. When we
took stock, we just thought, this
could be our beacon, and we, the
industry, wanted a beacon."
The association is asking companies that join Climate Action
Corps to commit to measuring
their carbon footprints, set

14

GHG reduction goals, create an
individualized plan to reduce
carbon, and share their progress
toward that plan every year.
Companies don't have to commit
to going all the way to carbon
neutral, Horton says. "Those who
haven't measured and have been
wondering, What can we do?
What should we do? How do we
do this? This initiative is just for
them. There are a lot of companies in the industry that haven't
done anything. And we're here
to say that's OK. This is about
progress, not perfection. We're
here to get them started."
For the first 50 companies
that sign up for Climate Action
Corps, OIA is offering free access
to Climate Neutral's new carbon
calculator, which is also launching during the Show.
Austin Whitman, CEO of
Climate Neutral, says they found
that some companies want to
calculate a carbon footprint in
five minutes, others will commit
to a week or two, and some will
dive into a six-month or yearlong process. "We built something with an eye for the first
two but not the last." Larger
companies (over $100 million
in revenue) will still need to
have a third party measure their
footprint if they want to be certified, but they are welcome to

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use Climate Neutral's calculator
as well.
Climate Neutral's new calculator, which is in beta right now
and is available to companies that
have pledged to go carbon neutral
through its certification program,
is designed to focus on the biggest
categories of emissions for an
individual company. According
to Whitman, the calculator leans
conservative in assessing offsets-
that's the price for footprinting
quickly. But the tool itself is free
to companies that pledge to go
climate neutral. "We want to keep
the costs and barriers as low as
possible so people can focus on
the work of reducing and offsetting," Whitman says.
Though Climate Neutral
certified its first three companies (BioLite, Peak Design, and
mattress maker Avocado) after
they used third-party footprinting, some companies found they
weren't getting the specificity
they wanted out of third-party

carbon calculators. "We decided it made sense to jump in
and start building something
ourselves instead of leaning
on what's out there," Whitman
says. Their successful $100,000
Kickstarter campaign last year
helped them build it.
"There's massive appetite for
this," Whitman says. "Even in
the six months since the summer
Show, we've heard about companies that are starting up in
this area. Everyone is focused on
carbon transparency, and I think
that's a great trend."
Earlier this month, Climate
Neutral hit a milestone when the
100th company committed to its
program. "We had a goal of 36
by the end of last year," Whitman
says. While Climate Neutral is
still recruiting, the focus is now
on announcing that these companies are fully certified by mid
April. "We're now in a place I
never imagined we would be last
summer," he says.

OIA's Amy Horton
announces Climate
Action Corps

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The Daily - January 29, 2020

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