Case Study: Greenstone (SIMPLE) Drinks
SIMPLE is an independent beverage brand in Australia. Everything they make is natural or organic and bottled in glass.
In August 2020 SIMPLE owner Joe Gerke used our Business Carbon Calculator to calculate their historical emissions to date, and then offset them through our native reforestation carbon projects. As a member of 1% For The Planet, they give 1% of their revenue to organisations working to protect the environment. It is Joe’s aspiration to go beyond Carbon Neutrality and have a positive impact on on the world around him.
Can you tell us a little about yourself and the inspirations behind your brand?
We started this company because we love good drinks, but couldn’t find drinks that we felt good about drinking. We wanted to make available great-tasting, healthy drinks in packaging that is recyclable in Australia, and that you can feel ethical about drinking.
As a member of 1% for The Planet, we give 1% of our revenue to organisations working to protect the environment.
Why is caring for the environment important to Greenstone Drinks?
We make juices and sparkling drinks. Our fruit and vegetables are grown from the soil and require a certain climate to grow. We need clean water to make our sodas and sparkling waters. We have an inherent interest to preserve ecosystems.
What motivates you to support Carbon Positive Australia’s work in particular?
As part of our membership of 1% for the Planet, we are providing funding to Carbon Positive Australia so they can do more of their good work. We were looking for a partner who was tackling the climate issue in a practical way within Australia.
What environmental goals would you like to achieve?
Almost all of our materials are sourced from Australia. We are now effectively carbon neutral, and we give 1% of our revenue to environmental organisations. Our products are long shelf-life and don’t require refrigeration, thus there is no food wastage.
Our company is growing quickly, and growth brings more funding for environmental work. Our goal is to keep growing without compromising our environmental principles.
Is your organisation working on any other environmental or social initiatives?
Through our 1% for the Planet funding, we also support other organisations: Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF), Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS), Climate Council, Market Forces, World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
What inspired you to calculate your footprint and how did you go about calculating it?
We wanted to make sure that any greenhouse gases caused by our products are neutralised, leaving things as they were. We’re a small family-owned company, and we don’t have the time and money to calculate every litre of fuel, water, and kW of electricity in the growing, juicing, bottling, warehousing, and delivery of our products. We try to use as little of these things as possible, but we still need to offset our net emissions. So we’ve taken a drinks company that we trust but don’t compete with (Oatly) and used their published carbon per litre figures, which were calculated for them by Carbon Cloud. We’ve added 50% to their number, just to be sure, and we offset the estimated carbon emissions of our products.
To read more about the program with Greenstone Drinks please click here.Â
Our business partners make it possible for us to plant more trees, sequester more carbon and have greater social and economic impacts than we could achieve alone.
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