Carbon-neutral shampoo, carbon-neutral wine, carbon-neutral beef, carbon-neutral chocolate, as consumers attach great importance to carbon reduction, a variety of carbon-neutral products have begun to appear on supermarket shelves. Nestle Group (Nestle) has gone in the opposite direction and recently announced that it will abandon the carbon neutrality statement for its products such as KitKat and Perrier. Instead of triggering criticism, foreign media praised it as a good thing.
"Carbon neutrality" has repeatedly become a target. KitKat, Gucci, and EasyJet have given up their statements.
In 2021, KitKat announced that it will be committed to achieving carbon neutrality in 2025, and this goal will be reversed in 2023. "Bloomberg" reported that Nestle Group explained that the company's goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions in 2050 has not changed, but that products such as KitKat and Perrier will no longer use carbon offsetting to achieve carbon neutrality, and will instead use carbon offsetting to achieve carbon neutrality. Supply chain carbon reduction starts.
Carbon dioxide will be generated during the production, manufacturing, and transportation of goods, or when the company uses electricity or travels, and it is unlikely that the company will achieve zero carbon. As a result, the company purchases carbon reduction credits to offset these carbon emissions and achieve so-called "carbon neutrality." Carbon reduction credits may come from carbon offset programs such as planting trees or protecting wetlands, or they may be as far away as Africa, South America, or a small island. In recent years, many plans to reduce carbon emissions have been dismissed as false, which has cast a shadow of greenwashing on the company and even led to lawsuits.
American consumers are suing the company over the "carbon neutral" label on Evian mineral water bottles. The plaintiff accused that this was not only a marketing gimmick, but also led consumers to mistakenly believe that the production of this bottle of water does not emit carbon dioxide, and spent more money to buy it.
KitKat isn't the first company to abandon carbon neutrality. The Italian fashion brand Gucci also used carbon offsets and claimed on its official website that it had achieved carbon neutrality in 2019. However, it later withdrew its statement and canceled its contract with Swiss carbon offset consulting company South Pole. ) cooperation.
In 2021, Greenpeace investigative journalist platform "Unearthed" and the Guardian worked together to expose problems with airline carbon offset projects. They discovered that the credits purchased by EasyJet came from a so-called forest conservation project, but the project was actually run by two logging companies and had cut down precious tree species. EasyJet also announced in September 2022 that it will no longer use carbon offsets from January 2023.
Reducing carbon emissions by yourself will increase your credibility
The Guardian reported that after easyJet abandons carbon offsets, it will instead use sustainable aviation fuel, improved fuel efficiency, carbon capture, hydrogen-powered engines and other methods to achieve net zero. The company plans to replace aircraft that use traditional kerosene, which is expected to reduce the carbon emissions of the 15%.
Nestlé plans to introduce "carbon insetting" to reduce carbon in its supply chain, such as helping farmers switch to sustainable agriculture, restoring wetlands, and protecting the habitats of pollinators.
Although the NewClimate Institute (NewClimate Institute) stated that carbon embedding still lacks a globally unified verification standard and is difficult to verify, Bloomberg climate columnist Mark Gongloff commented that it is not about spending money to buy carbon reduction credits, but It is through the efforts of the company itself and the supply chain to reduce carbon emissions. This is very meaningful and more credible. Fortunately, this approach is gradually becoming a trend.
Information source: Environmental Information Center (https://e-info.org.tw/node/237148)
