In 2007, leading beverage brand VOSS set out on a mission to take a hard look at the holistic environmental impact of its exceptionally pure bottled water products. Although VOSS offered some of the cleanest water products in the world, the company realized the process of sourcing, bottling and bringing its products to market in over 50 countries had a significant carbon footprint as the price for its success. Inconsistent with their environmental values and detrimental to the very resources from which VOSS water flows, VOSS decided it was time to make a change.
VOSS approached 3Degrees to help it comprehensively address its carbon emissions, which were only going to grow significantly as the company achieved greater success.
Challenges
VOSS was looking for a thorough, meaningful solution to address its cradle-to-grave product life cycle carbon footprint from the moment it sources its water to the moment the bottle is recycled. VOSS entrusted 3Degrees to dive deep and come up with a methodology and approach that would be impactful, holistic and scale with the company’s global ambitions.
How we helped
There were three phases to 3Degrees’ engagement with VOSS.
Phase One – Carbon Footprint Advising and Calculation
We kicked off our work with VOSS with a comprehensive carbon footprint analysis and recommendations on ways to reduce their overall greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. 3Degrees calculated and accounted for greenhouse gas emissions from all stages of VOSS’s product life cycle, as well as all employee travel and business activities. This “end to end” product life cycle assessment calculates the impact of the raw material extraction and processing, transport of raw materials, bottling processes, transportation of finished products and, finally, end-of-life management including refilling, recycling or disposal of the bottles and packaging. 3Degrees’ greenhouse gas emissions reduction recommendations spanned product life cycle stages.
Phase Two – High Caliber Carbon Offsets Purchase
To offset unavoidable greenhouse gas emissions, 3Degrees worked with VOSS to identify and select high quality carbon offset projects in the U.S., China and later Australia. The projects were evaluated and selected on the basis of VOSS’s criteria for desired project technologies, geographic locations, volumes, co-benefits, marketability and price point. VOSS then committed to an annual purchase of offsets from the selected projects to neutralize the company’s unavoidable carbon footprint.
Phase Three – Communicating to Stakeholders
Once 3Degrees and VOSS agreed on the strategy for the carbon offsets and implemented the purchase, VOSS wanted to communicate its plan to stakeholders in a compelling manner. VOSS was proud of its environmental commitment and wanted to share that story, but was keenly aware of the need to message it accurately, humbly, and with integrity. 3Degrees’ marketing and design teams developed strategic and tactical communications recommendations, including an environmental mission statement, messaging for packaging, and press release and website copy.
3Degrees built a tremendous amount of trust with the VOSS team and our initial one-time engagement with the company turned into a relationship that’s lasted more than a decade.
Results
Through the partnership with 3Degrees, VOSS was able to:
- Calculate its cradle-to-grave lifecycle carbon footprint
- Implement company-wide carbon reduction efforts
- Mitigate the impact of its unavoidable product life cycle greenhouse gas emissions through the purchase of high-caliber verified carbon offsets
- Powerfully communicate its environmental commitment to internal and external stakeholders
More on Energy and Climate Consulting with 3Degrees.