20th March 2023
Progress on our Carbon Reduction Action Plan
We have incorporated 'the boil' of the kettle as we recognise this is a key hot spot of GHG emission
In February 2022, JING products were certified carbon neutral by Climate Partner, meaning we have measured our carbon footprint and have pledged to calculate, reduce, and offset our carbon. We now have our Carbon Footprint report for 2022.
As part of our commitment to Net Zero, we measure and report on the greenhouse gas emissions associated with our operations and product value chain, in line with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard.
We are hoping to reach our ultimate goal; net zero carbon as soon as possible. This would mean we have minimised all of our emissions and are only offsetting where absolutely necessary.
Tall trees shade tea bushes during the summer in, Assam, India.
What have we done in 2022 to measure and reduce our carbon impact?
For 2022, we took a new methodology to be as thorough as possible:
- We added Teaware, packaging & accessories into our carbon footprint.
- We have incorporated 'the boil' of the kettle as we recognise this is a key hot spot of GHG emissions.
- We have chosen to support a 'Verified Carbon Standard' project to take accountability for our emissions today, continuing to make all our teas Carbon Neutral.
- We have chosen an offsetting project which is supporting sustainable development in India through the promotion of wind energy. We chose this project, because we know that one of the key GHG emission hotspots in tea production is the use of energy in processing the leaves on the gardens, and so a project supporting renewable energy in one of our key sourcing countries aligns well with our reduction goals.
Tom our head of tea visits producers on his yearly sourcing trips.
We added Teaware, packaging & accessories into our carbon footprint
How have we measured our carbon footprint?
We know growing and sharing our single garden teas releases greenhouse gases (including carbon dioxide) into the atmosphere, contributing to climate change.
We work with independent climate experts Climate Partner to calculate our scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions which can be seen below:
Scope 1
| Category | KG CO₂ | % |
|---|---|---|
| Direct emissions from company facilities | 0.00 | 0.0 |
Scope 2
| Category | KG CO₂ | % |
|---|---|---|
| Purchased heating, steam and cooling for own use | 8,488.21 | 2.3 |
| Purchased electricity for own use | 5,386.79 | 1.5 |
Scope 3
| Category | KG CO₂ | % |
|---|---|---|
| Purchased goods and services | 301,291.84 | 81.3 |
| Upstream transportation and distribution | 24,331.29 | 6.6 |
| Business travel | 15,288.65 | 4.1 |
| Employee commuting | 9,084.12 | 2.5 |
| Fuel and energy related activities | 5,557.75 | 1.5 |
We’ve factored everything in and, as a result, have been able to identify the carbon ‘hotspots’ we need to work on. Our total footprint across all three scopes worked out to be approximately 370 tonnes of CO2, this is around the same as the annual output of 43 European citizens. The majority of our footprint comes from the tea leaves we buy (76.1%).
We have chosen an offsetting project which is supporting sustainable development in India through the promotion of wind energy.
Next Steps
We will use these findings to drive meaningful climate action. This includes finding ways to continuously reduce emissions as well as offsetting any emissions that cannot immediately be reduced.
We are creating a Climate Action Plan detailing specific actions and team responsibilities to help us make quick and meaningful progress. We are setting short-medium and long-term reduction targets which are ambitious and reflective of current scientific understanding. We are implementing targets over differing timeframes because we recognise that some measures can be implemented quickly, whilst others take time. We acknowledge that creating reduction plans is a continuous process and is therefore an integral part of our corporate strategy.
We will focus on continually reducing our carbon footprint across scopes 2 and 3 by: increasing our energy efficiency; optimising our processes and products through continuous research and development; engaging with our suppliers and employees.
We have close relationships with all the producers we buy from. We believe it is essential that we establish and deliver our reduction targets in collaboration with our suppliers and partners, as most of our emissions are produced within our product supply chains. We are updating our supplier Code of Conduct to help establish where our suppliers are with their own carbon reduction commitments, and to work with them to ensure that together, we achieve them.
