Stonyfield Farm Climate Change Initiative
Stonyfield Farm, Inc. is implementing large plans to put a lid on climate change. The company views global warming as one of the direst legacies we can leave to future generations. The objective of Stonyfield Farm’s Climate Change Initiative is to give the business community the tools it needs to reduce its contribution to the problem.
The company will leverage its relationship with millions of consumers to foster greater awareness of the threat greenhouse gases pose to the environment, while pointing out the many ways individuals can take action to reduce them.
The Project
Stonyfield Farm’s Climate Change Initiative takes a comprehensive approach to reversing the threat posed by human-induced climate change. The initiative focuses on three main activities: energy efficiency, carbon offsets and consumer education.
First, through investment in energyefficient technologies – including lighting retrofits, hot water recovery and other process changes – the company reduced the amount of energy used at its manufacturing facilities by 27 percent per pound of product from fiscal 1995 to 2000. These energy reductions save tens of thousands of dollars a year. Second, in 1997 Stonyfield Farm developed a model program to offset 100 percent of the CO2 emissions the company causes to be generated as a result of its energy use at its facility in Londonderry, NH.1 For rapidly growing businesses like Stonyfield Farm, achieving a net reduction in carbon emissions is an especially challenging goal. But by investing in CO2 emission-reduction projects elsewhere in the U.S. or around the world, the company can take advantage of opportunities to neutralize its emissions by offsetting them. Through a partnership with Trexler and Associates, Inc., a consulting firm that specializes in climate change risk management and strategy response, Stonyfield Farm has offset all of its energy-related CO2 from 1997 to 1999. To date, the partnership has invested in forestry, methane recovery and energy efficiency projects, both domestically and overseas. The offsets include a reforestation project in Oregon, straw-bale home construction in China, and capture and use of coal mine methane in Ohio.
These offset investments were funded with savings from the energy efficiency improvements described above. In other words, Stonyfield Farm has greatly reduced its contribution to global warming, while increasing its profits. According to CEO Gary Hirshberg, “Doing good in and with your company can be the most empowering and financially successful strategy you could implement. It is the companies who do the most good, both internally and externally, who will be the commercial leaders of the 21st century.”
Finally, Stonyfield Farm has launched an extensive global warming/energy awareness campaign with partners like the Union of Concerned Scientists, Earth Communications Office, and the American Public Transit Association. The activities within this campaign include:
- A series of energy and global warming messages on the lids of more than 21 million yogurt containers.
- A campaign to promote the use of public transit, rewarding over 166,000 commuters in six cities with free yogurt, while distributing information on the environmental benefits of transit.
- Sole corporate sponsorship of a climate change public service announcement expected to reach a billion people around the globe.
- Speaking engagements by CEO Gary Hirshberg to address business and student groups on the need for business to take a leadership role in reversing global warming.
- In addition, Stonyfield Farm has produced a guide to help businesses offset greenhouse gas emissions. It is available for free at www.stonyfield.com.
The Results
Stonyfield Farm calculated that in fiscal 1997 it emitted about 2,000 tons of CO2 as a result of emissions from use of electricity and propane at its main facility. The cost of tree planting to absorb this much carbon dioxide was calculated at $3 a ton. Thus, the total 1997 offset cost was about $6,000. Stonyfield Farm
