Often, conversations around the urgency to address impact on the environment can make us feel like we are running out of time to reverse and address the negative impacts of our consumption. But the steps we take today will determine whether we can mitigate the worst effects of climate change in time. For Open Farm, this journey began when our co-founders decided to start a pet food company that prioritized ethical sourcing and has evolved as we made progress and expanded our ambition along the way.
Sustainability and impact are so engrained in our work that it can feel like every day is Earth Day because we’re constantly working to graze lightly and lead the pack in our aspiration to reduce our impact. We recognize the official Earth Day as an opportunity to consider on the challenges we’re facing in carbon emissions, waste, and animal welfare and reflect on the efforts we’re putting forward as an organization to bring our Mission to life.
Carbon: One year ago, we set a goal to reduce our carbon footprint by 42% by 2030 from 2020 levels – solidifying our ambition to Do Some Good. This reduction goal makes sure that we’re doing our part to limit global warming to 1.5*C above pre-industrial levels, even as we grow. We also committed to reducing the emissions from our supply chain, ingredient sourcing, and logistics and that means considering new product launches, like the upcoming Kind Earth line. These kibble recipes are plant-based and insect-based have a lower carbon footprint than some of our traditional protein SKUs. We’re excited to bring even greater sustainability and transparency to our products and for your pets to try these new recipes.
Waste: We want the steps we take today, as an organization and as individuals, to ensure we’re restoring the planet and creating the future that we need. One way we’re going about this for the Kind Earth recipes is to make recycling easier for pet parents. These new bags will be curbside recyclable in Canada and recyclable through store drop-off locations in the US. With the help of pet parents, we can reduce the amount of waste generated -- reducing greenhouse gas emissions and reducing the amount of waste that is sent to landfills, helping us achieve two big goals.
Animal welfare: Open Farm was founded on the aspiration to source better meat from a better place. Our vision was to do more than just change what our pet food contained; we wanted to completely rethink the way it was made and sourced. For us, this has meant supporting farmers who treat their animals right, and that won’t change with the insect recipe in Kind Earth. This recipe will incorporate Black Soldier Fly Larvae and we have worked with producers to ensure that these insects are raised according to the Five Freedoms of Animal Welfare: freedom from hunter and thirst, freedom from discomfort, freedom from pain, injury, and disease, freedom to express natural behaviors, and freedom from fear and distress.
We constantly consider whether the plans we have in place bold enough and what additional actions should we take to maintain our leadership position, not only in the pet industry, but as we aim to be amongst sustainability leaders across all industries. We have a lot of hard work ahead of us to evolve our operations and activities to achieve our Science Based Target, but we’re encouraged by the passion and capabilities that each of us at Open Farm brings, we’re thankful to our partners for pushing us, and grateful to our customers for recognizing the need for change.
