Carbon offsetting the impact of e-commerce business

Reducing the impact that e-commerce business has on the planet and becoming carbon neutral is, without doubt, an essential move. Get it right and carbon offsetting may increase customer loyalty, improve brand perception, and can lead to boost in sales.

The wellbeing of the environment is becoming increasingly important to online customers.

“Carbon offsetting is not a perfect solution, but a necessary tool.”- Shopify

Why this should matter to brands.

According to research into e-commerce shopping behaviour conducted in UK, more than half of shoppers (57%) say online shopping poses risks for the environment, with 40% willing to pay extra for carbon-neutral shipping. A rise in online shopping means a rise in parcel deliveries. This increase in the volume of packages in circulation has pushed retailers, delivery companies, and consumers to view the delivery process in new ways.

If you work in retail, you know an increasingly important deciding factor in people’s shopping choices is sustainability—especially among younger generations. As shopping has evolved towards same-day or next-day deliveries, easy returns, and other consumer-centric services, businesses maintaining high levels of service, while also being good environmental stewards, have an advantage in the marketplace.

The proof is in the metrics:

• Products marketed as sustainable see growth and adoption rates of at least 5.6 times greater than those which are not.

• 54% of Gen Z shoppers consider their carbon footprint when making a purchase decision.

• 88% of consumers want brands to help them live more sustainably.

Brands like Allbirds, Patagonia, Toms, Veja, and others, have carved out passionate and loyal customer bases by implementing good environmental practices bringing customers into their stores and turning one-time shoppers into brand loyalists.

Retailers have several options to consider that will help to reduce the environmental impact associated with your e-commerce business.

Carbon Offset Options

1. Shopify adds its Offset app to your store and enables Shop Pay that can offer 100% carbon neutral shipping to its buyers. The Offset app does the hard work for you by calculating the delivery emissions of each individual orders using distance travelled, mode of transportation, and the weight of the package.The average cost per shipment is a few pennies and is charged through ones monthly Shopify invoice with the full amount going directly to deforestation protection projects.

2. Etsy runs a carbon offsetting programme that neutralises its delivery and transport emissions in partnership with 3Degrees. The projects invested in include wind and solar farms and planting and preserving trees.

Other organization providing carbon offsetting alternatives are:

· ClimatePartner provides carbon offsets to e-commerce companies, including reforestation projects and hydropower investments. It gives you a trackable ID number that can be shown on packaging and marketing material, which lets your customers track the offsets associated with their purchase.

· Carbonfund offers a Carbonfree Shipping Program for e-commerce businesses. Its projects are focused on reforestation, energy efficiency, and renewable energy projects.

· Carboncheckout is also designed specifically for e-commerce businesses. By using its app, you can give an optional carbon offset during the checkout process and a verification code is assigned to each purchase so your customers can see exactly where their money is being spent.

Choosing the best carbon offset option

1. Check that any provider one wants to use is verified by a trusted and reliable third party. This will give one the confidence that their donations support projects that make a real and significant difference and protect your own businesses from the risky territory of greenwashing.

2. Checking that any offsets that are used are audited by The Voluntary Gold Standard (VGS) will go a long way to reassuring, as it is the global benchmark and is endorsed by more than 80 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) across the world including the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).It insists that projects it supports must meet its rigorous standards, and this includes meeting a minimum of three of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

3.Using offsets certified by the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) will also ensure that your investments have a genuine impact. It’s the world’s most widely used voluntary emissions reduction standard and trusted by NGOs, the private sector, and governments alike.

Of course, carbon offsetting is one step in the right direction but, ultimately, one need to remove carbon emissions from yown operations as far as possible.

Really simple actions such as turning off appliances like PCs, printers, monitors, laptops and chargers, and using eco-friendly software as much as possible are also important considerations and should be taken in tandem with any carbon offsetting measures.