Etsy has always been conscious of their ecological impact and in 2016 committed to powering their operations with 100% renewable electricity by 2020. Now Etsy are going even further and will offset 100% of carbon emissions from shipping Etsy packages.
Etsy becomes 1st global ecommerce platform to offset 100% of carbon emissions from shipping
Now, each time someone buys an item on Etsy, the marketplace will automatically purchase verified emissions reductions, more commonly known as “offsets”, through their partner 3Degrees. These purchases support environmental projects, including protecting forests that improve air quality and absorb carbon, sponsoring wind and solar farms that generate clean energy and replace fossil fuels, and developing greener methods for producing auto parts.
This initiative comes at no additional cost to buyers or sellers. It simply comes with the satisfaction of knowing that shopping on Etsy means making a positive impact on the planet.
Existing Etsy renewable energy commitments
Etsy’s trail-blazing Power Purchase Agreement to enable the development of a new solar farm, migration to the Google Cloud Platform, and installation of solar panels at their offices place them firmly on track to meet their 2020 100% renewable electricity goal. Etsy also achieved their goal of running zero waste operations globally in 2018, two years ahead of schedule.
Etsy to offset carbon emissions from shipping for all US ecommerce for a day
To jumpstart their efforts and celebrate this milestone, today, the 28th of February, Etsy will also offset shipping emissions for the entire US ecommerce sector for the day. In the US alone, every day approximately 55,000 metric tons of CO2e are emitted into the atmosphere by delivering packages from online orders. Offsetting this impact for one day is the equivalent of protecting 100 square miles of US forests for one year.
By picking up everyone’s carbon tab for the day, Etsy hopes to raise awareness that offsets are a viable and affordable option that companies can take to mitigate their impact on the environment.
“While we are proud to be the first major online shopping destination to offset 100% of carbon emissions from shipping, we certainly hope we are not the last. Considering these offsets will cost less than one penny per package for Etsy, we don’t believe that cost should be a prohibitive factor for others to follow in our footsteps. For the benefit of future generations, how can we all afford not to take this action?”
– Etsy
You can learn more about Etsy’s environmentally friendly credentials here.
2 Responses
Great, hope it makes them feel good about themselves.
Meanwhile, China opens a new coal-fired power station every week.
Fossil fuels account for just 4% of the CO2 in the atmosphere.