Shopify has announced that during April, it will match all carbon removal funding on deliveries from merchants that are using the Planet app, doubling its merchants’ and their customers’ positive impact on the planet.
Shopify wants to be a 100-year company. To make our 100-year vision come true, we need to not only make commerce better, but also take better care of our planet.
Our approach to this challenge is to use engineering skills to create market forces. Just as we lowered the barriers to entry for entrepreneurs, we are kickstarting the market for carbon removal, an essential but expensive solution. The idea is to reduce friction and boost demand.
One way we do this is with our Planet app, where merchants can offer their customers carbon-neutral shipping on every order. These aren’t questionable carbon offsets: every penny funds high-quality, cutting-edge carbon removal technologies.
– Shopify
Shopify say that combatting delivery emissions is what our planet needs, and it’s also what customers want: more than half (54%) of people say they shop sustainably, and 43% say they’re more likely to purchase from a sustainable brand.
Since 2022, Shopify merchants have used Planet to:
- neutralize shipping emissions from more than 25 million orders
- remove 23,000 tons of carbon from the atmosphere
- contribute more than $1 million in funding for carbon removal projects
How Planet works
Once installed, Planet estimates merchants’ shipping emissions by looking at factors like delivery distance, transportation method, and product weight. Merchants choose a subscription plan and pay an average of 3.5 to 15 cents per order to fund carbon removal.
In January 2024, Shopify launched a feature that lets customers fund carbon removal too, by adding 25 cents to their order.
This funding goes to companies developing carbon removal technologies like direct air capture, ocean carbon removal, bio-oil sequestration, soil carbon storage, and enhanced rock weathering.
