Raglan Food Co: NZ’s First Toitū Carbon Zero Certified Yoghurt Company
Global headlines are increasingly highlighting the urgency of the climate crisis, and back in 2018 we decided it was time to take action. We realised that the only way things will get better is if businesses start taking responsibility for the emissions they create.
Lifting the Vibe
We believe in ‘lifting the vibe’ by doing the right thing, so we have worked with Toitū Envirocare, a government-owned environmental certifications company, over the past four years, gathering data about our operations and measuring our emissions in all areas of the business, including freight, fuel, and power usage. We had our first independent audit in July 2019 and received our Carbon Zero certification! The Toitū Envirocare Carbon Zero programme is accredited by the Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand (JAS-ANZ) and was the world’s first to be accredited under ISO 14065. Its certification mark is recognised in over 60 countries through the International Accreditation Forum (IAF).
A Road-map for the Future
Toitū Envirocare helped us put together a road-map for the future, setting realistic targets for reduction and improvements.
Our carbon footprint from April 2021 – March 2022 was a total of 459 tonnes. By far our largest contributor to this total (270 tonnes) was the sea-freight required to import our organic coconut cream from Indonesia. Sea-freight is already the slowest and most fuel-efficient method of getting coconut cream here (rather than air), so until teleporting is finally invented (or cargo ships all go electric – which will likely happen sooner!) there is unfortunately not much we can do to reduce this. Once you factor in the carbon-sequestering existence of the approx. 50,000 coconut trees required for our main ingredient, it’s still a much more environmentally-friendly option than using cow’s milk.
The rest of our emissions mainly come from road freight (getting yoghurt into stores), waste (packaging that ingredients & labels etc come in, not product waste – any extra yoghurt gets donated to charity), and electricity usage. We have developed a GHG emissions management plan and reduction targets, and aim to reduce our absolute scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions by 46% by 2025 through:
• Increased efficiencies within the new factory – reuse of water, improved heating & chilling.
• Consolidated freight deliveries.
• Electric company vehicles.
• Renewable energy.
• Reduced waste to landfill – compostable labels, worm farm, and other initiatives.
• Reduced international & domestic air travel.
Since 2019 we have fully offset our emissions with carbon credits in projects that include carbon sequestering in Puhoi, Kurinui, Pigeon Bush, and Rangitoto Station forest reserves here in Aotearoa New Zealand, and supporting wind farm and Fair Trade certified solar-powered oven initiative for families in Africa, India and China who want to lower their dependence on coal & dirty fuels.
Here’s to being part of the solution! Thanks for supporting our local business in our efforts to do better.
