Pukka's Climate and Biodiversity Manifesto

"Humanity is now standing at a crossroads. We must now decide which path we want to take. How do we want the future living conditions for all living species to be like." - Greta Thunberg

Our Manifesto 

There is a climate emergency in our hands and we don’t have much time. At Pukka we know we are part of nature and that human health depends on a healthy planet. Right now human activity is destroying the habitat we depend on, and that’s something we all need to change.  

Climate scientists tell us we have less than 10 years to avoid catastrophic effects of climate change at a global scale. This climate crisis is intimately linked to a parallel crisis in biodiversity loss. Here is our plan: it’s hugely ambitious and includes parts that we haven’t fully worked out yet, but we’re committed to it because it’s what mother nature needs us to do. It’s what we need to do if we want to live on a planet that can sustain us.

To achieve net zero carbon we need to:

• reduce emissions from our direct operations to zero (i.e. by 100%) by our offices using 100% renewable energy. So far, we have reduced our direct emissions from gas and electricity by 95% bt switching to renewables.

• reduce emissions related to making and using our products (that we’re not directly producing) by 89% per million teabags. This is an absolute reduction of 43% fewer emissions than in 2017.

• balance the remaining emissions by capturing carbon in soil and trees within (and outside) our own supply chain.

5 focus areas for the next 5 years

1. Business Direction: action to achieve our ambitious science-based carbon reduction targets aligned with a 1.5°C future.

2. Product innovation: mapping the carbon impact of every new and existing Pukka product. 

3. External engagement: joining with fellow B Corps, suppliers and industry partners to work together for radical change 

4. Internal engagement: helping our employees understand their impact with company-wide climate and biodiversity emergency training and behaviour change campaigns 

5. Value chain: working with farmers, herb suppliers and logistics partners to support climate-friendly practices which support biodiversity and cut emissions from crop to cup 

Pukka will continue to support biodiversity to avoid ecosystem collapse in 3 industry leading ways:

• Every Pukka product is certified organic and always will be. Organic is a system of farming that works with nature, not against her, and is a key part of creating a kinder, more resilient, climate-friendly future for the world.​ Studies show organic farms have 50% more wildlife and 30% more species. 

• We will continue to pioneer the FairWild standard. FairWild helps to avoid the collapse of ecosystems resulting from unsustainable harvesting of wild plants, supporting biodiversity. Under the FairWild certification, a collector never harvests a whole plant, always leaving enough of the plant in the ground to grow again the following year.  

• We will continue to advocate Regenerative Organic Agriculture through our pilots and practices, which can sequester more carbon in the soil and trees, produces more nutrient dense plants, protects biodiversity and builds resilience to climate breakdown.

Glossary

Biodiversity – the variety of different plants, animal species and habitat types that inhabit Earth

Carbon neutral - Carbon Neutral is a term used to describe the state of an entity (in our case Pukka), where the carbon emissions produced are balanced out by funding an equivalent amount of carbon savings/offsets

Carbon pricing - is a market approach to reducing carbon emissions by creating a monetary price for the social and environmental impacts of emitting carbon

Enhanced greenhouse effect – increased GHGs emitted by human practices cause excess heat to be trapped within the atmosphere causing global temperatures to increase. (here is a video that explains more)

Greenhouse effect  - natural gases form a layer around our planet, which absorbs and emits radiation reflected from the earth’s surface and trap heat. This is a natural occurrence that keeps the earth’s temperature stable and provides a climate in which we can survive.

Greenhouse Gas (GHG) -  GHG’s absorb and emit radiation from the Earth’s surface, the atmosphere and clouds. This causes a greenhouse effect which insulates the planet. GHG’s include carbon dioxide, methane, ozone and nitrous oxide – amongst other man-made gases. See a more detailed definition from the IPCC here

Insetting -  when an organization invests in sustainable practices, that capture or reduce carbon emissions, within its own supply chain

Net zero emissions - there is no set definition but at Pukka we define it as when GHG emissions are in line with limiting warming to 1.5 degrees and balancing any remaining emissions by removing GHG emissions from the atmosphere. (For more information see this paper by the Sbti )

Offsetting - carbon offsets are when an organization invests in sustainable practices, that capture or reduce carbon emissions, outside its own supply chain

Regenerative  - the process of making an area develop in a positive way or make it grow strong again

Regenerative agriculture – Pukka’s definition is a way of farming that promotes nature’s recovery, limits climate change, protects and builds our soil and ensures thriving livelihoods for farmers

Science Based Target  - a set of goals developed by a business to provide a clear route to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, in line with the reductions required to keep global warming below 2C from pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit warming to 1.5C. (Here is a short video Sbti video explaining more)  

Science Based Target initiative - is a collaboration between CDP, the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), World Resources Institute (WRI), the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and one of the We Mean Business Coalition commitments. They help, assess and approve business’ science-based targets

Sequester - carbon sequestering is the capture and storage of carbon that would otherwise be emitted to the atmosphere

Zero carbon -  practices or supply chains that result in no net release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere