We’re a carbon neutral business – but the term needs to be defined properly

Dash is now officially carbon neutral. But this wasn’t as clear cut as it might seem. In fact, what we needed to do to reach ‘carbon neutrality’ raised serious questions about the standards brands are working towards.

We’ve spent the past few years measuring our organisational footprint with Planet Mark, and our product’s value chain emissions with CarbonCloud. The emissions associated with our products outweigh our organisational footprint, and account for 99% of the emissions calculated.

But despite this, we could have called ourselves carbon neutral if we’d just offset that 1% organisational emissions (office emissions and travel).

If this doesn’t change, many organisations simply won’t think about their wider emissions footprint when striving to become carbon neutral – and the clearly significant impact of their supply chain on our planet will go unchecked. This isn’t sustainable.

Every business has a community of customers, investors, partners and shareholders. In recent years we’ve all seen demand grow from each of those groups for better transparency and performance on ESG factors – especially on emissions. And rightly so: these groups all deserve robust standards that truly demonstrate a brand’s impact.

Dash has now partnered with Ecologi and Respira who help us source carbon offsetting credits for 100% of the emissions we measured. One project we are thrilled to be working with is Blaston Farm near Leicester, which is leading the way on regenerative farming techniques to improve soil quality and sequester carbon in the ground.

This captures CO2 and brings a raft of other benefits to the farm such as improved biodiversity. Dash would not exist without our farmers in the UK, so it is important for us to remember where it all began. While we have more to do, we’re confident that we’re well on the way to being truly carbon neutral.

But while sustainability is in Dash’s DNA, it’s not fair to call on all companies to go above and beyond. We urgently need a realistic international benchmark for carbon neutrality: one that will create consistency, certainty, and a clear pathway to sustainability.

Being held to account for our impact beyond our own back yard might not be convenient, but it’s essential if brands are ever to be considered truly carbon neutral.