Toronto, Canada-based pet-food manufacturer Open Farm has launched an online "carbon experience" dubbed Know Your Footprint, allowing pet owners to see the carbon footprint of all its products, including products that incorporate wild-caught fish.
Open Farm partnered with Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to complete a screening-level assessment to estimate emissions generated by its products. The analysis covered every stage of the product’s life cycle, taking into consideration ingredient production, manufacturing process, transportation, and packaging.
"What I love about our new site experience is that it helps pet parents identify our lowest carbon products with easy-to-use tools like product badges and collection pages," Open Farm Chief Brand Officer Jacqueline Prehogan said. "We're also rolling out new packaging that will allow pet parents to scan a QR code on any Open Farm product to view its carbon footprint in real time. We're all-in on complete transparency, and that means sharing the emissions data for everything we make."
The Know Your Footprint project will deliver transparency to pet owners to make informed pet food choices, the company said.
"The reality is that feeding our pets is a major contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions. It's our responsibility to minimize that impact," Prehogan said.
Open Farm said it believes that by giving consumers the tools to make informed carbon decisions, pet owners can incorporate reduction of carbon footprint into their decision-making when it comes to selecting pet food.
"We believe that it's our job to provide full transparency when it comes to the carbon footprint of our products; pet parents can then feel empowered to make whatever choices feel right for their pets and their families,” Prehogan said.
According to the company, 17 of Open Farm's products have been identified as “low-carbon options,” emitting less than 1 kilogram of CO2 per pound of product, the company said in a press release.
The company announced a science-based target goal in 2020, with the objective to reduce its direct emissions from operations by 42 percent by 2030.
Photo courtesy of Open Farm
