HelloFresh meal kits to go carbon neutral

Global meal kit provider HelloFresh plans to offset 100% of its direct carbon emission from its internal operations and offices, plus all emissions from delivery to customers and corporate travel, as part of the company’s green energy and carbon reduction strategy.

In cooperation with Planetly, the company will offset the full amount of direct carbon emissions for 2020 through continuous investment in global climate protection projects as per CCBS Gold Level certification. It will also support Forest Regeneration in New Zealand, a project aiming to turn marginalised land into self-sustaining forests. This project is accredited under the NZ Emissions Trading Scheme (NZ ETS) and covers 70,000 hectares of land in New Zealand.

In Australia, HelloFresh will invest in the Yarra Yarra Biodiversity Project in the mid-west of Western Australia. This project aims to return the environment to its origins by planting up to 40 native tree and shrub species in order to recreate a healthy and functioning biodiversity hotspot.

Tom Rutledge, CEO of HelloFresh Australia and New Zealand, said carbon offsetting is a natural next step for the company.

“As the meal kit category continues to grow its importance in the food industry, we feel it’s important to drive sustainability action in our category. This year, we have made it a priority to continuously evaluate, measure and reduce our carbon emissions. Our carbon offset program is another step up in our sustainability efforts,” Rutledge said.

“Given we are the first meal kit company in Australia, dating back to 2012, we feel it’s important to lead the way for sustainability action in the category.”

According to Tilman Eichstaedt, Senior Vice President of Sustainability at HelloFresh, the company is currently prioritising mitigating the emission that it produces. Its optimised production facilities emit less CO₂ per dollar of revenue compared to traditional food retailers, which need to cool, heat and light their stores.

“Furthermore, we deliver our boxes as efficiently as possible; for example, by shipping them in batches and reducing the number of kilometres travelled through our innovative planning software. This carbon offset initiative is another important milestone towards carbon neutrality and perfectly complements our existing efforts towards becoming a more sustainable company,” Eichstaedt said.

Early this year, the company committed to track and reduce its per meal carbon emissions, in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goal 13. Alongside the carbon offset initiative, the company has other carbon reduction measures in place, such as transitioning warehouses in the company’s International Segment to green energy and moving to a 100% certified renewable energy supplier to power its warehouse and office in Auckland.