Kua 2023 Carbon Assessment - Results

Kua has completed another carbon assessment. This time the period of measurement was July 21 - December 22. You can read our notes from the process here, but here are the key results:

Total Footprint between June 2021 - December 2022:
260.96 Tonnes of CO2e

Scope Of Assessment:
Kua conducted a Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) assessment, which includes Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. Scope 1 emissions are things like the roasting or packaging of our product. Scope 2 are things like electricity used in our warehouses. Scope 3 emissions are things like the emissions from staff commuting to the office (AKA indirect emissions).

As we have done in the past, we have conducted an assessment which is as broad as possible, and which follows the best global practices and standards. In this case we followed the GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard and GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Accounting and Reporting Standard.

We'd like to acknowledge Dr Gregory Norris from The Sustainability and Health Initiative for NetPositive Enterprise (SHINE) at MIT for his guidance throughout the process.

We used the to lifecycle assessment tool Earthster to aid our calculation and measurement. You can check it out here.

Per Kilogram Breakdown:

Kua's product falls into two main categories:

'Drums' - the coffee delivered to Kua Business accounts that use our closed loop service, delivered in re-usable drums.

'Bagged' - the coffee delivered in compostable bags, both to Kua Business accounts and to Kua Online customers.

Carbon Footprint Per Kilogram (Drums):
11.88 kg CO2e per kilo of coffee

What contributes to this footprint?

Green Coffee Production - 72.49%
Shipping - 6.66%
Roasting - 1.81%
Warehousing and Order Fulfilment - 3.68%
Office - 8.75%
Services - 2.01%
Staff - 2.02%
Merchandise - 1.46%
Packaging (Drums) - 0.09%
Delivery (Drums) - 1.03%

Carbon Footprint Per Kilogram (Bagged):
14.33 kg CO2-e per kilo of coffee

What contributes to this footprint?

Green Coffee Production - 60%
Shipping - 6%
Roasting - 2%
Warehousing and Order Fulfilment - 3%
Office - 7%
Services - 2%
Staff - 2%
Merchandise - 1%
Packaging (Bagged) - 14%
Delivery (Bagged) - 4%

Offsetting

Kua purchases carbon credits through the internationally recognised Plan Vivo scheme, specifically the Trees for Global Benefit (TFGB) program delivered by ECOTRUST in Uganda.

In recognition of the climate emergency, we offset at 200% for each period of measurement. As a result of this assessment we will sequester a total of 521.92 tonnes of carbon.

What's Next?

Kua will continue to measure, reduce and offset its footprint. Through our merger with Commonfolk, we'll be sharing advice and resources. Commonfolk have committed to going carbon neutral in 2023.

If you would like to know more, download the report below and keep reading. As usual don't hesitate to reach out with questions or ideas.