SOUTH AFRICA – Faithful to Nature (FTN), a South African online retailer has announced that it has attained carbon-neutral status in its delivery services.
With this achievement, the company becomes South Africa’s first major retailer to offer net zero carbon-emissions delivery service.
According to the grocery and wellness store, this is in line with its strategy of building a more sustainable world, reports IOL.
“Every being on the planet has a right to live in a clean and toxin-free environment.
“Our physical and mental well-being is intimately connected to the natural environment, and we promote a more conscious mindset about the effects of our purchasing decisions on the planet,” said chief marketing officer Simon Bowes.
Bowes added that climate change is a problem that requires urgent attention and action, highlighting that deliveries are a major source of carbon emissions, and this is an area they have looked at improving.
With the help from The Green House, a sustainability consulting firm, they calculated the carbon emissions from their deliveries by the kilometre, weight and mode of transport nationwide.
Furthermore, in partnership with the Climate Neutral Group, the brand invests in projects that reduce emissions equal to their carbon footprint and create a positive social impact across South Africa, the retailer said.
The company also recently opened its Johannesburg warehouse to minimize long-distance and air freight from its warehouse in Cape Town.
“Next year, we plan to work with Agricarbon, South Africa’s first carbon programme paying farmers for the carbon credits they generate from their sustainable land management practices,” said Bowes.
Bowes added that through these partnerships, all deliveries from Faithful to Nature have less impact on the planet.
In other related news, FTN in collaboration with its sister entity Ucook, have expanded their grocery delivery capabilities to a much larger, national scale with acquisition of Granadilla Eats.
Granadilla Eats is an online food and fresh produce delivery service launched at the start of the pandemic in March 2020, and was born out of the need for a reliable home-delivery service for groceries.
The company’s cofounder Hannah Duxbury termed the acquisition as a route-to-market for many small, local food operations that would not necessarily have access to the kind of scale or opportunity the deal affords.
The new offering will leverage all three brands’ substantial network of small-scale food growers and producers.
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