TENZING Becomes World’s First Soft Drink To Introduce Carbon Labelling

British startup TENZING has created a name for itself when it comes to sustainability from launching a TENZING Clean Air Tracker to a Carbon Footprint Calculator. Now it has overhauled its business to become the world’s first carbon negative soft drink in a move that challenges the market’s big players to do more. It is also introducing carbon footprint labelling from April in a move to drive further transparency and encourage more shoppers to consider sustainability when making decisions in-store.

81% of British people would support the implementation of carbon labelling, TENZING is making it easier for people to evaluate every aspect of their lifestyle and how to reduce individual impact on the planet. TENZING has seen very rapid growth over the last few years, with much of the demand being led by millennials and generation Z, seeking plant-based options and who are more than willing to spend on sustainable products that are also healthy.

With an increased thirst for more environmental transparency, TENZING Natural Energy is setting a new standard by becoming the first soft drink globally to implement climate footprint labelling to demonstrate their products’ environmental impact.

In the last year alone over three quarters of the population have said environmental issues are now too pressing to ignore. At the moment, there is no way for shoppers to judge the environmental impact of the products they buy, but a whopping 81% of British people would support the implementation of carbon labelling.

TENZING has worked together with Carbon Cloud to analyse their climate impact. Over the last year, they have completed a full Life Cycle Assessment analysing the greenhouse gas emissions emitted from every stage of TENZING’s production, from crop to can. They hope the roll-out of this label will help people see that even the smallest changes to their diet can help fight climate change.

The new labelling shows the carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e), a value which converts the varying effects of different gases into the equivalent amount of CO2 it would take to create the same greenhouse effect. By using this CO2e value, you can easily compare a drink to a piece of food, or even a car journey.

Both TENZING’s Original Recipe and Raspberry & Yuzu have a footprint of 0.46kg CO2e per kg of product, in comparison to the footprint of an average canned soft drink which stands at 0.49kg CO2e per kg of product. What’s more, TENZING is using this information to become carbon negative, meaning they offset more carbon than they emit, by funding local offsetting initiatives right at the source of their impact*.

Huib van Bockel, founder of TENZING said: “Why should the impact on your body be labelled any differently to the impact on our planet? Our mission is to only borrow our energy from nature and to make sure to give back more than we take. People care about the ingredients they eat and drink but also the impact the brands they buy from have on the planet. For any company to manage their footprint, the first step is to understand every aspect and secondly share it with the world, only then can we tackle our carbon emissions. Frankly it’s quite shocking that we’re the only soft drink in the world that is carbon labelling. Our hope is other brands, especially the big players, will follow suit. Together we can make a difference.”

Carbon footprint labelling will be displayed on both TENZING’s cans and cases from April.

“TENZING is a very driven and appreciated partner. We are excited to continue this climate improving journey together. This is just the beginning.” said David Bryngelsson, Ph.D. CEO of CarbonCloud.

TENZING recently hit the headlines by creating a giant ice sculpture of Sir David Attenborough to demonstrate the Arctic sea ice melt caused by one UK person every fortnight. The environmentalist took to Instagram in December to announce that “saving our planet is now a communications challenge”. TENZING was inspired by his message and decided to take on his challenge to fight climate change and help get the message out there by encouraging people to Take Action to reduce their impact on the planet.