We are super excited to announce the release of our 2021 Carbon Footprint Report!
The report delves into our company’s carbon emissions released during the manufacturing & transportation of our products, HQ energy use and employee business travel.
Click here to view the full 2021 report, as well as any of our reports from previous years.
PRODUCTION
Unsurprisingly, production makes up the bulk of our annual carbon footprint- releasing around 95% of all emissions!
To calculate the CO2 emissions associated with each of our products we perform what is called a Life Cycle Analysis (LCA). The LCA includes calculating emissions from 4 main areas:
- The Emissions released during the extraction, manufacturing and transportation of the raw materials.
- CO2 Emissions from any material waste.
- Carbon Emissions from packaging.
- Emissions from Shipping.
Below is an example of the carbon footprint of one of our most popular Windsurf Boards – the ISONIC 72.
BUSINESS TRAVEL
To make our carbon footprint as accurate as possible we include several different types of business travel:
- Business flights taken by anyone working for Starboard
- Company car use
- Employee commutes
- Team Rider flights, ferry trips and car travel to and from training and competition locations
Our business travel emissions actually decreased between 2020 and 2021. The pandemic reduced everyone’s ability to travel and, while we are hoping for everything to get back to normal – being mindful of how often we fly is a habit we could all benefit from keeping.
ELECTRICITY AT STARBOARD HQ
At Starboard we are proud to be making the switch to renewable energy. In 2021 our electricity use was 50% Solar power, but we have since increased our quantity of solar panels. In 2022, 100% of our energy use during daylight hours will be solar – we are even exporting some energy back to the grid!
WHY DO WE CALCULATE OUR CARBON FOOTPRINT?
We don’t calculate our carbon footprint just because its interesting to know (even though it is super interesting!)
Calculating our annual emissions helps highlight where we can make changes to reduce our impact. For example, now that we know just how much of each boards carbon footprint comes from electricity we are focusing on helping our suppliers make the switch to renewable Solar power.
Our carbon footprint also tells us know how many mangroves we need to plant to offset our CO2 emissions.
Learn more about miracle mangrove trees and why we choose to plant them.
