Open Farm launches “industry first” online carbon cutting tool for choosing pet food products

14 Feb 2023 --- Open Farm has launched an online “carbon experience” that will allow pet owners to see the carbon footprint of all Open Farm products and to identify lower carbon-emitting options across its portfolio.

“Know your Footprint” is the first carbon footprint launch of its kind in the pet industry, says Open Farm, which also claims to be one of the fastest-growing pet food companies in North America. 

“What I love about our new site experience is that it helps pet parents identify our lowest carbon products with easy-to-use tools like product badges and collection pages,” says Jacqueline Prehogan, founder and chief brand officer at Open Farm. 

“We’re also rolling out new packaging that will allow pet parents to scan a QR code on any Open Farm product to view its carbon footprint in real-time. We’re all-in on complete transparency, which means sharing the emissions data for everything we make.”

Furry GHG contributors 
With over 163 million dogs and cats in the US alone, pets account for 25-30% of the environmental impact of meat consumption, according to a 2017 journal titled “Environmental impacts of food consumption by dogs and cats” by Gregory Okin. 

Open Farm believes that by launching these tools, consumers can make informed carbon decisions (image credit: Open Farm).Okin found that not only pet food contributes to the environmental impacts of pets. The pet food industry has also started to confront the issue of environmental sustainability of feeding pets through advances in product design, manufacturing, education and policy in order to reduce overfeeding and waste, encourage recycling and find alternative sources of protein.

“The reality is that feeding our pets is a major contributor to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. It’s our responsibility to minimize that impact,” says Prehogan. 

Open Farm believes that by giving consumers the tools to make informed carbon decisions, pet parents can incorporate carbon footprint reduction into their decision-making when selecting pet food. 

“We believe that it’s our job to provide full transparency when it comes to the carbon footprint of our products. Pet parents can then feel empowered to make whatever choices feel right for their pets and their families,” says Prehogan. 

LCA’s for transparency
Open Farm partnered with an independent third-party consultant to complete a screening-level LCA. The LCA screening approach was designed to estimate the emissions generated by each of Open Farm’s products by analyzing every stage of the product life cycle, taking into consideration ingredient production, product manufacturing, transportation and packaging. 

Furthermore, the analysis considered GHG information, including emission factor data for over 100 ingredients used across over 50 recipes. While all Open Farm products have associated estimated carbon footprint numbers, 17 have been identified as “low carbon options” because they emit less than 1 kg CO2 emissions per pound of product. 

While the Open Farm Know Your Footprint experience is delivering transparency and enabling pet parents to make informed pet food choices, the company is also focused on launching low-carbon options, like it’s Kind Earth plant-based kibble, which launched in 2021. 

Meanwhile, in 2020, Open Farm committed to a science-based target goal to reduce direct emissions from manufacturing and operations by 42% by 2030 while at the same time minimizing the indirect emissions from raw materials. 

The company is working to identify opportunities to reduce its overall emissions and has begun making large-scale changes to its operations to reduce its footprint across all areas of the business. 

By Natalie Schwertheim