Allbirds’ Ambitious Flight Plan: Slashing Its Carbon Footprint by 2025
Inside Allbirds’ bold strategy to halve its carbon footprint by 2025, setting new sustainability standards for the footwear industry.
Allbirds, the San Francisco-based footwear company, has long positioned itself at the forefront of climate action in the apparel industry. With a bold target to reduce its per-product carbon footprint by 50% by 2025, Allbirds’ approach emphasizes immediate action, rigorous transparency, and industry collaboration to drive meaningful change across its supply chain and operations.
The Urgency Behind Allbirds’ Climate Goals
Climate change has accelerated the need for corporate action beyond pledges to distant deadlines. Allbirds’ sustainability leadership is expressed not only in its ambitious short-term targets but also in its dedication to transparent measurement and open-source innovation. The company’s core commitment is reflected in three strategic pillars that guide every major initiative:
- Regenerative agriculture: Shifting sourcing practices to nurture soil health, sequester carbon, and preserve biodiversity.
- Renewable materials: Replacing conventional raw materials with low-carbon, natural, or recycled alternatives.
- Responsible energy: Prioritizing renewable energy sources throughout its operations and supply chain.
By focusing on these areas, Allbirds intends not just to reduce its own emissions, but to catalyze broader transformation within the fashion and apparel sector.
Measuring the Carbon Footprint: Setting the Baseline
Allbirds believes that effective climate action begins with thorough measurement. In 2020, it became the first fashion brand to label its products with their carbon footprints, empowering consumers with visible data and holding itself accountable. The company also open-sourced its carbon footprint calculator to encourage industry-wide benchmarking and transparency.
Allbirds established 2020 as its emissions baseline year, setting a clear point from which to measure progress and requiring annual, third-party verified reporting on all major emission sources. These include:
- Raw materials (Scope 3)
- Manufacturing energy (Scope 2 and Scope 3)
- Product transportation and distribution (Scope 3)
- Corporate operations and retail (Scope 2)
The company communicates its progress every year via its Flight Status Report, a public document that details emissions reductions, key initiatives, and updated targets.
Milestones on the Path to 2025
Since setting its 2025 goal, Allbirds has made significant strides:
- By 2022: Achieved a 19% reduction in average product carbon footprint, dropping from 8.76 kg CO2e to 7.12 kg CO2e, largely through 27 targeted initiatives across the business.
- By 2023: Realized a 22% reduction, with the per-product footprint falling further to 5.54 kg CO2e. A packaging redesign cut emissions by 7%, and the adoption of more renewable energy drove an additional 2% reduction.
With more than 60% of the journey completed, Allbirds remains on track for its short-term target and its longer-term ambition of near-zero product carbon emissions by 2030.
Key Strategies and Initiatives Explained
1. Regenerative Agriculture
Regenerative agriculture is foundational to Allbirds’ approach. The company sources wool from farms committed to rotational grazing and land stewardship, which support soil carbon sequestration and healthier ecosystems. In 2022, Allbirds expanded its use of regenerative wool, reducing the impact of its key raw materials.
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- Investments in farm resilience and monitoring
- Reduced dependence on synthetic fertilizers and intensive livestock practices
This shift ensures that supply chain emissions are lowered while restoring natural landscapes and biodiversity.
2. Renewable Materials
Allbirds is revolutionizing its material choices to include:
- Recycled and bio-based components: Transitioning from virgin to recycled nylon, using plant-based EVA alternatives for midsoles, and integrating more recycled content in the sockliners of its lifestyle “Tree” styles.
- Reduced raw materials usage: Targeting a 25% reduction in virgin raw materials by 2025.
This effort directly lowers lifecycle emissions and strengthens the business’s resilience to resource volatility.
3. Responsible Energy
Allbirds has advanced the decarbonization of its energy supply through:
- Expanding renewable energy agreements to factories and offices, including key facilities in China and Vietnam.
- Advocating for improved national energy policies to ease the industry’s transition to clean electricity.
In 2022, a significant milestone was reached with 96% of Allbirds’ transportation shifted to ocean shipping, which emits dramatically less than air freight.
Comprehensive and Transparent Carbon Management
Recognizing that true net zero cannot be achieved through offsets alone, Allbirds’ carbon management philosophy is grounded in:
- Science Based Targets: The company has committed to reducing absolute Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions by 42% by 2030, aligning with a 1.5°C reduction pathway.
- Rigorous verification: All carbon reduction efforts are subject to recognized offset standards, ensuring permanence, additionality, and resistance to leakage.
- Transparent reporting: Results and methodology are published annually, promoting external scrutiny and trust.
Allbirds has also transitioned to using Carbonfact, a carbon management tool specifically tailored for the fashion industry. This enables fine-grained tracking and predictive modeling for every product and initiative.
Notable Achievements and Industry Collaboration
- B Corp Certification: Allbirds completed its third B Corp recertification in 2023, achieving an 18% higher score since its 2016 debut and improving in Environment, Governance, and Customer categories.
- Climate Label Certification: The Change Climate Project recognizes Allbirds’ leadership with a Climate Label, based on action rather than promises.
- Collaborative innovation: Allbirds co-developed the world’s lowest-carbon running shoe with Adidas in 2021 and plans to launch the first net zero carbon shoe, the M0.0NSHOT Zero, in early 2025.
Such projects signal not just technical achievement, but also a willingness to work across organizations to advance shared climate goals.
Beyond the Supply Chain: Investing in Carbon Removal
While emissions reductions within Allbirds’ value chain are prioritized, the company also invests in certified, high-quality carbon removal projects. These initiatives aim to supplement core reductions while supporting broader ecosystem restoration. Criteria for project selection include:
- Permanence and additionality
- Independently verified standards
- Tangible, science-driven climate benefits
Moving forward, Allbirds intends to keep as many projects as possible close to its core business and materials, ensuring direct relevance and impact.
Tracking Progress: Annual Reporting and Accountability
Accountability is embedded in Allbirds’ climate governance. Progress is communicated in the annual Flight Status Report, which details:
- Year-over-year carbon footprint performance
- Progress on material circularity and renewable energy adoption
- Initiatives undertaken or completed
- Challenges and lessons learned
The company’s stakeholder engagement goes beyond customers and investors, extending to partners, regulators, and local communities throughout its value chain.
The Big Picture: Setting a Standard for Climate Leadership
By choosing ambitious, short-term targets and maintaining a culture of rigorous self-assessment, Allbirds sets a high bar for climate action in the global apparel sector. Its journey demonstrates that real carbon reductions are achievable through targeted, science-based action, not vague promises.
As Director of Sustainability Aileen Lerch states, “Climate change is a complex topic, and we’ll continue to learn, adapt, and evolve our approach to maximize our positive impact… By virtue of setting ambitious, short-term targets – rather than kicking the can down the road to a vague, far-off date – there is still plenty of work for us to do.”
Table: Allbirds’ Key Milestones (2020–2025)
| Year | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 2020 | First carbon footprint labeling on products; baseline set |
| 2021 | Collaborated with Adidas on lowest-carbon running shoe |
| 2022 | 19% reduction in per-product CO2e; expanded ocean shipping and regenerative materials |
| 2023 | 22% total reduction; major renewable energy and packaging redesigns; third B Corp recertification |
| 2025 |
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q: How does Allbirds quantify and communicate its carbon footprint?
A: Allbirds quantifies its carbon footprint using a detailed, open-source calculator for every product, reporting annually through its Flight Status Report and external certifications.
Q: What are the most impactful changes Allbirds made to cut emissions?
A: The most impactful initiatives include switching to regenerative wool, maximizing recycled and bio-based materials, transitioning to almost entirely ocean shipping, packaging reductions, and expanding renewable energy at all facilities.
Q: Does Allbirds rely on carbon offsets to reach its targets?
A: Offsets supplement but do not form the core of Allbirds’ strategy. The company prioritizes direct emissions reductions, only investing in high-quality, verifiable carbon removal projects for remaining, unavoidable emissions.
Q: Is Allbirds’ approach recognized by external organizations?
A: Yes. Allbirds has received B Corp recertification, is certified by The Change Climate Project, and uses the Carbonfact tool for industry-standard data transparency.
Q: How does Allbirds plan to stay on track as it nears its 2025 goals?
A: By leveraging detailed modeling, actionable data, and ongoing innovation, Allbirds can continually assess, adjust, and accelerate its initiatives.
Conclusion: A Blueprint for Industry-Wide Change
Allbirds’ Flight Plan offers a practical, science-driven roadmap for decarbonizing not just one company, but potentially an entire industry. Its commitment to measuring, reducing, collaborating, and sharing knowledge makes Allbirds a standard-bearer for sustainable business in practice. As 2025 approaches, its ongoing progress will serve as both inspiration and a challenge to peers reluctant to take immediate, transparent action on climate.
References
- https://www.carbonfact.com/blog/customer/allbirds
- https://www.allbirds.com/blogs/news/flight-plan-23-press-release
- https://cdn.allbirds.com/image/upload/v1727982173/marketing-pages/Carbon_Projects_Approach_and_Details.pdf
- https://www.smartenergydecisions.com/news/allbirds-lowers-product-carbon-footprint-by-19/
- https://explore.changeclimate.org/brand/allbirds
- https://trellis.net/article/allbirds-wants-footwear-companies-to-copy-net-zero-shoe-design/
- https://allbirds.ca/pages/sustainable-practices
- https://reflawn.com/articles/allbirds-reimagining-footwear-for-a-sustainable-future/161
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