Footprint
Chilly’s footprint covers three key areas: climate action, water & chemical use, and waste. Our approach to these topics is first to measure and understand our impact, and then to create a plan for impact reduction based on the data we find. This approach is a long one, but it ensures that the steps we take have a real positive impact, rather than merely chasing short term gains.
In order to ensure that measurement does not stand in the way of progress, we have also been taking steps to reduce our impacts in line with the other pillars, however in an unquantified way at present.
Climate Action
Product LCA
In 2024, Chilly’s finalised it’s product LCAs (Life Cycle Assessments) with our third-party carbon expert. A LCA is a calculation of the environmental impacts associated with a product throughout the different phases of its life. There are five stages of a product’s life cycle (according to GHG protocol’s LCA methodology):
1.Raw materials
2.Production
3.Distribution and storage
4.Use
5.End
The life stages of the product included in the assessment can vary, with the methodology defining what is or not included within the assessment.
Chilly’s is using the “cradle to gate” methodology, as this is where we have the most reliable data to create our footprint. This includes the product life cycle stages 1,2 & 3 in the list above.
- “Cradle” means from creation of the product and its raw materials.
- “Gate” means at the point where it leaves the warehouse to go to the customer
Our ambition is to continue to improve our methodology to expand the life stages of the product that are in scope.
The LCA has been calculated in line with the requirements set in the ISO 14040, ISO 14044, ISO 14025 standards. These standards ensure LCAs are calculated using consistent methodologies that are accepted across industries. In order to make sure that we are adhering to these standards, a third party has verified our LCA.
Our commitment, announced in 2023, was to: “Publish carbon data and a carbon action plan by the end of 2023”. To make sure our footprint has been calculated in line with industry best practice, it was being reviewed and verified by the aforementioned third party. The verifier shared feedback that related to life cycle stages that were excluded from the scope of the LCA. This was a significant change that required new data to be collected. Due to this, we were not able to meet this target deadline of publishing our carbon data by the end of 2023. And as the LCA was not finished in time, we were also not able to finalise and then publish our carbon action plan.
The report was verified in June 2024, having made the changes required to meet the verifier’s feedback. The below graph shows a snapshot of this, outlining the individual footprint of our core product types in tubes.
The data relates to one product with tube packaging, from Chilly’s verified 2021 LCA.
**Carbon Action Plan**
The LCA was verified in June 2024, and so we are now working on a carbon action plan based on the findings of the report.
The data relates to overall material stated in Chilly’s verified 2021 LCA.
It is clear from the report that the materials are the most impactful element of our products. The raw materials phase accounts for 89.91% of the overall global warming potential across Chilly’s supply chain in 2021. And stainless steel contributes to 79% of the carbon footprint for all materials used.
We were aware that this would likely be the case, and so have already begun taking steps to reduce the footprint of the materials we use.
In 2023/24, we introduced 90% recycled stainless steel into our products. We are confident that this will have had a significant impact on reducing our products’ footprint. In future product LCAs, we will quantify how much of a reduction this has achieved.
We are also working to reduce the weight of our packaging. We have set a target to reduce our direct product packaging by at least 70% for bottles, coffee cups and food pots for B2B and B2C products. As seen in the below graph, the type of packaging we use does have an impact on the footprint of our products. (Product packaging relates to the packaging directly on the outside of the product (tube and Series 2 black box), and does not include the leaflet.)
The data relates to one product, from Chilly’s verified 2021 LCA.
We will develop and publish a product carbon action plan in our next Responsibility Report (in June 2025), outlining what steps we will be taking to reduce our footprint. We will continue to undertake LCAs of our products to identify the successfulness of these initiatives.
Corporate Carbon Footprint
We started with our product’s carbon footprint, as this is the area that we think we’ll see the most impact. As part of our wider Net Zero target, we are currently also calculating our corporate carbon footprint. This is our full footprint as an organisation, which includes elements such as employee travel, our head office, as well as our products and supply chain impacts.
Once we have finalised our corporate carbon footprint calculations, we will establish an action plan that outlines how we will meet our Net Zero target by 2030.
Waste and Water & chemical use
Waste & Water
In 2023, we worked on measuring the waste produced and water used and disposed of during the production of our products. We started with our main product suppliers, but our ambition is to understand our impact throughout our entire supply chain.
Our commitments for waste and water were:
Water: Undertake supply chain water risk assessment in 2023 and set action plan for findings by March 2024
Waste: Measure waste produced in tier 1 of supply chain by end of 2023 & set target to address waste in supply chain by March 2024
Our key finding from measuring our waste production and water use and disposal, was that the data that we were able to access was not reliable. To set a meaningful target, we need to ensure that we have accurate data. So instead of establishing a waste and water reduction target, Chilly’s has established a new target to work with our suppliers to enhance their waste and water measurement processes throughout their production.
From this, we will then be able to establish a meaningful target and action plan for both waste and water.
Chilly’s new target for water and waste is to: Collaborate with tier 1 suppliers to establish a plan to improve accuracy of measurement of water use and disposal and waste production and disposal by the end of 2024.
Chemicals
Our target for chemicals is to “Undertake supply chain chemical assessment by the end of 2024 and set an action plan from the findings by March 2025”. However, through the work we have done on measuring our waste and water, we are predicting that we may face the same challenges when capturing meaningful data on chemical use and disposal. We are therefore updating our commitment to focus on establishing better measurement and reporting within our supply chain.
Chilly’s new target for chemicals is to: Collaborate with tier 1 suppliers to establish a plan to more accurately measure chemical use and disposal by the end of 2024.
