Our Climate Footprint

We hear a lot about carbon footprints and sustainability and sometimes tend to think of carbon emissions as a result of burning fuels or caused by livestock. It’s a lot more complex than that. It’s also not enough to just say we’re sustainable. KeenWah MilQ Original has the lowest measured climate footprint of any plant-based milk in Australia. Here’s how it works.

 
 

What is a climate footprint?

Greenhouse gases are the leading cause of climate change. These gases produce in both natural and human-made processes. Any time we do something (like catch a plane) or make something (like KeenWah MilQ), we can calculate how much greenhouse gases emissions result in the process. The amount of combined emissions is the climate or carbon footprint. Understanding how much carbon each product produces is an insightful way to compare products with a greater or lesser impact on the planet. Not all products or brands show their climate footprint, but we believe it’s too important to hide.

What is CarbonCloud?

CarbonCloud is an independent organisation that calculates climate footprints by looking at all the emissions (not just carbon but methane and others) created in getting a product from the cradle (the farm) to the gate (the shop where you buy the product). Basically, we give them our information and they do the science to produce a verified, auditable climate footprint. This allows us to identify emission hotspots, build our climate strategy, and map out the business decisions that reduce our climate footprint.

 
 

From the farm to you, here’s what a typical climate footprint includes:

 

  • There are a few aspects of agriculture that create greenhouse gas emissions. The first part is from the farming itself, which includes;

    Biological soil and organic processes

    Manure management

    Enteric fermentation (a scientific way to say burping and ahem, passing wind)

    Carbon leakage from organic soils

    The second part is emissions caused by using machinery, importing fertilisers or pesticides. There are also emissions created from using fossil fuels and electricity for running equipment and processes.

    The most important greenhouse gases from agriculture are nitrous oxide (N2O), methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2).

  • Most food products have gone through some sort of processing. This could be cleaning, heating, cooling, drying, mixing, sterilisation, fermentation or a number of other things. These processes usually consume natural gas, biogas, oil and/or electricity. Some processing also includes the use of chemicals.

  • Fun fact: transporting goods on the water is usually very climate efficient per kilometre. This is because container ships carry huge loads at slow speeds and require little fuel consumption to do so. Here are some other common transportation methods, from the lowest climate footprint to the highest (on average).

    Trains are similar to container ships as they move huge loads with lower climate burdens, especially when powered by electricity.

    Fossil-powered road trucks are usually used for longer distances, which increases the climate footprint.

    Planes can quickly transport imported fresh food - anything consumed far away from the place it’s grown or made. Air transport is the most energy-hungry method per kilometre.

  • Pallets of products need more than a pantry, so they’re usually stored in a warehouse. This means energy is needed mainly for lighting, space heating, refrigeration and ventilation.

    Refrigerated warehouses leak refrigerants into the atmosphere, especially powerful greenhouse gases. This makes refrigerated warehouses some of the bigger contributors to climate change.

  • Packaging for products uses both energy and raw resources (like the cardboard for the carton) along the production chain.

  • Fossil fuels are ingredients that use carbon material extracted from the ground. This includes oil and coal.

  • This ‘miscellaneous’ category is a catch-all for other activities that don’t fall neatly into other stages of the production. An example of this is the challenge of defining the difference between the agriculture vs refinement steps. The emissions produced in the crossover are measured and assigned here.

Find out more about why CarbonCloud began and how it works here.

 
 

What about the climate footprint of KeenWah MilQ?

You might already know that plant-based milk alternatives are better for the climate than dairy milk. What you might not know is that not all plant-based milk has the same impact on the planet. 


KeenWah MilQ Original has the lowest measured climate footprint of any plant-based milk in Australia. Yes, you heard us. We’ve mapped our inputs from the quinoa farm in Bolivia to the retail shelf in Australia and had this analysis verified by CarbonCloud. This level of transparency is almost unheard of, and we’re proud to be leading the market. We believe this is the only way to walk the talk.


Over time, we’ll work with our farmers, supply chain and manufacturing partners to get this carbon footprint even lower. Measuring and verifying is the first step to improving. 


KeenWah MilQ’s climate footprint, expressed as Kg CO2e per Kg:

Click on the packs below to explore how this carbon footprint is calculated.