Climate Collaborative (Collaborative) is a collaboration of the natural-products industry supply chain to advocate against global warming, calling it the greatest threat to our planet. The Collaborative focuses on nine issue areas to lower emissions including lowering dependency on conventional fuels, opposing deforestation, reducing food waste, designing public policy that focuses on investing in cleaner technology, and changing packaging. The Collaborative asks members to sign and make commitments to all or at least some of Climate Collaborative’s agenda.

History

The Climate Collaborative was launched in 2017 as a collaboration of One Step Closer and the Sustainable Food Trade Association. ¹ The Sustainable Food Lab became the Collaborative’s partner and fiscal sponsor until April 2021, when the Collaborative filed to be an independent tax-exempt organization with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). ²

The Climate Collaborative consists of manufacturers, retailers, distributors, brokers, suppliers, and other businesses in the natural products industry. ³ The Collaborative counts more than 700 members making over 2,600 commitments to action on the climate. ⁴

Positions

Climate Collaborative has called global warming the greatest threat to our planet. ⁵ The Collaborative seeks to fight global warming by reducing carbon emissions below the amount believed needed to hold warming to a 2-degree Celsius threshold. ⁶ Climate Collaborative focuses on nine issue areas to fight global warming: agriculture, energy efficiency, food waste, forests, packaging, policy, weather-dependent energy, short-lived climate pollutants, and transportation. ⁷

Climate Collaborative focuses on agriculture claiming it accounts for almost a quarter of all global emissions. ⁸ The Collaborative opposes deep tilling, mono-cropping, and overuse of chemical fertilizer and pesticides claiming they contribute to global warming. ⁹ The Collaborative claims that overusing such techniques accounts for a third of the world’s topsoil being degraded and could reach 90 percent by 2050. ¹⁰

Climate Collaborative claims energy production is a primary cause of global warming accounting for two-thirds of greenhouse gas emissions. ¹¹ The Collaborate advocates for increasing energy efficiency and energy productivity. ¹² The Collaborative states current company and government energy productivity policies will double by 2030 saving $327 billion annually and adding 1.3 million jobs to the U.S. economy. ¹³ Climate Collaborative claims 40 percent of the food produced goes to waste contributing to eight percent of greenhouse gas emissions. ¹⁴ Reducing food waste increases profits and contributes to the environment. ¹⁵

Climate Collaborative opposes deforestation noting forests’ ability to capture carbon and asks companies to pledge to not to buy commodities in the supply chain that are a result of deforestation. ¹⁶ Climate Collaborative seeks to change packaging to include using more recycled material in production, replacing traditional plastics with biopolymers, re-designing packaging for efficiency, and recycling the end use of packaging material. ¹⁷ In policy matters, the Collaborative asks member companies to support legislation to promote energy efficiency and weather-dependent energy, increase investments in a clean energy economy, support adapting anti-global warming policies, and put a price on carbon emissions. ¹⁸

Climate Collaborative seeks from its supporters a commitment to 100-percent weather-dependent power and the shifting away from conventional fuels. ¹⁹ The Collaborative advocates to reduce short-lived climate pollutants including methane from farm animals, HFCs from refrigerants in air-conditioning units, and black carbon which is the result of soot from the combustion of diesel fuel. ²⁰ Climate Collaborative seeks greener transportation initiatives by members by using freight and transportation companies that rely on electric power, biodiesel, or hybrid transportation technology. ²¹

Funding

In 2021, the Climate Collaborative reported less than $50,000 in revenue. ²² The top donor to the Climate Collaborative is New Hope Network, a consultant to the healthy lifestyle products industry. ²³ Additional top donors include KeHE, a specialty food-delivery service, and the food company Airly. ²⁴

Leadership

Courtney Pineau has been the executive director at Climate Collaborative since July 2021. ²⁵ From 2020 to 2021, Pineau was senior director of climate and agricultural networks at Green America. ²⁶ Pineau worked as associate director and previously communications manager at the Non-GMO Project from 2012 to 2018. ²⁷ Previously, Pineau spent four years as marketing project manager at SPIE. ²⁸

1. “Our Story.” Climate Collaborative. Accessed May 26, 2023. https://www.climatecollaborative.com/about.
2. “Our Story.” Climate Collaborative. Accessed May 26, 2023. https://www.climatecollaborative.com/about.
3. “Our Manifesto.” Climate Collaborative. Accessed May 26, 2023. https://www.climatecollaborative.com/about.
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10. “Agriculture.” Climate Collaborative. Accessed May 26, 2023. https://www.climatecollaborative.com/agriculture.
11. “Why Commit to Increasing Energy Efficiency?” Climate Collaborative. Accessed May 26, 2023. https://www.climatecollaborative.com/energy_efficiency.
12. “Why Commit to Increasing Energy Efficiency?” Climate Collaborative. Accessed May 26, 2023. https://www.climatecollaborative.com/energy_efficiency.
13. “Why Commit to Increasing Energy Efficiency?” Climate Collaborative. Accessed May 26, 2023. https://www.climatecollaborative.com/energy_efficiency.
14. “Why Commit to Reducing Food Waste In Supply Chains?” Climate Collaborative. Accessed May 26, 2023. https://www.climatecollaborative.com/food_waste.
15. “Why Commit to Reducing Food Waste In Supply Chains?” Climate Collaborative. Accessed May 26, 2023. https://www.climatecollaborative.com/food_waste.
16. “Why Commit to Removing Commodity-Driven Deforestation From Supply-Chains?” Climate Collaborative. Accessed May 26, 2023. https://www.climatecollaborative.com/forests.
17. “Why Commit to Reducing the Climate Impact of Packaging?” Climate Collaborative. Accessed May 26, 2023. https://www.climatecollaborative.com/packaging.
18. “Why Commit to Responsible Engagement in Climate Policy.” Climate Collaborative. Accessed May 26, 2023. https://www.climatecollaborative.com/policy.
19. “Why Commit to 100% Renewable Power?” Climate Collaborative. Accessed May 26, 2023. https://www.climatecollaborative.com/renewable_energy.
20. “Commitment: Reduce HFCs, Methane, and Black Carbon Emissions.” Climate Collaborative. Accessed May 26, 2023. https://www.climatecollaborative.com/short_lived_climate_pollutants.
21. “Why Commit to Reducing the Climate Impact of Transportation?” Climate Collaborative. Accessed May 26, 2023. https://www.climatecollaborative.com/transportation.
22. Climate Collaborative, Return of a Nonprofit Corporation (Form 990-N), 2021.
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