Garden of Life®, the leader in vitamins and supplements made from clean, traceable, organic and non-GMO ingredients, today announced the company and its products are certified carbon neutral by Carbonfund. It is one of the first major brands in the vitamin and supplements industry to reach this milestone. To celebrate, the company created a carbon-neutral carbon neutral announcement – an artistic message hand-cut into an acre of an organic alfalfa field that neutralized itself by growing back into the Earth and disappearing.
“We can’t make the products we love at Garden of Life without a thriving environment that can produce clean, organic ingredients,” said Brian Ray, president of Garden of Life. “Becoming certified Carbonfree is not just the right thing to do – it’s critical for ensuring clean nutrition for generations to come.”
The Carbonfund Carbonfree seal will be featured on every Garden of Life product package, starting with its newest line of Mediterranean Diet-approved Dr. Formulated MD Proteins, a collection of sustainable protein powders already available on retail shelves.
Garden of Life is One of the Most Sustainable Companies on Earth
According to research by Provoke Insights, consumers are more concerned with how companies are affecting the environment. Its market research shows that 90% of consumers believe that companies and brands have a responsibility to take care of the planet and its people.
To achieve certification as Carbonfree, Garden of Life collaborated with SustainaBase to create an industry-first data-driven approach to measuring the carbon footprint of its entire supply chain, from seed to consumer, enabling the company to identify carbon emissions reduction opportunities on an ongoing basis.
The company has dedicated more than 15 years to prioritizing sustainable practices to reduce its carbon footprint, from its LEED Gold-certified headquarters down to its ingredient sourcing, creating the world’s largest selection of Certified USDA Organic and Non-GMO Project Verified nutrition supplements. After mapping its carbon footprint, the company identified additional initiatives to further reduce carbon emissions, and where necessary, Garden of Life invests in carbon offsets to ensure a net-zero footprint. The company contributes to alternative power sources across the world such as wind power development in the United States and wind, water and solar development in India through Carbonfund-certified projects.
New Third-Party Certification on All Garden of Life Products
Achieving carbon neutrality is the latest in Garden of Life’s long history of doing what is best for the environment. Since 2006, its products became Certified USDA Organic and Non-GMO Project Verified. Garden of Life has been recognized as a Certified B-Corporation since 2014, and the brand now adds Carbonfund-certified carbon neutral to its labels.
The first product line to feature the carbon-neutral designation on package is Dr. Formulated MD Proteins, sustainable plant-based proteins and the company’s first-ever sustainable plant and salmon protein. The line is sourced, produced and packaged with global impact in mind, with science-based formulas created in partnership with leading industry experts.
Everything About this Announcement is Carbon Neutral
To announce its carbon neutrality in a unique way, Garden of Life partnered with renowned earthworks artist Stan Herd to create a message in a larger-than-life living sculpture in an organic alfalfa field outside of Lawrence, Kansas. Herd and Garden of Life took deliberate steps to ensure the crop artwork and the process from start to finish were carbon neutral. Herd and his local team plotted the farmland and only used hand tools to carve into the field at various lengths to create the design, adding color contrast with organic compost.
While meant to share Garden of Life’s news, the plants have already grown back and the field has returned to its original state. By design, the announcement completely neutralized itself.
“It felt disingenuous to declare we’ve achieved carbon neutrality in a way that didn’t serve the Earth,” said Ray. “We wanted to document this exciting milestone for our company and share it widely but deliver it in the most sustainable way.”
Visit GardenofLife.com/Carbon-Neutral to learn more and browse all the brand’s carbon-neutral products.
ABOUT GARDEN OF LIFE
Garden of Life is today’s recognized leader and innovator in carbon-neutral-certified, whole food, Certified USDA Organic and Non-GMO Project Verified nutrition. Headquartered in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, we offer more than 400 time-tested supplements by leading scientists – all to Empower Extraordinary Health. Whether we’re making a vitamin or a probiotic or a protein powder, we always start with fresh, real, whole foods that are traceable back to the seed. From there, these foods provide our formulas that give people of all ages the power to be their best. Visit gardenoflife.com to learn more.