With their recent launch of ROOT ZERO, Puffin Produce Ltd aims to offer a lower impact alternative to consumers.

For every 1,000 tonnes of ROOT ZERO potatoes sold, Puffin Produce offset 586 tonnes of CO₂e. This alone corresponds to nearly 700 economy flights from London to New York.

Beyond taking responsibility for their footprint today via offsetting, they have committed to reduce the carbon intensity of their potatoes by 51% by 2030 across the entire life cycle. The company has also pledged to a company-wide 1.5°C target through the Science Based Target Initiative, aiming to reduce operational emissions by 46% by 2030.

ClimatePartner is delighted to be supporting this ambitious strategy and accompany Puffin Produce on their Net Zero journey. After auditing all their calculations to ensure that these are in line with globally recognised standards, ClimatePartner helped Puffin Produce carefully select projects to offset their emissions and launch ROOT ZERO.

The brand communicates this by using ClimatePartner’s ‘Carbon Neutral’ label, certifying that all unavoidable GHG emissions have been offset in the production of ROOT ZERO potatoes.

By assessing their product and corporate carbon footprints Puffin Produce were able to identify emission hotspots across the life cycle of their potatoes, and develop an ambitious reduction strategy to help them realise their net zero strategy. Highlights include:

• Reducing emissions from fertilizers by improving soil health to reduce the need and using lower carbon alternatives (e.g. abated fertilisers which reduce nitrous oxide emitted).
• Reducing emissions from pesticides by growing newer varieties of potatoes with better disease resistance and integrated crop management which will help to reduce disease pressure in the field.
• Reducing emissions from seeds by growing the seed for ROOT ZERO crops locally within Wales to reduce the distances required to deliver them to our potato growers.
• Increasing carbon removal and biodiversity on farm via cover crops, rotational farming, hedgerows, etc.
• Introducing FSC-certified compostable and fully recyclable packaging, efficiencies in energy use, lower carbon transport and influencing consumer behaviour.

Beyond carbon, they also put strong emphasis on biodiversity and community engagement. The brand recognises the interconnection between people and planet, creating the ‘ROOT ZERO community’ that aims to educate and engage younger generations and support community projects. See more in their Root Zero manifesto here.