Many companies are looking for ways to lower their carbon footprints. ShippingEasy is no different; however, it took the effort further last holiday season and helped smaller firms do the same with its “The Greenest Way to Ship” initiative. The company, a cloud-based shipping, tracking, and marketing platform for e-commerce sellers, used carbon offsetting to help merchants deliver on a more sustainable mindset.
The Greenest Way to Ship covered merchants’ shipping costs using discounted rates to offset the carbon emissions of packages. The company wants to help small businesses grow while keeping environmental impact in mind.
“At ShippingEasy, our goal is to help merchants successfully start and run their e-commerce businesses. I’m very proud to share that now we can also help merchants go carbon-neutral …,” Chris Vaughn, former ShippingEasy general manager, said in a press release. “We value sustainability at ShippingEasy, and are proud to offer this value as an embedded feature to our merchants and their end customers.”
Photo Courtesy ShippingEasy
The Austin, TX-based company launched the Greenest Way to Ship pilot during the 2022 holiday gift-giving season, which ran from November 2022 through mid-January 2023. The main reason for launching the program was two-fold.
First, the time for cutting carbon emissions is critical now; and two, many small businesses don’t have the capacity to support carbon-neutral emissions early on. ShippingEasy wanted to give those merchants a chance to get off the ground while still making a commitment to wise, sustainable choices.
“Because this is our first implementation of the feature, we’re focusing on peak season specifically; so we can make the largest impact during our merchants’ shortest, busiest window,” Vaughn told “Sustainable Brands” in November 2022, noting that the company hoped the option would return for the 2023 holiday season based on feedback and demand.
Photo Courtesy ShippingEasy
According to Freight Waves, more than half of consumers in a Descartes survey said they would accept longer delivery times to lessen online orders’ environmental impact. One in five said they would pay more for a sustainable, green method. ShippingEasy took those results to heart, hoping its small business-focused clientele would choose carbon-neutral shipping.
When a company chose the Greenest Way to Ship, Shipping Easy calculated carbon impact based on distance and mode of transportation.
Once the distance was measured, the company bought carbon offsets. The option did not lengthen the company’s shipping time.
ShippingEasy bought the carbon offsets from The Dempsey Ridge Project, a zero-emission, clean wind energy source based in Oklahoma that powers nearly 50,000 homes in the area. This type of carbon offsetting has become a focal point for small and medium-sized business carbon reduction strategies.
Photo Courtesy ShippingEasy
“Offsetting the carbon emissions of your home or business actually is significant!” Marisa de Belloy, CEO of Cool Effect, a carbon offset project crowdfunding company, told “Forbes.” “If more people had that perspective, the impact would be incredible. Carbon credits are a great, verifiable way to assist businesses in reaching corporate emission reduction goals while more substantive changes to operations are made.”
The Greenest Way to Ship was an option for users of the ShippingEasy app and required no additional enrollment or fees. Keep an eye open for the return of the Greenest Way to Ship option for the upcoming holiday season.
