Our Sustainable Development Goal

Climate Change

There are 17 goals set out by the UN to help transform our world for the better.  Having read through them all we have decided that our sustainable development goal is Climate Change.  As surfers and lovers of the great outdoors we are very aware of the planet and care deeply about protecting it. From day one of starting the business we have always considered our environmental impact and had that at the core of what we do. 

These are our current policies regarding our climate impact:

• The soy wax we use is a carbon neutral crop, it is easy to grow and takes very little mechanical means to take it from plant to wax.
• Our wicks are simply cotton with a paper core (no lead!).
• Our current studio is exceptionally thermally efficient and takes very little energy to heat.
• All the wood used to build the studio came from forestry approved trees.
• All the work stations in the workshop are made locally using reclaimed wood.
• All our websales are dispatched in recycled/recyclable cardboard.
• The filling we use to pack the websales in are corn pellets and disintegrate in water.
• We recycle all our waste that can be and any plastic we receive (where possible) is returned to our suppliers for reuse.
• We are almost 100% plastic free in our packaging (and working on the last bit).
• When ordering stock we aim to order in bulk meaning per supplier we only get two deliveries a year, minimising air miles.
• 95% of our packaging is recyclable and we are working on the rest.

We decided to take on one of the global goals formally and by so doing we now take more directed actions and stronger decisions on our policies around the environment. We have signed up to ‘Take the Pledge’ with the United Nations Climate Change scheme and are committed to become climate neutral by 2020. This means that we will:

1. Measure and report our greenhouse gas emissions for an agreed-upon period of time.
2. Reduce our greenhouse gas emissions as much as possible.
3. Offset remaining emissions with UN Certified Emission Reductions (CERs).

What does it mean to be Climate Neutral?

Climate neutrality is achieved by balancing the amount of emissions your organization generates with the same amount being reduced. Climate neutrality is not necessarily about zero emissions. Instead, it is about reducing current emissions to the point where we reach a balance between our emissions and the absorptive capacity of the Earth.

Until we have measurable results we will be donating towards the United Nations Population Fund, which through the UNFPA, helps to protect girls and woman by;

1. Assure that no woman dies giving birth
2. provide access to modern contraceptives sufficient to benefit 20 million women a year
3. end violence against women, female genital mutilation, child marriage and teen pregnancies

 While this is not under the Climate Change umbrella, it is something we feel very strongly about.

We believe that although we are a small business now, having these principles in place from the beginning, ensures that as we grow our commitment to these goals remains at our core.