Seventh Generation 2021 Climate Impact Report

Following the fingerprints

As a B-Corporation, Seventh Generation was founded on the notion that corporations could play a positive role in creating a better, more sustainable future. Their comprehensive yearly Climate Impact Report details the environmental impacts of their operations, sourcing, production, product, partners, and where they spend their money.

Seventh Generation’s absolute emissions have grown by 27% since 2012, but their carbon intensity has shrunk by 37%—meaning in 2021 they emitted fewer GHGs for every unit of product plus packaging than in 2012 for an equivalent unit of product plus packaging.

Scope 3 emissions, including consumer use, ingredients, and materials, account for most of the company’s emissions (92%).

Much of the company’s climate impact innovation is centered on concentrating their products so that less volume of product and packaging is produced and shipped.

Seventh Generation’s EasyDose™ Ultra-Concentrated Laundry Detergent supports their carbon reductions by using 60% less plastic and is 75% lighter when compared to the 100 fl oz bottle.

They have a three-part strategy for palm oil sustainability: reduce reliance, replace with viable alternatives, and pursue regenerative production.

To reduce the company’s footprint of citric acid and sodium citrate (substances used to make cleaning products more effective), they’ve changed some of the sourcing from a producer in China to a producer in Europe and in North America with a lower carbon footprint.

In 2021, Seventh Generation funded green energy improvements for all their significant suppliers. For suppliers unable to make in-year improvements, they purchased renewable energy credits for their emissions from Native’s New Renewables Portfolio.

Seventh Generation evaluated the climate performance of their (and parent company Unilever’s) banking, investment, and insurance partners across a set of qualitative criteria and—based on these findings—assigned a ‘score’: lagging, progressing, or leading. All were either lagging or progressing.

More than 40 marketing, media, and creative business partners worked with Seventh Generation in 2021, and the company has found a tremendous opportunity for building climate capacity and leadership in their marketing and creative services partner pool.

4,882 MT

of GHG reductions from Green Power Program investments

25,837

new action takers in 2021 from Seventh Generation’s advocacy efforts

“We seek to push the practice of corporate environmental reporting dramatically forward and advance a far more complete vision of authentic climate leadership free of finger-pointing.”

Ashley Orgain

Chief Impact Officer

Seventh Generation seeks to push the practice of corporate environmental reporting forward to advance a more complete vision of authentic climate leadership. For more than 30 years, the company has continued to set an example for corporations to minimize their environmental footprint—and in 2021 their focus was to follow the money to take it a step further (from footprint to fingerprint) and achieve real zero.

Their report outlines some of the most extensive reporting seen to date, from their parent company investments and their own marketing partners to their philanthropy, taxes, and more. They set an example of going above and beyond in sustainability impact analysis to inspire progress for all organizations, not just their own.

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“Together, our climate footprint and a better understanding of our climate fingerprints help to inform our roadmap to a safer and more just climate future.”