Since day one, sustainability has been at the core of everything we do. We never wanted to make empty gestures — we wanted to be pioneers, a brand that leads by example, encouraging bigger organisations to make positive changes in its wake.

That’s why, this year, we’ve taken our sustainability a step further than ever before. We’re incredibly proud to announce that, in partnership with On A Mission, Kiss the Hippo has become a totally carbon negative coffee brand.

We’ve always wanted to be carbon negative. After all, the climate is in crisis, and we don’t want it to cause a similar shock to Covid when that crisis finally reaches its peak. For us, this decision was a no-brainer, a necessary step to create awareness — and one we hope others will soon follow.

So, if you’re interested in carbon negativity: here’s how we did it, why we did it, and why you can feel good that our company and all of our coffee and pod products are now 100% carbon negative.

Why we care about carbon

It’s no secret that the climate is in crisis, and that that crisis is caused by carbon. Modern companies and their consumers are pumping more and more CO2 into the atmosphere every year, contributing to a climate catastrophe the world over.

Meanwhile, the world’s forest populations are dwindling with every day that goes by. That’s despite the fact that forests are the best carbon-reducers on earth, and reforestation has been shown to be the most effective solution to capture CO2 and therefore solve climate change.

What we’ve been doing about carbon until now

We’ve always cared about the climate. From the compostable cups in our cafés to the Loring Smart Roaster in our roastery, which at 80% less fuel is the world’s most environmental roasting machine, we’ve made a conscious effort to consider the environment in all of our decisions.

We also know that carbon is the biggest threat there is to the climate, hence why we coincided the launch of our coffee pods with funding an ecoforestry project in Nepal. Even then, we knew we had to go further. That’s why we bolstered our partnership with Swiss non-profit On A Mission to achieve total carbon negativity.

What is carbon negativity?

While carbon neutrality is all about using reforestation to absorb as much carbon as you produce, carbon negativity aims to actually create a net positive for the environment. That’s why carbon negativity was always our goal.

To achieve it, we enlisted the help of On A Mission, whose mission statement is to help companies like ours become carbon negative. We painstakingly calculated our carbon emissions, planned out ways in which we could reduce them, then made a plan with On A Mission to offset our remaining emissions with verified or certified sustainable reforestation projects.

How we calculated our carbon footprint

After reducing our emissions by changing some of our workflows, we worked with On A Mission to calculate our company’s total carbon footprint. We looked at our core offerings — that is, our coffees, bags and pods — as well as transportation, whether that’s the transportation of our lots from the likes of Latin America, or the transportation of coffee bags to our friends and partners in London and beyond.

Once we’d calculated our company’s CO2 value, we then started working with On A Mission to offset that value by contributing to their reforestation efforts. When we first launched our coffee pods, we started planting a tree in an ecoforestry project in Nepal for every subscription. That’s how the #KissTheHippoForest was born. Now, to offset our emissions and to help reverse climate change, we’re working on a much larger scale to plant trees pretty much everywhere else. The #KissTheHippoForest is growing!

How we finally became carbon negative

To make our international reforestation efforts a success, On A Mission work in tight partnership with local planting organisations, following along via independent satellite monitoring of the reforested zones to track the growth of the trees, the carbon sequestration and the projects’ long term success.

Now, in liaison with On A Mission, we can already see how our contributions are helping compensate carbon emissions all around the world, through reforestation initiatives in Colombia and Madagascar, Zambia and California. The result? A healthier climate, thanks to carbon negative coffees, carbon negative coffee pods, and the first carbon negative coffee brand in London.

We’re proud to be a totally carbon negative company, and we couldn’t have done it without our dear online shoppers, our loyal London café guests and our valuable wholesale partners, all of whom have helped us on every step of our carbon negative journey. Thanks to you, we’re creating a net positive for the environment. So thanks for helping us help the planet, one cup of coffee at a time.