Delicious Coffee, Sustainable Shipping

How we’re offsetting emissions from our online orders

By Blue Bottle Sustainability Manager Audrey Waldrop

Sustainability at Blue Bottle means caring for people and the planet. When our U.S. cafes temporarily closed in 2020 due to COVID-19, care for our guests motivated us to provide complimentary shipping throughout the U.S. But while shipping was free, we knew the environment paid a price. 

As we connected our community to Blue Bottle Coffee at home, we felt strongly that sustainability should not take a back seat. This is why we now offset the greenhouse gas emissions associated with our online store for orders shipped throughout the U.S.

In 2020, this meant we made financial contributions toward a methane digester at Scenic View Dairy, located an hour’s drive from Grand Rapids, Michigan. In 2021, we supported a project to improve forest management in Minnesota. And in 2022, we supported grassland restoration in China’s Qinghai Three-River Source Region.

In 2023, Blue Bottle supported the provision of affordable, high-performing stoves to communities in Honduras that historically have had limited access to energy. The improved cookstoves program aims to decrease deforestation by eliminating the need for biomass in domestic cooking. 

The selected cookstoves are more fuel efficient than wood burning, lowering household expenses and providing more time for economic activity. The stoves also improve indoor air quality, which reduces the risk of eye and respiratory damage from cooking with firewood. 

Finally, the program employs local communities in the sale, marketing, and distribution of the improved cookstoves. This project is verified by Gold Standard.

Overall, in 2023, Blue Bottle’s U.S. e-commerce shipping offsets had the same carbon impact as growing 2,282 tree seedlings for 10 years, taking 30 cars off the road, or not using 319 barrels of oil. It’s a small step, but one we hope will let you enjoy your online purchases that much more, knowing they are healthier for the planet.

The volume of offsets Blue Bottle purchases is estimated from its average annual U.S. shipping activity and calculated using average ground-shipping emission factors; Blue Bottle performs an end-of-year reconciliation based on actual shipping data.