April 9, 2008 - Fiji Water has unleashed a major communications effort to disclose the carbon footprint of its products from sourcing to production to distribution. The company has created a dedicated green website where consumers will have access to lifecycle emissions data for its bottled water.

Fiji Water has benchmarked its total annual greenhouse emissions at 85,396 metric tons. To arrive at this figure, the company used the internationally recognized Greenhouse Gas Protocol to calculate its carbon emissions across the product lifecycle, including producing raw materials for packaging, transporting raw materials and equipment to the plant, manufacturing and filling bottles, shipping the product from Fiji, and distributing it to markets worldwide. The company also looked at emissions from sales and administrative activities such as commuting, business travel, and office electricity use.

Fiji Water has joined the Carbon Disclosure Project's Supply Chain Leadership Collaboration to engage with suppliers to disclose their emissions as well. The company estimates that 75% of its greenhouse gas emissions result from the operations of supply chain partners such as raw materials suppliers.

"Having an accurate account of our carbon footprint and ensuring transparency by reporting it annually to the [Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), a global investor coalition on climate change] are important steps to enable us to understand where to focus resources to reduce our carbon emissions," Thomas Mooney, senior vice president, sustainable growth at Fiji Water, said in a statement.

In November, Fiji Water pledged to take its products "carbon negative," reducing carbon emissions from manufacturing by 25% and offsetting 120% of remaining emissions through land conservation and renewable energy projects.

To read our interview with Thomas Mooney, click here.