(PRESS RELEASE) BOULDER, CO — In April 2024, the Pet Sustainability Coalition welcomed hundreds of pet industry professionals to complete thousands of micro-actions that saved 18,700 tons of CO2 from entering the environment, shattering the 15 ton goal. With zero cost to participate, its third annual Earth Day Rally 30-day sprint inspired hundreds of individuals to take concrete actions that lead to a better future for pets, people, and the planet.
The 2024 Earth Day Rally continued the multi-stakeholder engagement with support from its nonprofit partners American Pet Products Association (APPA), World Pet Association (WPA), the North American Veterinary Community (NAVC), Pet Industry Distributors Association (PIDA), IndiePet, Human Animal Bond Research Institute (HABRI), and Pet Food Institute (PFI). In addition, the 2024 Rally was supported by Defender sponsor Earth Animal.
Employing an easy-to-use mobile app called CO2 Hero, the Rally mobilized 730 pet industry professionals from 37 participating companies to engage in 10 daily repeatable eco-actions. The highest impact actions included offsetting business travel, greening the daily commute, recycling, eating plant-based meals, and reusing water bottles.
The first place team, Freshpet, was awarded a $2,000 PSC Project Credit, and the second place team, Earth Animal, was awarded $1,000 in carbon offsets from PSC’s partner, Native Energy. The top performing companies were:
- Freshpet (6.76 T CO2)
- Earth Animal (2.12 T CO2)
- Austin and Kat (1.39 T CO2)
- Nulo (1.18 T CO2)
- W. F. Young (1.15 T CO2)
Top performing individuals were:
- Brett Duewell – Freshpet
- Liliana Bolton – Freshpet
- Lisa Diehl – Freshpet
- Maria Lange – Earth Animal
- Alexis Vance – W.F. Young
“By eliminating nearly 19 tons of CO2, the pet industry rallied to make a positive impact on our shared world. With Freshpet leading the way, the Pet Sustainability Coalition member network is a force to be reckoned with, posting double-digit growth year after year through its highly engaged community of action-oriented sustainability professionals,” says Jim Lamancusa, executive director of the Pet Sustainability Coalition. “By engaging in our 30-day sprint, our participants have built habits that will last a lifetime.”
APPA, WPA, and the NAVC have amplified its Rally support through a Matching Gift campaign by donating $25,000 each to match participants’ climate points. The generous donations are unrestricted gifts to PSC’s Impact Fund. Because of this powerful support, the inspirational actions taken by the participants will translate into a healthier planet all year round by supporting PSC’s industry-leading programming in plastic packaging and sustainable proteins.
Mobilizing the industry to take action this Earth Day at zero-cost for all participants is made possible by the generous Defender-level sponsorship of Earth Animal. “This is our third year of sponsoring and participating in the Earth Day Rally and we get more inspired every year. It is such a fun and easy way to engage and educate the entire Earth Animal team,” says Stephanie Volo, chief impact officer, Earth Animal. “We love the internal drive to outdo our colleagues and tracking our progress against other companies. We are a proud sponsor, knowing that this makes it free for everyone across the industry to participate and that it supports the only such effort of action in the industry.”
The Educator level sponsors were Freshpet, Healthy Pet, Open Farm, Peel Plastics, and Petco.
Read the full Earth Day Rally Report here.
About the Pet Sustainability Coalition
The Pet Sustainability Coalition advances business through profitable environmental and social business practices. Founded in 2013 by eight companies, PSC now serves more than 200 member companies across the pet industry, helping them to progress on its sustainability practices, set and strive for ambitious goals, and report on its achievements. Additionally the PSC leads retailers, distributors, brands and suppliers in pursuing collaborative solutions to some of the largest industry-wide issues, such as sustainable packaging and protein sourcing. Connect with us on LinkedIn, YouTube, and Facebook. Learn more at www.petsustainability.org.