In 2020, Luke assessed Jungle Juice Bar’s carbon footprint for their entire production chain of smoothies and juices. Since then, the company has doubled the offset of its emissions and is looking for new ways to cut them further.
At Jungle Juice Bar, it was thought right from the beginning in 2010, that the carbon footprint for smoothies made from fresh fruits, berries and vegetables is quite small. In the fall of 2020, this was confirmed when Luke assessed the carbon footprint for the entire company. The scope of the assessment was outlined according to Scope 3, which covers not only the company’s direct emissions, but also indirect emissions including the cultivation and transportation of raw materials.
“Now we are able to offset all our emissions according to our true carbon footprint. We also know what we need to focus on to cut our already low emissions further,” says Elli Holappa, CEO of Jungle Juice Bar.
At the end of 2020, Jungle Juice Bar offset the carbon footprint of all of its production chains for the entire year, meaning the company was carbon-neutral. Since the beginning of 2021, the company has doubled the offset of its emissions by financing forest conservation projects in Brazil and Zimbabwe.
“We think carbon neutrality is only a license to operate. When we overcompensate, every smoothie bought by customers removes more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than it produces,” says Holappa.
At Jungle Juice Bar, it was not considered important for each smoothie to have its own carbon footprint, so the assessment was focused on raw materials for all production as well as sales at more than 50 outlets.
“It was important to us that the assessment was reliable and impartial, which is why we chose Luke as our partner,” Holappa says.
Luke’s Customer Manager, Juha-Matti Katajajuuri, points out that a large set of standards in the industry always provides a good framework for assessment, but the user of the standards also makes numerous choices that affect the assessment and the comparability of different assessments. Also, the quality of data sources has an effect. For example, in the case of domestic vegetables, data can be obtained directly from farmers, while data concerning vegetables from far-off countries are more likely to be based on literature sources and estimates from experienced researchers.
“It is essential to be able to identify and generate the most reliable and comparable information possible for different raw materials,” Katajajuuri says.
“In the Jungle Juice Bar calculations, we collected data on the carbon footprint of raw material cultivation from scientific publications in countries of origin and from international databases. We assessed the emissions caused by transportation based on the geographical location of the production area,” says Katri Joensuu, Research Scientist at Luke.
Jungle Juice Bar was given the task to collect as comprehensive data as possible on the quantities and origins of raw materials and packaging, energy and water consumption, and the quantities and treatment of waste.
“We learned that it is definitely worth reserving proper resources for such a project. Fortunately, Luke’s experts had the patience to guide us and wait for us to gather all the data,” Holappa says.
It was important to us that the assessment was reliable and impartial, which is why we chose Luke as our partner.”
Elli Holappa, CEO of Jungle Juice Bar
Luke’s assessment show that just over 50% of Jungle Juice Bar’s carbon footprint comes from raw materials and less than 33% from transport. Energy and water consumption and packaging account for just over 10%.
According to Holappa, the assessment helps identify raw materials that should be reduced or increased.
“We are strongly tied to imported fruit and thus long shipments, but we are constantly striving to increase the use of domestic raw materials. A good example of this is the blackcurrant, which we are using more and more,” Holappa says. She emphasizes that there are also big differences between imported fruits.
“Bananas, for example, have a surprisingly small carbon footprint because they produce good crops on small areas, and they can also be packed tightly on board.”
Another way to influence the carbon footprint of raw materials is to reduce waste. Jungle Juice Bar products wait up to two hours on the counter, after which they can be purchased through the surplus food service ResQ Club. In any case, there is a large amount of biowaste coming from fruit peel, and according to Holappa, new uses are constantly being sought for it.
“The beverage company Olvi will soon launch two new drinks, which have been flavored with pineapple and citrus peel collected from us. We are also planning to use apple and ginger pulp residue to perfume detergents.”
In terms of energy, Jungle Juice Bar is, according to Holappa, well under way. Electricity and water consumption is already very low and electricity is renewable whenever possible. Attention has also been paid to packaging, which produces about a tenth of the company’s CO2 emissions. Currently, mugs and lids are made of industrially compostable, bio-based PLA plastic, and straws are paper.
“In Finland, however, the infrastructure for plastic recycling is significantly better than that for industrial composting, so we are considering switching to recycled PET plastic,” Holappa says.
Customer: Jungle Juice Bar produces and sells smoothies and juices directly to consumers at more than 50 outlets.
Need: Jungle Juice Bar wanted to offset its carbon emissions and reduce them.
Solution: Jungle Juice Bar commissioned Luke to assess its carbon footprint to provide a starting point for compensation, development and communications. Luke roughly assessed the carbon footprint for the entire company, taking into account the average production and transportation of raw materials.
Effectiveness: Jungle Juice Bar now doubly offsets its carbon footprint, which means the company is carbon-neutral and also finances carbon-binding forest protection projects in Brazil and Zimbabwe.
Funding: 100% Jungle Juice Bar
