Kahtoola, creator of award-winning traction and performance-driven gaiters, is happy to announce that it has achieved carbon neutrality. In 2019, the brand began the process by working with the Outdoor Industry Association’s Climate Action Corps (CAC) to analyze its greenhouse gas emissions. Starting in 2022 and beyond, Kahtoola is offsetting 100 percent of its carbon footprint by addressing scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions.
With CAC’s guidance, Kahtoola implemented an emissions inventory including energy consumption, manufacturing, shipping, etc. and calculated the subsequent offset requirements. Once an emissions baseline was finalized, Kahtoola partnered with NativeEnergy’s Help Build program to purchase offsets.
Kahtoola associates then voted for projects to invest in based on the brand’s commitment to improve health, education and sustainability. The final projects selected include the Northern Great Plains Regenerative Grazing Project to improve soil health and ranching practices in Montana, the Medford Spring Grassland Conservation Project focused on preservation of Colorado’s shortgrass prairie, and the Sky Wind Project in the Maharashtra region of India working to clean up one the world’s dirtiest electrical grids.
Combined, these three projects offset Kahtoola’s annual carbon footprint (962 tCO₂e). The brand’s goal moving forward is to become part of an ambitious initiative set by the CAC to make the outdoor industry the first climate-positive industry in the world.
“Achieving carbon neutrality is another opportunity for us to contribute to a more sustainable future,” said Danny Giovale, Founder and Owner of Kahtoola. “Kahtoola’s mission is to make the outdoors more accessible for everyone and creating performance-oriented gear takes a lot of energy. That’s why we’re constantly working on new, innovative ways to reduce our impact on the outdoor spaces we benefit from and love so much.”
