GoodWeave Launches Carbon Offset Initiative

January 12, 2010  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in on January 13, 2010 RugMark USA, Washington, D.C., which works to end child labor in the carpet industry through its GoodWeave certification program, has launched of a customized carbon offsetting program in partnership with Carbon Clear, one of world's largest carbon management companies.

"RugMark has worked for more than 15 years to make South Asia's rug industry child-labor-free, and with our more than 70 member companies, we're gaining momentum toward that goal," said Nina Smith, RugMark USA's executive director. "This initiative will help the industry achieve a new goal: to become carbon neutral."

The newly launched carbon calculator will help RugMark's North American member companies offset the carbon dioxide that is unavoidably emitted in the process of shipping their GoodWeave certified rugs made in India and Nepal, halfway around the world. RugMark estimates that more than 1,900 tons of carbon dioxide could be offset through its member importers alone--equivalent to the electricity usage of more than 900 homes over the course of a year, or the use of more than 725,000 gallons of gasoline. The amounts paid for offsetting fund development projects, including two textile projects in India.

"As a business that strives for sustainability, emma gardner design is grateful to GoodWeave for developing this tool to help us manage our carbon footprint," said Emma Gardner, principal of emma gardner design, one of GoodWeave€™s long-standing industry partners. "It's important to recognize the environmental costs of doing business and try to mitigate them in meaningful ways. We plan to use this to offset the carbon dioxide emissions of all our rug shipments."
 
The carbon offsetting program is an interim step in a larger effort to address environmental issues in the rug industry. A new GoodWeave standard now under development will incorporate further social and environmental requirements in addition to its no-child-labor criteria. These include living wages for of-age workers, high standards for sanitation, and environmental benchmarks for waste products.

"Issues like environmental degradation and child exploitation are interrelated," said Smith. "Both occur where lack of opportunity forces choices favoring short-term gains that compromise a community over the long-term. Improving social and environmental conditions can help break the cycle of poverty."

To learn more about the Carbon Clear partnership, click here.