FIVE is now carbon neutral. Huuuraaa!

Sustainability is important to us and hardly any topic is more urgent than reducing CO2 emissions. FIVE has been trying for years to keep emissions low through vegan ingredients and the avoidance of unnecessary packaging. Now the remaining CO2 emissions are also compensated. We support certified projects in Ghana and Rwanda, which also benefits the people, especially the women, in both countries.

Five Skincare ist klimaneutral! | Five Skincare

FIVE for Future

Everyone, regardless of whether they are consumers, politicians or entrepreneurs, has an ecological responsibility for our future. Yes, you have responsibilities too, but that's not what today is about (phew!). So you can keep reading. At FIVE, we try to do our part by...

  • If possible, use organic raw materials that have been proven to produce around 30 percent less CO2 emissions,
  • do without additional folding boxes – the things that usually end up in the waste paper after 2 minutes,
  • Use exclusively vegan ingredients, since livestock farming causes 15 percent of all greenhouse gases. Buuuhhh!

🌍 And from now on we will also compensate the remaining climate gas CO2 caused by our company and production. Means: We are 100 percent climate neutral!

Since you are interested in natural cosmetics, sustainability is certainly very important to you. You are probably also aware that CO2 and other greenhouse gases are a major problem for the climate on our planet.
As a global world population, we currently produce about 40 gigatonnes of CO2 per year. But what does that mean?
Let's assume you have a new smartphone and you take photos and videos every day, which means you need 40 gigatons of storage space per year. Then you should be asking yourself by now at the latest: How much storage space does my smartphone have?
For comparison, the entire CO2 budget that still remains for Mother Earth to avoid getting into uncontrolled climate change with such great things as the melting away of the polar ice caps and an unstoppable rise in temperature from year to year is about 400 to 600 gigatonnes.
This is our "storage space" - unfortunately we can't order a new smartphone this time (crap!). In other words, the Earth has a maximum of 10 to 15 years with current CO2 emissions if business-as-usual continues. But it doesn't have to! And that's why we now have to massively reduce all greenhouse gases. We must do something NOW!

OK, but what does climate neutral even mean?

Of course, operating FIVE and manufacturing our products releases CO2, even if natural cosmetics are less harmful to the climate than conventional cosmetics.
We cannot prevent certain CO2 emissions at the moment, as this would require a complete energy transition. The energy would have to come 100 percent from renewable sources, such as wind and sun for all areas. In addition, more efficient energy storage would be needed and all orders would have to be delivered by bicycle or electric car.
It actually sounds pretty good. And although we support such a development 100 percent, unfortunately we cannot implement it alone.So we're doing what we can currently do as a small company - even if it costs us money: CO2 offset! And we would like that many larger companies will soon follow the trend

But how does CO2 compensation work, or is that just «greenwashing»?

Nope! For the global climate, it doesn't matter where CO2 is released. It therefore makes sense to save CO2 where it is easiest: Projects that demonstrably save CO2 emissions are supported financially.
Our CO2 emissions are (ClimatePartner) calculated by a neutral body and we pay an amount that the same amount of CO2 elsewhere in the world saves. The bottom line is that no additional CO2 enters our overburdened atmosphere. Hence the term «climate neutral».
CO2 Kompensation | Five Skincare
CO2 Kompensation | Five Skincare
Of course we continue to try to keep waste and CO2 emissions as low as possible. And precisely because we are now paying voluntarily for every gram of CO2 that we emit, we naturally also have an economic interest in keeping our CO2 balance sheet as low as possible . It's as if, from now on, you had to throw a few centimes into a money box for every photo you take with your mobile phone.

What do cooking stoves have to do with climate change?

First we decided on a certified climate project that helps the local people in Ghana, where some of our shea butter for FIVE Shea Cream comes from. In Ghana, unfortunately, many families still cook on an open fire. That may sound romantic to us, but it's very unhealthy in closed rooms.
In addition, open fireplaces and inefficient old stoves - so-called coal pots - are very poor in terms of energy consumption and therefore have a lousy CO2 emission balance.
The solution: Better cooking stoves that are locally made and ceramic cladding that allows them to retain much more heat. The project demonstrably reduces CO2, creates jobs and protects the health of families, especially women, in Ghana.
Klimaschutzprojekt in Ghana | Five Skincare

The ceramic inserts are handcrafted locally

Kompensation der CO2-Emissionen durch das Projekt «Saubere Kochöfen» in Ghana | Five Skincare

Finished ceramic inserts before they are installed in the cooking stoves

Update May 2021:
The project in Ghana has meanwhile successfully to be completed. From May 2021 we will therefore support the project for clean cooking stoves in Nyungwe, Rwanda.

Clean cooking stoves for Rwanda

The Nyungwe Forest National Park in southwest Rwanda is one of the largest mountain rainforests Africa and offers a wide variety of animal and plant species. The area around the park is but densely populated. The population is growing, more and more firewood is needed and thus the unique ecosystem is threatened.
Besiedeltes Gebiet beim Nyungwe Forest Nationalpark im Südwesten Ruandas | Five Skincare

Populated area near the Nyungwe Forest National Park in southwest Rwanda

The climate protection project enables families to reduce wood consumption . Traditionally, cooking is done over an open fire. The enormous smoke pollution is not only harmful to health, but also inefficient and requires a lot of firewood from the forest. The cooking stoves introduced by the climate protection project from local sand and clay are manufactured in a local cooperative and consume two thirds less fuel.

Ruanda: Herstellung der Kochöfen aus Lehm und Sand | Five Skincare

The Canarumwe model is made by a local cooperative

Klimaschutz

The stoves are offered at low cost, making them affordable even for low-income households

If you buy from us, you indirectly support this project in Rwanda and help to reduce CO2 emissions. So in the end it's about you. 😉

additional Information

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