A little more than a year after becoming CarbonNeutral company-wide on Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, Counselor Top 40 supplier Koozie Group (asi/40480) is drilling down to the product level.

The Florida-headquartered firm has achieved CarbonNeutral product certification, in accordance with The CarbonNeutral Protocol, for eight of its writing instruments. Koozie Group said it’s the first in the promo industry to offer certified carbon-neutral hard goods.

“The next step in our carbon-neutral journey felt like a natural one: gaining certification for individual products,” said Pierre Montaubin, CEO of Koozie Group and a member of Counselor’s Power 50 list of promo’s most influential people. “Starting with the carbon footprint of the pens we manufacture in-house made sense, as we’d already gathered much of that data for our company-level certification.”

Montaubin added that five years ago, Koozie Group laid out its initial Keep It. Give It. social responsibility and sustainability goals. “It’s rewarding to see how we continue to push the envelope in our industry to ensure we’re leaving a positive, lasting impact with our products,” Montaubin said.

“The next step in our carbon-neutral journey felt like a natural one: gaining certification for individual products.” Pierre Montaubin, Koozie Group (asi/40480)

Koozie Group worked with Climate Impact Partners, a specialist in carbon market solutions for climate action, to achieve the product-level certification. The supplier conducted an independent assessment of all Scope 1, 2 and 3 GHG emissions generated by each writing instrument in alignment with Environmental Protection Agency guidance.

Scope 1 are direct GHG emissions that come from sources controlled or owned by an organization, like company vehicles and equipment. Scope 2 emissions are associated with the purchase of electricity, heating and cooling. For most companies, the vast majority of environmental impact comes from Scope 3 emissions – a sort of catchall category that includes indirect emissions that occur up and down a product’s value chain, including everything from business travel and employee commuting to the processing, use, distribution and disposal of goods.

Koozie Group measured GHG emissions cradle to grave, considering the impact at each stage of a product’s life cycle, from the creation of its components through each subsequent stage of manufacturing, transportation, product use and ultimately disposal. In addition to taking actions to reduce each product’s footprint through internal initiatives, Koozie Group said it has offset unavoidable emissions through the purchase of high-quality carbon credits.

The partnership with Climate Impact Partners made sense, said Victoria Sierra, Koozie Group compliance manager, because of the company’s vast experience in the sector and innovative voluntary carbon-offsetting program. “Working with them means all the projects we are supporting are independently verified and have a real and positive impact on the climate,” Sierra added.

The BIC Clic Stic Ice Pen (CSI) is one of the writing instrument styles from Koozie Group (asi/40480) that’s now certified CarbonNeutral.

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The Koozie Group writing instruments that have earned CarbonNeutral product certification include four BIC-branded pens. The styles are: BIC Clic Stic Pen (CS), BIC Clic Stic Ice Pen (CSI), BIC Digital Clic Stic Pen (DCCS), BIC Digital Clic Stic Ice Pen (DCCSI), Contender Pen (55155), Contender Party Pen (56071), Metallic Contender Pen (55426) and Contender Frosted Pen (55156).

All carbon-neutral products will have an icon on their product page on Koozie Group’s website, though distributors will also be able to filter by attributes to easily find products with the certification.

Koozie Group said it plans to continue to expand its selection of carbon-neutral products as part of its Keep It. Give It. social responsibility and sustainability commitment.

Focusing on carbon footprint at the product level is an increasingly requested metric among end-buyers, and promo suppliers have been taking steps to calculate and publish that data.

In June, Counselor Top 40 supplier Gemline (asi/56070), a certified B Corp, started adding cradle-to-gate carbon footprint data to more than 100 of its products. Dutch supplier XD Connects, the 2024 Counselor Sustainability Advocate of the Year, spent two years developing an independently verified life cycle analysis (LCA) tool that calculates the cradle-to-grave emissions of its products. Rupt (asi/84203), launched at the beginning of the year, also publishes CO₂ emissions for its products. And last year, Italy’s Atlantis Headwear (asi/37380) shared LCAs for select styles as part of its carbon-footprint reduction efforts.

Based on reported 2023 North American promotional product revenue of $317 million, Koozie Group ranked seventh on Counselor’s most recent list of the largest suppliers in the industry.

In addition to being a certified CarbonNeutral company, Koozie Group has more than 1,900 products that carry its KG Factor designation, which identifies promo products that lessen environmental impact through longevity. Its domestic facilities are Forest Stewardship Council and/or Sustainable Forestry Initiative certified.

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