Online shopping may be a heck of a lot more convenient than heading to a brick-and-mortar shop, but it comes at the expense of the environment. Think about it: every item you buy online requires plastic packaging and needs to be shipped to your doorstep, which automatically creates emissions from transportation. And while some companies like Amazon have acknowledged this issue and made plans to address it, no company has made any significant steps…until now. This week, online retailer Etsy will offset 100 percent of its shipping-generated carbon emissions, making it the first major online shopping platform to do so. Etsy has a unique challenge in that 98 percent of its total shipping emissions result from items shipped directly from sellers to buyers. In most cases, it’s up to the seller to handle shipping and that won’t change, but now Etsy will buy verified emissions reductions for every item purchased. These credits don’t directly counter emissions but support green projects, including wind and solar farms in India and forest conservation in Minnesota. The change comes at no additional cost to buyers or sellers.
For every item bought, Etsy will offset emissions from shipping free of charge
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