1% for the Planet Renewal

We just finished our annual certification for 1% for the Planet. Remaining a business member requires you to donate one percent of your revenue to environmental causes.

The process is pretty painless: you share your yearly revenue with 1% for the Planet, prove that you have matched 1% with donations to environmental causes within the 1% for the Planet network, and in return you can remain a member in good standing.

We become a member of 1% for the Planet even before we had products to sell,  for the first two years those donations were pretty insignificant in absolute numbers.

But now that we’re growing it feels good to be able to put some cash behind these environmental initiatives. We’re a bit ahead already on our expected donations for 2023.

But 1% for the Planet means much more to us than just the donations. Our membership inspires accountability. We’re proud to be a member together with so many amazing companies, and this translates into taking more care of the environment in our production process.

Whenever possible we choose the more environmentally friendly way to produce. Those decisions are not always easy. Being member of a tribe of like-minded businesses inspires us to push back against market forces and find alternatives.

In 2020, we chose to source our chalk from European suppliers instead of Chinese suppliers like 80% of the market.

In 2021, we switched to a cleaner source of magnesium carbonate: seawater-based chalk. Less mining. Less pollution. Cleaner chalk.

In 2022, we chose to add Upsalite® to our chalk products to increase performance 2x. This means climbers can use less chalk while maintaining good friction.

In 2023, we chose paper+aluminium instead of the industry-recommended plastic for our loose chalk packaging.

From the very beginning we let the 1% for the Planet inspire the way we produce, and we plan to continue to draw inspiration from this wonderful tribe of companies in the future.