Kahtoola, the maker of traction and performance- gaiters, announced it had achieved carbon neutrality. In 2019, the brand started working with OIA’s Climate Action Corps (CAC) to analyze its greenhouse gas emissions. Starting in 2022 and looking forward, Kahtoola is offsetting 100 percent of its carbon footprint by addressing scopes 1, 2 and 3 emissions.
With CAC’s guidance, Kahtoola implemented an emissions inventory, including energy consumption, manufacturing and shipping and calculated the offset requirements. Once its emissions baseline was final, the company, in partnership with NativeEnergy, created a program to purchase offsets.
Kahtoola’s employees voted for projects to invest in based on the company’s commitment to improving health, education and sustainability. The projects selected include the Northern Great Plains Regenerative Grazing Project to improve soil health and ranching practices in Montana, the Medford Spring Grassland Conservation Project focused on the preservation of Colorado’s shortgrass prairie and the Sky Wind Project in the Maharashtra region of India, working to clean up one the world’s dirtiest electrical grids.
Combined, these three projects offset the company’s annual carbon footprint (962 tCO₂e). The goal is to become part of an initiative set by the CAC to make the outdoor industry the first climate-positive industry worldwide.
“Achieving carbon neutrality is another opportunity for us to contribute to a more sustainable future,” said Danny Giovale, founder and owner of Kahtoola. “Kahtoola’s mission is to make the outdoors more accessible for everyone and creating performance-oriented gear takes a lot of energy; that’s why we’re constantly working on new, innovative ways to reduce our impact on the outdoor spaces we benefit from and love so much.”
