Why Certification? Mucci Farms and the Value of 3rd Party Certification

Recently, Mucci Farms publicly announced its carbon neutral commitments. Mucci is a co-client of Carbonzero and Walker Environmental Group (WEG). The project consisted of WEG calculating the carbon footprint of part of Mucci’s operational carbon footprint and offsets being acquired to neutralize the footprint. Our part in the whole process is to perform quality assurance by ensuring all carbon data and subsequent calculations are up to snuff and high-quality offsets are acquired to neutralize the footprint. It’s a great relationship we have with WEG because it provides 3rd party transparency and validity to the concept of carbon neutrality.

The truth is, Mucci Farms had already implemented a number of sustainability initiatives (biomass power/heat production, recycling plant growth media, non-GMO certified, thermal energy curtains and others) through its GreenERhouse program existed before Carbonzero or WEG came along. These actions are proof that carbon management and carbon neutrality are vital components of a healthy sustainability program. So too is 3rd party certification - it can add transparency and validity to such sustainability claims as carbon neutrality.

In our case, we take Carbonzero Certification (CZC) pretty seriously. Our small, but dedicated team works hard to ensure that any clients wishing to achieve CZC have earned it. Why? Because we take our brand seriously and want to be sure that our clients are measuring, managing and mitigating their footprint in a transparent, comprehensive and meaningful way. So when companies like Mucci measure their carbon footprint and provide Carbonzero with access to their raw data (for example, utility and fuel bills), we know their claims are legitimate and have met the CZC threshold.

I’m not going to get into the different requirements of CZC because it doesn’t lend itself to a blog post. However, one thing is for sure, 3rd party certification offers its benefits. Not only does it ensure that a company has crossed and dotted its sustainability t’s and i’s, it makes sure that if the company is going to expose itself to the public, it’ll be wearing a clean pair of underwear.