People ask us all the time what it means to build a just food system. A big part is using more sustainable ingredients. And we’re proud to share a first-of-its-kind methodology that goes further than industry norms to do just that.
We have a long way to go, but here’s what we know so far.*
By choosing Just over other leading brands, you’ve helped save at least 254,000,000 gallons of fresh water between January 1 and October 31, 2017 — enough to fill more than at least 12,722 swimming pools. You’ve helped avoid emitting over at least 2,511,100 kilograms of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere — the equivalent of more than 196,116 cars kept off the road for a day. By choosing Just over other leading brands, you’ve also eliminated the need for more than at least 3,947,592 eggs.**
A number of variables influence sustainability metrics; for example, one can measure all water required by a given activity, or more relevantly, only fresh water used from lakes, rivers, and aquifers (“blue” water). That is our initial approach, and it’s a significant step towards measuring our progress and improving.
Our ingredient metrics and unique methodology can help make existing and future products more sustainable and we’ve begun reviewing additional factors like soil health, overall fossil fuel use, and fertilizer run-off, among others. Ultimately, we want our environmental impact work to encourage stronger sustainability analytics across the food industry. After all, it will take all of us to build a food system where everyone is eating well.
* Results (1/1–10/31/2017) are based on publicly available ingredient data for leading brands and our own product ingredient data. Competitor formulations are modeled and may be different than actual proprietary formulations. JUST’s technical methodology report to assess sustainability metrics is available here. The report was independently validated by sustainability consulting firm Third Partners. Their validation statement can be found here.
** We calculate the total quantity of eggs in competitor products using the same underlying methodology we use to calculate GHG and water impacts. We assume an average large egg without its shell has a mass of 50 grams and that hens produce 279 eggs per year and that they are kept for 80 weeks before being culled.
