The CarbonFree® Business Partnership program attracts companies of all sizes that are committed to environmental responsibility in their operations.  The Carbonfund.org motto of “reduce what you can, offset what you can’t®” resonates with our business partners, who take deliberate steps first to lower their operational emissions before neutralizing those they cannot eliminate. 

A new CarbonFree® Partner, Born Custom Guitars, was attracted to the program for this very reason.  Born Custom Guitars already maintains sustainable business practices within their custom-made electric guitar manufacturing processes.  Their mission is to build the highest quality instruments available while being stewards of the environment and their community. 

The folks at Born Custom Guitars believe that music has the ability to create positive change in the world, so they set out to ensure that their guitars do the same by providing their industry with an example for how to manufacture guitars in a more sustainable manner.  To achieve this goal, Born Guitars are built only with woods that are either salvaged, reclaimed, or sustainably sourced, and are finished with natural oils or water-based lacquers.  Their manufacturing methods were designed to minimize the amount of wasted wood during manufacturing.  

Despite these efforts, Born Guitars recognized that they still create carbon dioxide emissions through the shipping and manufacturing of their custom guitars.  In order to neutralize their remaining operational emissions, Born Custom Guitars joined the CarbonFree® Business Partnership program. 

“While our sustainable sourcing and manufacturing initiatives alone can’t completely neutralize our company’s impact on the environment, our purchasing of carbon offsets and partnership with Carbonfund.org gets us as close as possible,” explains Campbell Davis, CMO and Co-Founder of Born Custom Guitars.  “We chose to partner with Carbonfund.org because they are a third party audited, non-profit organization that maintains transparency in all facets of their operation.”   

Carbonfund.org welcomes Born Custom Guitars to the CarbonFree® Business Partnership program, and we commend their commitment to sustainable custom-made guitar manufacturing. 

Many of our business partners focus on following sustainable business practices, specializing in organic products, minimizing waste in their packaging and supporting Fair Trade practices. These programs are important to their business ethics and compatible with the products they’re delivering.

Exemplifying this approach is the husband-and-wife team that created Arbor Teas, a CarbonFree® Business Partner for six consecutive years.

Arbor Teas offers USDA-certified organic loose leaf teas from around the globe through its on-line store, with one of the web’s largest selections of organic tea, three-quarters of which is Fair Trade Certified.  Arbor Teas maintains a daily mission to find the world's most fantastic organic teas and deliver them to customers as sustainably as possibly.  This includes maintaining their CarbonFree® Business Partnership, neutralizing all operational and shipping emissions by supporting Carbonfund.org’s clean air and carbon reduction projects around the world.   

Because Arbor Teas deals in products that come from all corners of the globe, it was imperative to offset the carbon footprint of all shipments that arrive at or depart from their facility as well as the carbon emissions from their internal operations.

“It makes no sense at all to sell an organic product if the method of delivering it to our customers is environmentally harmful,” emphasizes Jeremy Lopatin, co-founder of Arbor Teas with wife Aubrey.  “Although we do everything we can to reduce our carbon footprint, we’re happy to partner with Carbonfund.org to offset what we can’t avoid… yet!”

Arbor Teas became the first tea company to deliver its full line of organic loose teas in 100% backyard compostable packaging, continuing to lead the tea industry through its staunch commitment to sustainable business practices.  Tea drinkers are now able to compost their tea leaves and tea packaging together in their home composting system.  Organic teas delivered CarbonFree® with compostable packaging – that’s commitment to environmental sustainability in action and leadership by example. 

We’ve heard the phrase “think globally, act locally” associated with many environmental movements and causes.  Our CarbonFree® Business Partnership program takes this call to action a step further by helping businesses of all sizes to “act globally and act locally.”

For the past five years, Monica’s Waterfront Bakery & Café in Silverdale, WA has heeded this call.  They’ve maintained a CarbonFree® Business as an important part of their overall commitment to “remarkable customer service” and sustainable business practices.  Monica and her team recognized that it was important to supplement their dedication to sourcing locally, and to eliminating waste and emissions wherever possible, by adding a global commitment to neutralizing all annual carbon emissions from their business operations.     

"Because we know we are doing some things well and there are lots of things that we can do better,” explains Monica Downen, Owner and namesake of the bakery and café.  “We love that we reduce what we can and offset what we can't!"

Monica’s Waterfront Bakery & Café offers a menu featuring local produce, dairy, eggs, coffee, honey, sodas, flour and grains, pickles, and poultry.  The staff composts food waste, recycles, uses compact fluorescent light bulbs and subscribes to green power through the local utility.  All of these efforts accompany their five-year commitment to maintaining a CarbonFree® operation.

Make sure your sustainable business plan minimizes your impact on the environment.  Join Monica’s Waterfront Bakery and Café in our CarbonFree® Business Partnership program and support our carbon reduction and clean air technology projects around the world.         

Founded in 1996 by federal employment veteran John Grobe, Federal Career Experts (FCE) is a small business that specializes in training and consulting in the areas of retirement, career development and transition services for federal government agencies and their employees.  FCE has a network of consultants, most of whom are retired federal employees, with experience in all categories of federal agency employment and career development areas.   

As part of its overall mission, Federal Career Experts believes in protecting the planet by making choices that enhance the quality of the atmosphere and the resulting quality of life.   In order to help achieve this goal, Federal Career Experts became CarbonFree^® in 2007, offsetting their carbon footprint by supporting Carbonfund.org’s renewable energy projects.  FCE remains one of Carbonfund.org’s most tenured CarbonFree® Business Partners.

“The nature of Federal Career Experts’ business requires that we travel a great deal”, said John Grobe, President. “Though we are conscientious about our energy usage, we still have a relatively large ‘carbon footprint’ and have chosen to take steps to offset our impact on global warming.”

To date, Federal Career Experts has neutralized carbon emissions equal to the emissions created by combusting over 18,000 gallons of gasoline.  This continuous focus on serving federal employees while maintaining a sustainable business practice sets FCE apart in its field.  Carbonfund.org is proud to partner with Federal Career Experts in this long-term commitment to operational excellence. 

One of the primary components of Carbonfund.org’s mission is to provide climate change education and public outreach through our programs, and through our business partners and supporters.  Two of Carbonfund.org’s business partners recently teamed up in a great example of public outreach, hosting a zero-waste event in their community.

The City of Pleasanton, CA and Hacienda Business Park Owners Association hosted the 3rd annual Pleasanton Green Scene Fair on September 20^th at Hacienda West.   The event featured over 100 exhibitors providing information, demonstrations, raffles and samples of products related to health and nutrition, energy efficiency, commuting alternatives, water conservation, recycling, and locally-sourced foods.  The event also included a special display of alternative fuel vehicles, a mini-farmers market and the “Off The Grid” gourmet food trucks selling natural and sustainable treats.  

Hacienda Business Park Owners Association has been a CarbonFree® Business Partner since 2007, calculating and neutralizing annual operational emissions by supporting Carbonfund.org’s carbon reduction and clean energy technology projects.  And Hacienda’s Owners Association helps to spread the word about Carbonfund.org’s mission and projects, including the Million Tree Challenge, to the many businesses that occupy Hacienda’s properties.  They also recommended that the City of Pleasanton contact Carbonfund.org to evaluate the fair’s carbon emissions and create a program to mitigate emissions associated with the day’s events by supporting Carbonfund.org’s clean air projects. 

The road to succeeding in the fight against climate change and to hasten our transition to a cleaner energy future is to act boldly and work together to engage businesses, communities and networks to join in local and global efforts.  The Pleasanton Green Scene Fair is a great example of partnership among a local business leader in sustainable operations, their environmentally-aware municipality and Carbonfund.org to promote environmental conservation and sustainable business practices in their community.