Bringing sustainability to Europe

Tailormade recommendations

90% of pet industry professionals report an increase in expectations for sustainable products and companies. Fortunately, the business benefits of environmental and social practices have been well documented by hundreds of peer-reviewed studies that illustrate benefits including cost savings, attraction and retention of top talent and much more. The Pet Sustainability Coalition (PSC), US, has been working with pet companies since 2013 to measure environmental and social performance and implement custom sustainability strategies to drive long-term profitability. PSC members receive tailormade recommendations as well as support that simplifies the improvement process and ensures maximised return based on qualitative and quantitative analysis.

Tangible success

PSC has already achieved credible success. For example, two member companies – Healthy Pet and WellPet – have both engaged in manufacturing improvements that reduce their costs as well as their energy and waste footprints. Meanwhile, Zuke’s targeted packaging improvements have resulted in a lower carbon footprint and Earth Animal has focused on setting sourcing standards to foster animal welfare. 

Long-term growth requires retailer participation. Consumer data (particularly for millennials) shows an increase in people’s willingness to pay for sustainable products and a higher expectation for businesses to address environmental and societal issues. 

It appears that not all pet retailers are eager to meet this consumer expectation, however, since many seem slow to adopt sustainable business practices. 2018 data shows that 50% of pet retailers do not yet have any kind of sustainability programme in place. For sustainability to be a success in the pet industry, it is necessary for pet retailers and consumers to reward companies for their sustainable business practices.

The ‘One Paw One Planet’ programme

To stimulate implementation, over the last two years PSC has successfully piloted the ‘One Paw One Planet’ programme, which creates visibility for those companies actively measuring and improving how they impact the communities and environments where they do business. 

Due to its success so far, the programme is being expanded to further incentivise suppliers, manufacturers and brands to demonstrate continuous improvement. Additionally, it enables retailers to easily identify companies reporting their performance through a globally adopted third-party platform.

Who can participate?

The programme is open for members and non-members of any pet company based in the US or Europe and/or any company exhibiting at Global Pet Expo, Zoomark or SuperZoo. Companies must complete the PSC Quick Impact Assessment to participate, and to maintain their eligibility they must show measurable improvement. 

Those who achieve the highest performance and complete third-party verification will become eligible for additional visibility benefits. Companies who exhibit at selected trade shows receive large decals placed for display at their booth to attract visitors to – and engage them in – their corporate sustainability efforts.

The PSC Quick Impact Assessment

The Quick Impact Assessment is a condensed version of the B-Impact Assessment, a globally recognised third-party performance metric developed by the non-profit B-Lab. The assessment measures key areas of performance. The results of the assessment, which are confidential, can be benchmarked against the performance of others to reveal the biggest areas of opportunity, impact and ROI. 

One Paw One Planet programme at Zoomark

A committee of European pet companies is guiding PSC’s strategic advancement into Europe. This committee currently includes: Beco, Brit, Duynie Ingredients, Evonik, Fish4Dogs, Josera, Pets International, Prins Petfood, Protix, Qrill, Takigawa and West Paw. The group’s first effort is to expand the One Paw One Planet programme to Zoomark to serve as a simple and revealing opportunity for all companies to measure their sustainability performance. 

For further information about the opportunities of the One Paw One Planet programme, see:

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