Sustainable snack brand Quinn announced it achieved the Climate Friendly product attribute from its partner HowGood, an independent research company with the world’s largest ingredient sustainability database. Quinn will begin to roll out the first ever on-pack Climate Friendly label on its snack products in 2023. Products that receive the Climate Friendly attribute have greenhouse gas emissions that are lower than 70% of all products assessed by HowGood. The new on-pack label allows consumers to easily identify products that are more sustainable.

As part of Quinn’s ongoing commitment to being a trailblazer in making real change to the food system, the Company always seeks out ingredients that support soil health and reduce carbon emissions, and share all that information with its Ingredient Transparency Policy. Through its partnership with HowGood, Quinn is now able to further measure the impact of its ingredients and products, including its carbon footprint. HowGood’s assessment for the Climate Friendly attribute takes into account greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at the agricultural production and ingredient processing stages of the carbon life cycle and identifies those with significantly lower emissions. 

“Transparency is a huge priority for us at Quinn Snacks. When you know where your food comes from and how it’s grown, you make food differently, you make it better. Regenerative agriculture can drastically reduce emissions and make farms more resilient to the effects of climate change. We’re excited to have HowGood’s Climate Friendly label to communicate our commitment to the environment and responsible sourcing” said Kristy Lewis, Quinn founder. Additionally, Grace Dennis, Quinn sustainability and sourcing manager, shared “HowGood is a key and trusted partner for our team, facilitating our continued emphasis on regenerative agriculture practices and allowing us to maintain the ingredient transparency our customers look for from us."

HowGood’s methodology for calculating GHG emissions is developed in accordance with the GHG Protocol. Data collection sources include the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2013 global warming potential estimates where available and crop-specific LCAs, along with other vetted sources. Once the data is collected and analyzed, HowGood conducts a proprietary process of mapping each ingredient to its source crop, animal or mineral. Using global import/export data, HowGood then maps each source crop to its corresponding geographic location to create a unique level of granularity that accounts for specific on-the-ground practices, impacts, and risks in each locale. Through this process, HowGood has developed industry-average impact profiles for CO2e across nearly every ingredient in the food system. When greater supply system transparency is available, those specifics are integrated into the final carbon footprint analysis.

“The Climate Friendly attribute provides consumers with a clear indicator of how sustainable a product is with respect to carbon emissions. It’s easy-to-understand and guides consumers toward more sustainable purchases, said Christina Lampert, director of growth & innovation at HowGood. “We’re excited to be powering a full suite of sustainability attributes amidst the growing call from consumers for products in line with their values and preferences. Labels like Quinn’s will empower shoppers to take a critical step in reducing their carbon footprint.”

Quinn snack products featuring the Climate Friendly attribute will be reassessed yearly to ensure the Company and its products continue to meet the current industry benchmarks. The new label will begin to appear on packaging in retail stores nationwide in early 2023, and it will be made available immediately on product pages across Quinn’s website. To learn more about Quinn’s commitment to ingredient transparency, visit quinnsnacks.com.