Fiji Water goes "carbon negative"

It may have become the drink of choice for Hollywood film stars, but Fiji Water has been copping a fair bit of flak from environmentalists for exporting bottled water from a country where many of the population still lack clean drinking water.

This week, however, the company moved to bolster its green credentials with the launch of a major sustainability project that will see it become one of the first companies in the world to go "carbon negative".

Under the new plan, the company will invest in forestry and renewables projects, and thereby remove 20 per cent more carbon from the atmosphere than it emits. Fiji Water added that the initiative would see it offset the entire carbon footprint of its bottled water, covering "raw materials production through post-consumer handling" of the company's products.

The carbon offsetting plan, which will be managed in conjunction with Conservation International, is the stand out feature of a broad sustainability initiative that will see the company commit to delivering an independently verified 25 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions, source half of the energy for its production processes from renewables, and reduce product packaging by 20 per cent by 2010. The company also announced the launch of a new fund to help protect Fiji's largest remaining rainforest.

Thomas Mooney, the newly appointed senior vice president for sustainable growth at Fiji Water, said that the initiative was in the long-term commercial interest of a company that relies on the purity and sustainability of its product.

"The heart and soul of our brand, and the integrity of our product all depend on preserving one of the last remaining virgin ecosystems on Earth," Mooney explained. "Climate change continues to be one of the biggest, most challenging problems our planet faces, and our Sustainable Growth Initiative is a comprehensive and sustained effort for Fiji Water to do its part."