Nika Water Carbon Life Cycle Assessment

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Business Challenge:

NIKA, a California-based retailer of bottled water, donates 100% of their profits to clean water and water-related sanitation projects in impoverished areas around the world. In keeping with this socially-conscious viewpoint, NIKA hired ClearCarbon to conduct a product carbon footprint analysis of their 16 fluid ounce bottled water product so that they could certify their product as Carbonfree with Carbonfund.org.

Our Approach:

• ClearCarbon staff collected and reviewed all transportation, facility and supplier data to calculate a complete, detailed, accurate, and transparent product carbon footprint.
• The boundaries of the analysis encompassed the cradle-to-gate emissions for the plastic resins used for the bottle and cap; manufacturing emissions for the cap, bottle, label and cardboard case; transportation of supplies to manufacturers; product manufacturing at the bottling facility, and; transportation of finished product to market.
• ClearCarbon reviewed and catalogued data gaps and provided estimations based on industry standards when data were not available.
• All emissions calculations were consistent with the WBCSD/World Resources Institute Greenhouse Gas Protocol and were detailed in a comprehensive methodology report.

Value created:

Details of the product carbon analysis were highlighted on NIKA’s website. In addition, the results were submitted to CarbonFund.org for Carbonfree™ Labeling. This product now displays the Carbonfree label which indicates its emissions have been offset through the support of GHG reduction strategies, such as supporting renewable energy, reforestation or energy efficiency projects. 

Project Staff

• J. Renee Morin
• Erin Lehner