The short answer: We don't buy carbon offsets. We build emissions reduction into the product itself by replacing petroleum-derived materials with certified organic alternatives, which avoids emissions at the source instead of compensating for them afterward. Since 2021, that approach has reduced our absolute emissions 21% and our emissions intensity 22%.
Why we don't rely on carbon offsets
Carbon offsets let a company emit greenhouse gases and then pay for projects elsewhere, such as tree planting or renewable energy, that are intended to remove or avoid an equivalent amount. It's compensation after the fact.
Our products make a different approach possible. When we use GOLS-certified organic latex, tapped from rubber trees, instead of polyurethane foam, a petroleum-derived material, we replace a fossil-fuel input at the point of product design. The emissions that input would have generated are avoided rather than offset.
Where 96% of our emissions come from
Most companies focus on decarbonizing their offices, facilities, and vehicle fleets. Those are real reductions, but for a mattress company, they aren't where most of the carbon is.
About 96% of our greenhouse gas emissions come from our value chain: the materials, upstream production, and shipping behind our products. That's why material substitution drives our climate impact more than any operational change could.
2025 verified emissions (tCO₂e, location-based)
Scope 1 (direct emissions): 0
Scope 2 (purchased electricity): 1,096
Scope 3 (value chain): 24,701
Total: 25,798 tCO₂e, down 21% from 32,750 tCO₂e in 2021
The most consequential climate decision we make each year isn't which energy provider we contract with. It's what our products are made of.
What "climate funding" means
For our 2026 certification, covering 2025 emissions, we invested $734,638 in climate funding, $347,668 above the certification minimum. All of it went to the cost premium of certified organic cotton over conventional cotton, which Change Climate classifies as a value chain abatement project.
Our climate funding is the incremental cost we pay to source certified organic inputs instead of conventional ones. Those inputs are grown without synthetic pesticides or herbicides and replace fossil-fuel-derived materials. Change Climate counts this kind of value chain investment toward the funding requirement of The Climate Label.
This is not offset purchasing. It's the cost premium of making better choices at the material level.
The materials behind the reduction
Certified organic latex
Using GOLS-certified organic Dunlop latex, made from rubber tree sap, instead of polyurethane foam replaces a petroleum-derived material at the core of our mattresses. Our sourcing partners in Guatemala and India go further: their rubber plantations are intercropped with food crops, and biomass fuels the steam used in processing.
Certified organic wool
Our wool sourcing partnership with Agrestal Organic Living covers 325,500+ sheep across 38,000+ hectares of Himalayan grassland in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Improved rotational grazing across these managed pastures is estimated to sequester approximately 32,000 tCO₂e a year. This estimate sits outside our verified emissions boundary and is reported separately.
Certified organic cotton
Our organic cotton comes from certified farms in Turkey, India, and North Carolina. We deliberately source from several regions to reduce dependence on any one of them. Every origin meets GOTS standards, and none of the cotton is grown with synthetic pesticides or herbicides.
How we measure and verify this
Avocado has been certified by Change Climate every year since 2019. We were first Climate Neutral Certified as part of the program's initial cohort and have held The Climate Label since 2025. Our 2025 emissions were verified by an independent third party and reviewed by Change Climate against its certification standard. Measurement follows the GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard. See our full certification history.
Our emissions intensity, meaning total verified emissions per dollar of revenue, was 0.14 kgCO₂e in 2025, down 22% from 2021.
What we're working on next
A 50% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030 from our 2021 baseline, published in our Reduction Action Plan on our Climate Label profile. Scope 2 emissions fell 20% in one year, from 1,372 tCO₂e in 2024 to 1,096 tCO₂e in 2025.
At least 50% renewable electricity at our Fullerton, California factory, under evaluation for near-term implementation.
Expanding certified organic and regenerative inputs across more of our product portfolio.
An updated ISO-aligned life cycle assessment with Trayak, expected by the end of 2026. Until it's complete, our 2019 Trayak LCA remains our best available benchmark: 310 kg CO₂e per mattress, roughly 47% lower than 2.5 conventional hybrids over the same 25-year period.
Climate and emissions data reflect our most recently verified year, 2025, and our current verified inventory, so figures may differ from those in earlier reports. Sequestration estimates for our Himalayan wool sourcing region are conservative, literature-based figures subject to future soil carbon sampling; they sit outside our verified Scope 1 to 3 boundary and are reported separately. Full methodology and verified data are in our Impact Report and on our Climate Label page.