Companies made more commitments to climate action in August 2019 than in any other month since the Climate Collaborative launched—a hopeful sign on the heels of the hottest month on record.

Two and a half years into our work, the energy to act on climate continues to increase across our industry. We were thrilled to see 41 companies make 164 commitments in August, alone, bringing us to 435 total companies and 1679 commitments to action.

Newly committed companies include major retailers Thrive Market, Grove Collaborative, and Jimbo's Naturally, and brands ranging from Barnana, a company upcycling bananas, to Van Leeuwen Ice Cream. 

“At Thrive Market, our mission of democratizing access to healthy, natural and organic products drives every decision we make, and we know that scrutinizing every aspect of our supply chains is paramount,” says Jeremiah McElwee, SVP Merchandising and Product Development at Thrive Market. “This means focusing on not only sustainably-minded packaging and regeneratively farmed ingredients but also the ethical treatment of workers and fair pay for all people along the way. We are inspired to partner with communities like the Climate Collaborative as we know the collective is far more powerful than the individual.”

Hearteningly, we are seeing progress on more than just the commitments front. Today we released the results of this year's Tracking Progress Update, an annual assessment looking at the type and amount of progress that committed companies are making around their climate action commitments. This year’s results show that 71% of responding companies are making active progress against their commitments. You can see the full results here, and see a few stories of company progress here. 

Over the next year, we aim to enable even greater action and collaboration across the industry. Today in Baltimore we held a session focused on building partnerships for impact on climate, and as part of it we heard from Mountain Rose Herbs on their partnerships with Oregon business, which have enabled them to have a robust and meaningful voice in the Oregon climate policy landscape, and from Stonyfield on their collaborative work building an open-source platform for farmers to use to promote regenerative practices. Seventh Generation and Glen's Garden Market also shared how they started small at a local level making enormous changes, supporting renewable infrastructure and building a vibrant local community of sustainable businesses. We left these conversations inspired by the possibility--and the imperative--of what we can accomplish if we act collectively as an industry.

Momentum and collaboration are building and we want and need even more of both! I'm excited by the progress I've seen around our food waste project, our consumer engagement work, and the continued engagement with our ROOTED community. I hope that over the next year all of you in our community can bring your ideas, a will to collaborate, and the means to support the rest of the industry in moving forward.

I also want to take a moment to thank our donors, without whom none of this work would be possible. Their support enables us to keep this platform free, and as our community grows, and the scale of our programming increases, their contributions mean more than ever. Today we launched a new page to recognize their efforts and tell some of their stories of action beyond their CC support. We hope you'll take a look, and consider having your company become a sustaining CC sponsor if it's within your means!

Thank you for being on this journey with us, and part of our growing community! We have a lot of work left to do, and I've never been more heartened at the opportunity to take it on with all of you.

Welcome to our new companies, and thank you to our newest sponsor, Sambazon! 

Companies welcomed on Thursday, September 12:

inNative
Vegan Heavenly Delights Inc.
12 Tides Seaweed Co.
oVertone
Burroughs Family Farms
OlyKraut
Community Market Santa Rosa & Sebastopol
Ocean's Halo
Goodlight Natural Candles
MaMa Jean's Natural Market
"I and Love and You"
Casa Sanchez Foods
Kikoko Tea
Deep Roots Market
Rising Tide Co-op
Trickling Springs Creamery
Upper Valley Food Coop
Vital Choice Seafood
The Sugar Beet Co-op
Toast Ale
Barnana
Buchi Kombucha
Booda Organics
Cambridge Naturals
La Tourangelle, Inc.
Sun & Swell Foods
Active Wisdoms Corporation
Brother Bru Bru's
Coke Farm
KonaRed Corporation
Kube Nice Cream
ORYANA FOOD COOPERATIVE
Sweet Earth Foods
The Common Bond Market
Thrive Market
Van Leeuwen Ice Cream
Slo Natural Foods Co-op
Vilicus Farms
Hendersonville Community Co-op
Grove Collaborative
Down to Earth Organic & Natural
Enjoy Life Natural Foods
Jimbo's Naturally
Net Zero Analysis & Design Corp
Brothers Drake