Watershed and Canva Announce Clean Power Innovation to Reduce Supply Chain Emissions
May 23 2024 - 12:30PM
Watershed and Canva Announce Clean Power Innovation to Reduce
Supply Chain Emissions
Watershed, the enterprise sustainability platform, and Canva, the
world’s only all-in-one visual communication platform, today
announced a new Virtual Power Purchase Agreement (VPPA) to reduce
Canva’s scope 3 emissions. The program is co-funded by the largest
Canva Print suppliers, including RPI Print, Taylor, Blooming Color,
Brook & Whittle, and Digital on Demand, and will build a
network of new community solar projects in Illinois while reducing
the emissions of these suppliers.The network of solar projects will
bring new clean power capacity onto the Midcontinent Independent
System Operator (MISO) power grid, as well as significant local
economic benefit. Using the community solar model, the projects
will allow those who cannot install rooftop solar (such as renters
or low-income households) access to clean power. The projects will
also reduce household electricity bills in the community through a
mechanism known as net virtual metering: Excess electricity
generated by the solar plants will be sold to the local utility,
which will credit the sale against the utility bills of households
that subscribe to the projects.The new projects will generate clean
power and Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), which are proof of
the production of a unit of carbon-free electricity. Canva’s
suppliers will use these RECs to reduce their reported emissions
from electricity, known as scope 2 emissions. The reduction in
suppliers’ scope 2 emissions will then result in reduced scope 3
emissions—those created by Canva’s suppliers when producing goods
and services for its millions of users—for Canva."Scope 3 emissions
are by far the biggest component of almost every company's carbon
footprint. Reducing these emissions is the challenge that keeps
most of our customers up at night. To date, very few companies have
been able to drive meaningful reductions in their supply chain,”
said Matt Konieczny, Head of Clean Power at
Watershed. “This program achieves scope 3 reductions
through the combined action of Canva and its print suppliers. Canva
has delivered an example others can follow, showing that with the
right approach, companies can enable their supply chain to take
high-impact climate action."“Canva alongside our Print Partners,
are united by the aspirations of Canva’s Two-Step Plan, to do the
most good we can,” said Mike Williams, Global Head of
Sustainability at Canva. “Forecasting the expected future
energy demand of our North American Print Partners, and co-funding
a community solar facility to address it using Watershed will
create real, additional, emission reductions for Canva and our
suppliers. Together, we’re tackling scope 3 emissions while
building greater resilience for local communities.”“RPI Print is
aligned with Canva's mission to foster a culture of sustainability
within our company and combat climate change,” said Suzy
Cummins, Regional General Manager, RPI Print. “By joining
forces with Canva, RPI’s manufacturing facilities are adopting
Virtual Power Purchase Agreements (VPPAs), a cutting-edge approach
to accessing clean, renewable energy. Through this partnership, RPI
Print gains access to high-impact, clean power, effectively
reducing our carbon emissions and being good stewards of the
environment for years to come.”Scope 3 emissions can make up 90% or
more of a company’s carbon footprint, making their reduction
crucial to meeting climate goals. However, many companies are
lagging on scope 3 reductions, stymied by the challenge of engaging
their suppliers and the high barrier to entry for impactful
action.Watershed and Canva co-developed a fixed-price supply chain
VPPA to address Canva’s scope 3 reduction goals. This novel
structure solves the most common challenges facing companies. For
example, renewable energy developers who build and operate solar
farms can require corporate purchasers to commit to a minimum
facility size and a long-term contract of 10+ years; securing
projects can involve complex legal negotiations and contracts. By
handling the sourcing and negotiation processes, Watershed removes
the contract complexity for Canva and its suppliers, enabling a
shorter-term VPPA commitment of 5 to 7 years. This approach allows
small to midsize companies like Canva’s print suppliers to
participate in highly impactful renewable energy projects that
otherwise would be out of reach. It is also flexible and scalable,
allowing new suppliers to join the project, pending volume
constraints.The program was announced today on stage at Canva
Create in Los Angeles, Canva’s signature annual conference. Read
more about it here.###ABOUT WATERSHED: Watershed
is the enterprise sustainability platform. Companies like Airbnb,
Carlyle Group, FedEx, Visa, and Dr. Martens use Watershed to manage
climate and ESG data, produce audit-ready metrics for reporting,
and drive real decarbonization. Watershed is the platform of choice
for companies seeking to reduce emissions, meet customer, investor
and regulatory requirements, and modernize their sustainability
programs. Watershed customers also have exclusive access to a
marketplace of pre-vetted, high-quality carbon projects and
groundbreaking virtual power purchase agreements.ABOUT
CANVA: Launched in 2013, Canva is a free online visual
communications and collaboration platform with a mission to empower
everyone in the world to design. Featuring a simple drag-and-drop
user interface and a vast range of templates ranging from
presentations, documents, websites, social media graphics, posters,
apparel to videos, plus a huge library of fonts, stock photography,
illustrations, video footage, and audio clips, anyone can take an
idea and create something beautiful.