Online grocer Thrive Market, which has amassed 1.7 million members since launching in 2014, is the latest retailer to tackle indirect emissions by helping its suppliers to decarbonize.
Thrive’s Climate Action Working Group provides discounted access to measurement tools, educational webinars and case studies to help the more than 1,000 brands on its platform reduce greenhouse gas emissions and cut plastic waste.
The working group’s offerings will support Thrive in its goal to have suppliers representing 67 percent of emissions from key Scope 3 categories set science-based targets by 2030. The company is currently at 30 percent coverage, said Head of Mission Kristin DeSimone.
Thrive’s website features bigger-name sustainable brands, including Seventh Generation, alongside products from smaller companies that may not employ a dedicated sustainability professional, said DeSimone. “A lot of these folks are intimidated by even just starting to measure a footprint,” she added.
Carrots, not sticks
To help those suppliers begin their sustainability journeys, Thrive is collaborating with three other organizations: carbon accounting partner Planet FWD, plastic waste specialist PCX Markets and Climate Positive Consulting, which focuses on decarbonization strategies. During last week’s inaugural webinar, Planet FWD walked brands through the basics of emissions measurement.
“We’re not asking them to do anything perfect,” said DeSimone. “We’re just asking them to start.”
The working group is focused on incentives and won’t punish suppliers that fail to set science-based targets. Some other companies have opted to use both carrots and sticks: Salesforce provides educational resources to suppliers while also using contract language that requires larger partners to set science-based targets within two years of signing.
What other retailers are doing
One of the earliest and likely the best-known supplier engagement scheme is Project Gigaton, launched by Walmart in 2017. The company said in 2024 that the project achieved its goal — having suppliers avoid, reduce or sequester 1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions — six years ahead of schedule. Among the tools available to suppliers in the program is Gigaton PPA, which helps companies procure renewable energy.
Many other retailers have since introduced variants on Walmart’s program. Notable examples include Amazon, which encourages suppliers to join the Climate Pledge and commit to become net zero by 2040. To support them in that effort, the tech giant’s sustainability team has published a library of playbooks, case studies and methodologies on its Sustainability Exchange website.
Amazon also helps companies purchase carbon removal credits from projects it has already backed. The strategy, announced around a year ago, applies only to companies cutting greenhouse gas emissions across Scopes 1, 2 and 3.
Jim Giles
Jim Giles is Vice President, Editor-at-Large at Trellis Group. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Atlantic, Economist, Guardian, Nature and other publications. He was the co-founder of Matter, an award-winning investigative publication that was acquired by Medium in 2013. In 2017, he was a graduate of the Sulzberger Executive Leadership Program at Columbia University. He’s also worked as a strategic consultant for several high-impact organizations, including the European Climate Foundation and the Wellcome Trust.