When comparing raw materials from organic with conventional agricultural practices we discovered: organic agriculture has a lower carbon footprint than the conventional one.

In numbers: for the last three years this is equivalent to 1 045 tones CO₂ eq. less emissions.

How did we calculate this?

Since 2021, we measure our carbon footprint, but since 2023 we’ve been using the GHG Protocol.
Its methodology divides the footprint into three scopes:

• Scope 1 – direct emissions from our transport vehicles and cooling installations.
• Scope 2 – indirect emissions from the electricity we use.
• Scope 3 – indirect emissions from the whole value chain, including: raw materials, packaging, transport and use of our products.

Around 90% from our carbon footprint
comes from the raw materials:

When we calculated what our emission would be, if we used raw materials from conventional agriculture production, the result was more than clear: organic production has a lower carbon footprint.

For example:
The milk that Harmonica produces comes from free range cows, which use pastures without artificial fertilizers. Thus, emissions for 1l of our organic milk are 0,94 kg CO₂ eq. compared to 1,12 kg CO₂ eq. for 1l milk coming from conventional farms.

There still are things that need improvement.

Not all the electricity we use comes from renewable sources. Our office still consumes energy from the general grid in Bulgaria.
Our vehicles are not electric.
We cannot yet include in our calculations all the emissions from our value chain.
Our packaging is not 100% environmentally friendly.

What we’re already doing:

We calculate our emissions every year and declare them publicly.
We use standartized methodology and we do not cherry pick the numbers.

Our storage facility uses 100% energy from renewable sources.
We continue to compare organic with conventional agriculture, to understand whether our choices have actual impact on the climate.

We are expanding the scope of our calculations – step by step we’re adding the missing pieces in our value chain footprint – including waste and downstream transport.

Next year we will publish our footprint again to see what has changed. Not in words, but in numbers.

The carbon footprint emissions of the company are measured in tons or kilograms CO₂ equivalent (CO₂ eq.). This unit combines emissions from various greenhouse gases (such as methane, nitrous oxide and others) into one number, which shows the quantity of carbon dioxide, which would have the same warming effect on the climate as the quantity of the individual gas. This way we can measure and compare the rate of our total carbon footprint.