Sustainability at Rocky Talkie

Our Commitment

We founded Rocky Talkie with the mission to give adventurers the confidence to push their limits in the backcountry through improved communication. At the same time, our small team is deeply passionate about protecting our wild places and preserving them for the generations to come. This has been the driving force behind our plans to grow our company in a sustainable way.

Rocky Talkie is committed to achieving a net-zero impact for our own footprint, in addition to influencing our supply chain partners towards sustainable practices. The following are our current sustainability initiatives and considerations.

Rocky Talkie is Climate Neutral Certified 

Rocky Talkie is proud to be a Climate Neutral Certified Brand for the second year! Since 2023, our team has partnered with the Change Climate Project to meet their rigorous Standard. To achieve Climate Neutral Certification we followed the below process:

Measurement: We measure our carbon footprint for the previous year. To arrive at this number, we looked at all of the brand-level emissions created from making and delivering our products including our supply chain emissions, business travel, and utility bills.

• For 2022, we measured our carbon emissions to be 1,629 tonnes of CO2e. The following year, 2023, our footprint was 1,713 tonnes of CO2e.

Reduction: We then identify emissions hotspots for our business and create time-bound Reduction Action Plans (RAPs) to lower our emissions over the next 12-24 months. Our current RAPs in progress are:

• We will audit the energy efficiency of our controlled operations to gain a greater understanding of our business's energy impact. This initiative will set us on track to reduce energy at our offices and controlled facilities.
• We will transition 100% of poly bags to recyclable bags across packaging for our carabiner loop attachment system.
• We will reduce our reliance on air freight from 2023 by improving our demand planning to require fewer last-minute air shipments from our manufacturers.

Compensation: Finally, we offset our annual emissions by investing in verified carbon credits that meet Change Climate’s Standard. To offset our 2023 emissions, we supported the following projects:

• Industrial: Carbon Upcycling Technologies creates high-performing building materials that replace conventional carbon-intensive options, contributing to resilient infrastructure and products. To accomplish this, they inject captured CO₂ into the concrete mix during the production process to create strengthened concrete, creating both direct and in-direct emissions reductions.
• Grassland Conservation: The May Ranch Avoided Grassland Conversion project conserves 13,333 acres of threatened grasslands and habitats while preserving critical belowground carbon reserves near Lamar, CO. Prairie grasslands serve as important carbon sinks and are some of the most threatened ecosystems in North America.
• Solar Energy: The Parque de los Llanos Photovoltaic Power Plants project is using zero-emissions photovoltaic technology to help meet Argentina’s electricity demand with clean energy. These plants provide a reliable renewable energy source for large-scale power generation.
• Improved Forest Management: The UPM Blandin Improved Forest Management project improves forest management practices across 187,867 acres in northern Minnesota. These practices include maintaining natural forest diversity, reducing harvest impacts, and forest management aligned with ecological regimes.
• Methane Gas Capture: The Fulton County Landfill Gas Capture project in New York captures methane which is then sold to a landfill gas to energy (LFGTE) plant and converted into energy. This project significantly reduces GHG emissions by capturing methane, lowers groundwater methane levels, and helps avoid methane migration.

We at Rocky Talkie are excited to be among hundreds of other companies in taking responsibility for our carbon emissions. Carbon credits are just one way to account and offset our own impact, and we are keenly aware and disappointed by the lack of accreditation/regulation in the carbon credit industry. Our team, with the help of Change Climate’s Standard, supports responsible and verified choices in carbon offsets.

We are proud to display the Climate Neutral Certified label on our products. This label represents the trusted, independent Standard for climate neutrality and empowers consumers to find brands that are leading on immediate climate action. To learn more about Change Climate and other brands committed to climate action, visit changeclimate.org.

Product Durability and Commitment to Quality

Durability is one of our core design principles and we strive to develop products that will endure for many years of backcountry adventures. We aim to break the mold of cheap disposable walkie talkies that are commonly sold throughout our industry. To this end, we are committed to selecting high-quality, long-lasting components. Our radios use lithium-ion batteries that were designed to be removable and can be replaced if necessary, without the need to replace the entire device. Our goal is to shift the industry away from low-quality radios that need to be frequently replaced, helping to cut down on electronic waste, and provide our customers with reliable gear.

Sustainable Packaging Initiative

In 2020 we reduced the size of our radio box by 50%, minimizing packaging waste and increasing our shipping efficiency. We also moved away from protective styrofoam inserts by engineering a fully recyclable cardboard insert that still securely holds the radio in place and protects it while in transit.

Your Rocky Talkie box is made from completely recycled materials and can be recycled when it is no longer needed. Additionally, we recently launched our Rocky Talkie Swag Collection and have kept the packaging to a simple compostable tie.

This is just the beginning and we’re excited you are joining us on our journey to a more sustainable future!