As a Certified B Corp™, we're committed to high standards of environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. So, as we celebrate B Corp™ month 2024, we're proud to release our first ever Impact Report.
Our Impact Report helps us be as transparent as possible, as we balance our triple bottom line of people, profit and planet. It gives the entire SunGod community visibility on our successes and challenges as we build a business that's a force for good, and helps us grow and strengthen the B Corp™ community through open collaboration.
This report is an open and honest account of our sustainability activity across every area of our business; from carbon footprinting and low-impact packaging initiatives, to charity partnerships and gender equality campaigns.
We're so excited to share it with our community, and we hope it inspires others - whether you're a customer, an ambassador, or another business - to reflect on their own impact and take action.
Click here to read our 2023 Impact Report.
Table of Contents
Our 2023 Impact Report
The launch of our first Impact Report is a big moment for us at SunGod. It's the culmination of a huge amount of hard work - and there's so much more to come. As we approach launch day, no one could summarise the excitement we're feeling better than SunGod Co-Founders, Ali & Zoe:
"When we started SunGod in 2013, we set out to change an industry.
The eyewear industry was built on throwaway fast fashion at one end, and brand-inflated, designer products at the other. It was dominated by multinational corporations, who prioritised profit over the experiences of their customers and the health of our planet.
So, we created a business built on three foundations: better products, with a better customer experience, that were better for the planet.
Today, these three pillars underpin everything we do at SunGod, and encompass all the initiatives you’ll find in this report. They come together to form our overarching mission: to See Better.
Our impact grows when we work as one. Thanks for supporting us as we See Better, together."
Click here to read our 2023 Impact Report.
Our Impact Highlights
Our Impact Report gets into the nitty-gritty of our sustainability efforts, digging deep to show the full extent of our work. As it's our first edition, we've focused on 2023, but also touch on some of our earlier and longer-standing initiatives, such as our Lifetime Guarantee and our Momentum Campaign.
Don't have time to check out the full report? We've cherry-picked our highlights for you:
£277,619 in verified donations through 1% For The Planet, since 2021
1,968 tonnes of CO2e emissions offset to date (our whole history)
43,000 Infinite™ recycled frames sold since 2021 launch, with a 7x lower impact than virgin frames
8,235+ Lifetime Guarantee repairs since launch
13% customer update in Lite Packaging, mitigating 10 tonnes of CO2e compared to our standard packaging
£9,000+ raised in 2023 for Shades of Love, through Gold Icon donations
Received the 2023 King's Award for Sustainable Development
Sea freight now makes up 56% of inbound logistics, up from 0% in just 3 years
Carbon Intensity by Revenue reduced down from 49.6 Tonnes per £m in 2021, to 31.9 Tonnes per £m in 2023
Why does Impact Reporting matter?
Some of the biggest companies in our industry don't publish impact reports, and as part of the B Corp™ Community, we want to change that. By publishing an Impact Report, we're being open and honest about our sustainability efforts. We're not perfect, but we're moving in the right direction, and impact reporting helps us track this progress. By making Impact Reports common practice, both within and beyond the B Corp™ Community, we know can encourage other businesses to become more sustainable too.
Impact Reporting helps us to:
Be transparent and accountable about our social and environmental impact
Showcase that positive impact is possible, and help inform the wider business community about how to achieve this
Encourage an open conversation across the SunGod Community - from customers, to employees, to investors, to partners
Inspire other businesses to take action, by making our data and initiatives easily accessible
A look ahead to 2024 and beyond
Our 2023 Impact Report looks back at the progress we made in 2023, and in the years leading up to it. Now, we turn our attention towards 2024 and beyond, where we will continue to challenge and change our industry.
We will build and grow our community, nurture changemaking partnerships, push boundaries through Team SunGod, and foster a supportive and empowering workplace.
We will continually improve our products and packaging, with a tight focus on performance and quality, and we’ll tackle our carbon footprint as we grow, always focusing on the biggest slice of the pie.
Most importantly, as we have done over the past 10 years in business, we’ll continue to build a business that’s a force for good.
We are already looking ahead to our B Corp™️ recertification, and every day we’re searching for new and innovative ways to balance people, profit and planet as we progress.
We look forward to sharing our stories in our 2024 Impact Report, as we continue in our mission to See Better.
