Wai?kea Becomes First U.S. Carbon Neutral Bottled Water

Los Angeles, CA (Sept 24, 2012) – Wai?kea Inc. announced last week that it has been awarded CarbonNeutral® certification on a company level, and for its product, Wai?kea®, by reducing its carbon footprints to net zero. Wai?kea is the first and only U.S. domestic water bottled in the U.S. to be certified carbon neutral.

Since its inception, Wai?kea Inc. has worked diligently with the CarbonNeutral Company, one of the world’s leading carbon offset and carbon management businesses, to measure and reduce the environmental impact of both its business, and its product, to net zero. After analysis was done of the environmental initiatives already in place for Wai?kea, all the emissions relating to the company and the production of Wai?kea were quantified and then further reduced to net zero through a variety of additional internal environmental reforms, as well as external carbon offsetting.

“Wai?kea was founded on an environmentally friendly platform that was already bar-none,” said Ryan Emmons, Co-Founder of Wai?kea. “but becoming the first American bottled water to be certified carbon neutral solidifies this position.” Emmons continued: “We really hope to change the beverage industry, and the consumer products industry as a whole, by setting a new standard and showing that the added cost of being an eco-friendly and ethical product is a complete necessity in this day and age.” Emmons adds, “To ignore consumer demand for not only sustainable products, but ethical and healthy products as well, is complete folly. We are very proud to be industry leaders in all three of these categories.”

When asked if carbon neutrality was the last step in Wai?kea’s environmental efforts, Emmons responded positively: “Just because we have now achieved carbon neutrality does not mean we cannot still improve. In fact, we will continue to innovate the industry and hope to develop renewable bio-polymer alternatives within the next two years.”

Mark LaCroix, Executive Vice President of Business Development for The CarbonNeutral Company, explained: “Achieving CarbonNeutral® certification is a clear statement of positive environmental action, and we’re proud to have helped them achieve this. Being certified CarbonNeutral® legitimate means Wai?kea has used a credible third party to verify its carbon footprint, and then taken action to reduce that through internal emissions reductions and by supporting carbon reduction projects.”

About Wai?kea®

Wai?kea was founded in 2012 as the first healthy, sustainable, and charitable premium bottled water of its kind. Wai?kea volcanic water originates in Hawaii through both snowmelt and rain on the pristine peak of the active Mauna Loa volcano- one of the purest environments on Earth. It is then filtered through 14,000 ft of porous lava, enhancing it with minerals and electrolytes to make it naturally alkaline and delicious. Wai?kea is the first ever U.S. bottled water to be awarded carbon neutral certification, and is the industry leader in sustainability through its many eco-initiatives. For each bottle sold, Wai?kea donates 650 liters of clean water to those in need, through PumpAid.org. Wai?kea’s mission is to sustainably provide healthy and delicious Hawaiian volcanic water while contributing to clean water access in developing nations.

Drink Healthy, Drink Sustainably, Drink Ethically, Drink Wai?kea! Bottled with Mother Earth in Mind®

For more information visit http://www.WaiakeaSprings.com

About The CarbonNeutral® Company
The CarbonNeutral Company (www.carbonneutral.com) is a world-leading provider of carbon reduction solutions.  It works with more than 400 companies in 40 countries to develop offset-inclusive carbon reduction programmes and since 1997 it has purchased carbon credits from 246 projects in 30 countries.

Through its offices in London and New York, The CarbonNeutral Company’s global team combines experience working in international B2B corporations, carbon markets and trading, carbon project development, engineering, marketing communications, consulting and sustainable energy management with the United Nations. Executives currently chair the International Carbon Reduction Offset Alliance (ICROA), are on the board of the Climate Markets Investors Association, and the company is a consultancy partner of the Carbon Disclosure Project.

CarbonNeutral® is the registered trademark of The CarbonNeutral Company and is the global standard to certify that businesses have measured and reduced their CO2 emissions to net zero for their company, products, operations or services.