Roadmap to Climate Positive: How Reformation Set Out to Remove More Carbon Than It Emits
Read the designed version of the Reformation Buyer Spotlight.
In 2020, fashion brand Reformation set out to reduce emissions across materials, transportation, manufacturing, energy, and product end of life. The company published a detailed roadmap outlining exactly how it would achieve this through initiatives across its business and supply chain. Then, Reformation purchased nature-based carbon removal credits to address the footprint it could not yet eliminate.
By 2025, Reformation largely achieved its Climate Positive goal, offering a practical example of how a consumer brand can build a carbon removal portfolio with a purchasing approach suited to the size and capacity of its internal team.
Building the Removal Portfolio
To exceed its 2025 footprint, Reformation purchased credits from six forest-based projects across Mexico, Paraguay, Uruguay, China, and Malaysia.
The portfolio included four afforestation and restoration projects and two improved forest management projects. Reformation’s largest individual purchase was 16,500 credits from the Qianbei Afforestation Project in China. Its smallest was 7,500 credits from the Xiguan Afforestation Project in China’s Guizhou Province.
The team relies on outside experts who know a given project type or region well to help identify projects that are credible and durable, as well as aligned with the brand’s scope, budget, and sustainability goals.
Reformation purchased CDR through 3 sellers:
Patch: Credits from improved forest management projects in Mexico and Malaysia
Bonneville Environmental Foundation: Credits from afforestation and restoration projects in Paraguay, China, and Uruguay
SCB: Credits from the Xiguan Afforestation Project in China
To ensure credibility and quality, Reformation purchased registered projects or those with third party verification. Five of the six purchases were verified under Verra’s Verified Carbon Standard, while the Ejido Tutuaca project in Mexico was verified through the Climate Action Reserve.
Taken together, the purchases show that a carbon removal portfolio can be diversified even within one broad pathway.
A Purchasing Model for a Lean Team
Reformation’s approach demonstrates how a company can participate in carbon removal without building a large in-house procurement operation.
The company worked through a small group of carbon market intermediaries instead of separately sourcing and contracting with each project developer. For companies with limited internal capacity, this model can reduce the operational burden of identifying projects, executing transactions, and assembling a diversified portfolio.
Making Climate Performance an Organizational Responsibility
At Reformation, sustainability is an organizational priority. Employees at the manager level and above are assessed on progress toward sustainability-related goals, which formally factors into performance reviews and compensation, and positions climate performance as a business responsibility rather than a program owned by one team. It also helps prevent climate investments such as carbon removal purchases from becoming siloed from wider operational and financial decisions.
Lessons for Potential Buyers
As other companies consider carbon removal purchases, some lessons from Reformation’s experience to consider:
Define commitments upfront
The company measured its annual footprint, established how far beyond that footprint it intended to go, and purchased a corresponding volume of removals.Build a portfolio aligned with the organization’s resources
Reformation used a small number of intermediaries to access multiple projects, geographies, and standards rather than developing every supplier relationship itself.
Diversify carbon removal purchases
Reformation’s portfolio diversifies purchases across different project types, countries, sellers, and standards.
Support market transparency
Disclose enough information for stakeholders to understand the purchase to make the strategy more tangible and support scaling carbon removal markets.
