figmaJan 29, 2025

Sustainability Week at Figma | Figma Blog (opens in new tab)

Figma’s first Sustainability Week combined employee education, workplace initiatives, and investment in climate technology. The company is pursuing net-zero emissions by 2040 through carbon accounting, offset purchases, and support for emerging carbon-removal methods. Its central message is that meaningful climate action requires both reducing current emissions and helping promising technologies scale. ## Sustainability Week Activities - Figma hosted five days of programming focused on individual and organizational sustainability. - Employees learned about climate solutions through: - A discussion with Charm Industrial CEO Peter Reinhardt - A tour of Charm’s San Francisco facilities - Climate documentaries, books, and educational YouTube channels - The company also: - Displayed climate trivia in global offices - Offered locally grown food at its San Francisco and New York hubs - Created a sustainability wiki on Notion - Curated organizations eligible for Figma’s donation-matching program - These activities encouraged employees to focus on manageable actions such as reducing emissions, cutting waste, and conserving energy. ## Figma’s Climate Commitments - Employees began exploring carbon accounting and offsets in 2021. - The group became Figma’s official Net Zero social impact group in 2022. - Figma signed the Climate Pledge and aims to reach net zero by 2040. - The company works with Watershed to: - Measure its annual carbon footprint - Purchase carbon-removal, offset, and avoidance credits - Support projects through Watershed’s climate marketplace - Figma invested $750,000 in offset and avoidance credits through Watershed in 2024, following an earlier $500,000 investment in carbon removal. ## Carbon-Removal Technologies - Charm Industrial uses fast pyrolysis to convert organic waste, or biomass, into: - Biochar, which can improve soil and store carbon - Bio-oil, which can be injected deep underground for permanent sequestration - Figma’s 2024 climate portfolio also includes: - Wakefield’s biochar production from waste wood - UNDO’s enhanced rock weathering, which accelerates natural carbon-storage processes - Vaulted Deep’s underground storage of human organic waste - Figma has continued investing in Charm Industrial’s bio-oil sequestration technology. ## Scaling Climate Solutions - Peter Reinhardt argued that companies need a detailed technical understanding of the actions that produce meaningful climate results. - He recommended that companies: - Forecast carbon-accounting needs several years in advance - Invest strategically in smaller climate suppliers - Help emerging technologies and providers scale - Figma presents corporate climate investment as a way to support technologies that may be essential for achieving future net-zero goals. Figma’s approach combines internal behavior changes with long-term investment in carbon-removal infrastructure. Companies pursuing similar goals should measure emissions carefully, reduce what they can, and support credible technologies early enough to help them mature.

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figmaDec 11, 2023

Deepening Figma’s commitment to climate action | Figma Blog (opens in new tab)

Figma argues that achieving net zero today is only part of climate responsibility; companies should also help scale carbon-removal technologies needed for future emissions reduction. Through its Net Zero social impact group, Figma progressed from measuring its carbon footprint to investing $500,000 in eight emerging decarbonization approaches through Watershed. The company views early investment in these technologies as essential because they require funding and demand to mature. ## Building Figma’s Net Zero Initiative - Figma’s Net Zero group began as an informal Slack channel in 2021, led by software engineers Silas Tsui and Noah Rowlett. - The group gained momentum by setting concrete goals, meeting regularly, researching vendors, and measuring Figma’s carbon footprint. - Leadership supported the initiative after the group conducted several months of due diligence. - Watershed became Figma’s partner for carbon accounting, climate disclosures, emissions reduction planning, and carbon-removal investments. ## From Carbon Measurement to Climate Action - A carbon footprint estimates an organization’s greenhouse-gas emissions in tons of effective carbon dioxide. - After establishing its baseline, Figma identified two main paths toward net zero: - Reduce emissions from its own operations. - Invest in decarbonization and carbon-removal projects. - Because Figma was relatively small—around 200 employees—and lacked specialized emissions-reduction expertise, the group initially focused on carbon removals. - Figma directed proceeds from its Swag Store toward reforestation-based carbon-removal credits. ## Figma’s Sustainability Milestones - **January 2021:** Employees form a group to explore a sustainability initiative. - **April 2021:** Figma selects Watershed for carbon accounting. - **July 2021:** The company receives its 2019 carbon footprint. - **September 2021:** Figma commits to annual carbon-removal investments based on its footprint and works toward net-zero operations for 2020. - **March 2022:** Figma pre-purchases $250,000 in removals from Charm Industrial. - **June 2022:** Figma signs the Climate Pledge, committing to net zero by 2040. - **July 2022:** The informal group becomes the official Net Zero social impact group. - **October 2023:** Figma invests $500,000 in emerging decarbonization projects through Watershed. ## Investing in Emerging Carbon Removal - Watershed’s Marketplace helps companies create portfolios of vetted carbon-removal projects and manages purchasing. - Figma’s portfolio includes eight technologies using different methods to remove and store carbon. - These approaches include bio-oil sequestration and enhanced rock weathering. - Charm Industrial, which converts agricultural waste into bio-oil, remains part of Figma’s portfolio. - The broader argument is that carbon neutrality based only on current emissions can be short-sighted: emerging removal technologies need early customers and investment to scale. Figma’s experience suggests that companies can begin with practical steps—measuring emissions, setting clear goals, and investing according to their capabilities—while contributing to the technologies required for long-term climate action.

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