Frog Bikes - 2024 impact report review
Did you know that if you fuel your bike ride with cheese burgers then your emissions per mile are similar to driving?!
This week’s report is from Frog Bikes who’ve done a brilliant job of taking lots of complex information and sharing it in a fun and easy-to-understand way.
👍🏻 Three things I like:
1. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN REDUCING NEGATIVE IMPACT & POSITIVE IMPACT GOAL
I talk a lot about businesses working to (a) understand and reduce their negative impacts (b) identifying a specific positive impact they want to have on the world.
Frog have a clear distinction between these two and are working on both.
Their negative impact is their operations and manufacturing, where aluminium is the biggest driver of negative impact. They are doing lots to reduce this.
They have a clear positive mission – to get kids cycling early in their life. It’s good for them and it’s good for planet. They are involved in lots of partnerships with other organisations focused on getting kids cycling.
2. ROAD TO RECYCLED ALUMINIUM
Their visual ‘road to recycled aluminium’ map shows the journey they’re on to reduce the impact of making bikes.
This is honest about challenges they’ve faced and shows why sustainability improvements can’t just be made overnight.
It’s a great example of communicating lots of complex information in a simple, fun, easy-to-understand way.
3. IMPORTANCE OF PRODUCT QUALITY
Importance of safety testing is highlighted throughout the report – you can’t make a bike that isn’t safe!
Sustainability isn’t an excuse for poor quality – financially sustainable businesses need to work out how to provide products / services that have a low negative impact AND are high quality products people will buy. The work Frog are doing shows that this is why sustainability plans can take time to implement.
❓Three questions it raises:
1. WHAT ABOUT WASTE?
I’d love to see the same level of analysis of waste as there is of carbon emissions.
They say 22% of waste goes to incineration or landfill. I’m curious to know what kind of waste this is. What are they doing to understand it and reduce it?
How have they halved their waste emissions per bike since 2023?
2. HOW ARE THEY INFLUENCING BEYOND FROG?
They talk about sharing their recycled aluminium learnings with other manufacturers.
I wonder what else they are doing to influence wider system change?
3. WHAT’S THE LONG TERM STRATEGY & ROADMAP?
What’s their long term strategy and roadmap?
Do they have a Big Hairy Audacious Goal?
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You can read the report for yourself here and let me know what you think.
If you’re preparing to write your own impact report, you might find my FREE Impact Reporting Roadmap helpful: