At Samsara, our mission is to increase the efficiency, safety, and sustainability of the operations that power our economy. This means one of our priorities is to build products that help our customers reduce their impact on the environment.

In line with our mission, we’re committed to minimizing our own environmental impact as well. That’s why this year, we took steps to make Samsara a carbon-neutral business.

How we reached net-zero emissions

The steps we’re taking to decrease our own carbon footprint not only benefit the environment but also help us better support and advise our customers in their own sustainability efforts.

Samsara became a carbon-neutral company by purchasing carbon offsets commensurate with the energy consumption of our facilities and data centers, our product shipments, and our air travel.

In order to offset our emissions, we first took a step back to evaluate the impact of our business practices. We began by analyzing the energy usage across all our offices in San Francisco, San Jose, Atlanta, and London, along with our data centers. We also examined our supply chains, specifically how we transport and distribute our shipped goods to our customers. And lastly, we determined the number of miles we fly each year to meet with our customers in-person.

Based on these findings, Samsara calculated our total carbon footprint and purchased offsets to finance a methane capture and clean energy project in the United States.

We recognize carbon offsetting is just one step in the right direction. That’s why our commitment to the environment extends to the people we do business with, our packaging materials, and our facilities. We evaluate all manufacturers for their compliance with the Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS) to ensure no environmentally hazardous materials are used in the creation of our products, and we use only 100% recyclable packaging to help minimize our waste. As we look ahead, we’re excited about new initiatives we’ll put in place to become even more sustainable—like a green headquarters in San Francisco scheduled to open in 2020.

Helping customers reduce their environmental impact

While we're excited about our net-zero emissions, we know our greatest impact as a company will come from building better technology to help customers achieve their operational efficiency and sustainability goals. Studies show that over half of all energy consumption and associated emissions stem directly from the transportation and industrial sectors—the sectors our customers operate in.

Through our technology, Samsara helps customers improve energy efficiency, detect environmental pollutants, reduce production and food waste, and reduce fuel use. In fact, we estimate that our customers have been able to save over 24 million gallons of gasoline across their fleets each year—this amounts to an annual savings of $80 million and a reduction in emissions equivalent to planting 17 million trees.

But the most rewarding part is seeing how our customers are using our technology to make these differences.

The City of Fort Lauderdale, for example, uses Samsara’s Fuel Usage Report to see how much fuel was being used and paired this with driver behavior data to help supervisors coach their teams on best practices for fuel-efficient driving. In just six months, the city was able to reduce vehicle idle time by 20% and fuel consumption by 5%—even as the city’s fleet grew to include more than 1,700 vehicles.

Looking ahead, we see that many fleets are looking to take the next leap in sustainability by transitioning to electric vehicles, and we are committed to building best in class fleet management tools specifically for EVs.

What’s next?

We’re excited to keep investing in new products for our customers and new processes for our own sustainability. To learn more about how we’re achieving these goals and what plans we have for the future, check out our commitment to sustainability.