In a strategic move to bolster its commitment to environmental sustainability, rePurpose Global has announced its acquisition of the Bluebird Climate platform. This acquisition marks a significant step for rePurpose Global, a leading force in sustainable solutions, as it expands its portfolio and capabilities to combat climate change.
Integrating Bluebird Climate's innovative technologies and expertise is expected to amplify rePurpose Global's impact in creating a greener future. We spoke with Svanika Balasubramanian, co-founder and CEO of rePurpose Global, to delve deeper into the rationale behind this acquisition and what it means for the company's future.
About the acquisition
Since its inception five years ago, rePurpose Global, the world’s leading Plastic Action Platform, has provided over 600,000 people with plastic waste management services for the first time. The platform currently operates projects and pilots in seven countries across the globe, including Colombia, Dominican Republic, and Indonesia. To date, it has ethically engaged 2,371 people in its rePurpose Global impact projects, which have recovered 61,833,152 pounds of nature-bound plastic globally.
These high-impact results are impressive, especially for such a short period in operation, as the organization sought to expand its efforts further through a like-minded partner – like Bluebird Climate. “Bluebird Climate has achieved significant milestones in the three years since its inception,” Balasubramanian shared, “having developed an industry-leading software platform that offers on-demand Lifecycle Assessments, packaging waste & recyclability analysis, and consumer transparency tools for the beauty and personal care industry.”
Therefore, she explained, “with a proven track record of collaborating with over 100 leading brands, Bluebird Climate brings invaluable expertise and technology to rePurpose Global.”
Specifically, “this acquisition will accelerate rePurpose Global’s ambition of becoming the leading circularity and sustainability action platform for consumer brands worldwide,” she said, and “by integrating Bluebird Climate's innovative solutions into rePurpose's ecosystem, we aim to help consumer brands meet the growing demands for climate action, waste reduction, and supply chain transparency from consumers, retailers, and regulators.”
In brokering the acquisition agreement, rePurpose Global first acknowledged that its mission since day one has been “to create a collaborative space where creators, leaders, and doers can come together to address the most pressing social and environmental challenges of our time,” Balasubramanian said. This mission factored into deciding how Bluebird Climate would fit strategically into the organization’s goals.
“The acquisition of Bluebird Climate represents a significant step forward in realizing this vision,” she continued, and “by combining our strengths and expertise, we are poised to offer a comprehensive suite of solutions spanning four sustainability competency areas which we see as common and urgent needs across CPG categories, namely analysis, compliance, action, and communications.” Further, she added, “this strategic alignment allows us to empower brands to confidently navigate the complex landscape of social and environmental responsibility.”
With the acquisition in place, rePurpose Global now has the opportunity to “further deepen our reach in the cosmetics, beauty, personal care, and wellness sectors, and enable cross-pollinations between Bluebird’s cluster of 100+ customers and rePurpose Global’s base of 150+ partners in those same spaces,” Balasubramanian explained. Additionally, “it will help accelerate our sustainability analysis & compliance capabilities as well as the Software-as-a-Service investment roadmap at rePurpose,” she shared further.
Organizational transition process
Regarding the organization’s next steps in envisioning Bluebird Climate’s integration into existing operations, “our immediate focus will be on expanding the functionalities of Bluebird Climate's platform and ensuring seamless integration with rePurpose Global's existing technology stack,” said Balasubramanian.
“Over the coming months,” she explained, “we are committed to maintaining and enhancing the level of service provided to Bluebird Climate's existing customers and partners,” and “we also aim to broaden Bluebird Climate's datasets and methodologies beyond its current focus on beauty, wellness, and personal care, and extend the platform’s features and value propositions to other CPG & consumer sectors, namely home care, food and beverage, and apparel.”
To ensure a smooth transition for Bluebird Climate’s team members and to maintain the organizational culture, “rePurpose Global offered a full-time role to each employee present at Bluebird Climate prior to the acquisition,” added Balasubramanian, “and is providing support & resources customized for each individual to help them settle into our tight-knit team of 60+ talented and diverse sustainability professionals situated across the world.”
For existing clients and current Bluebird Climate partners, the acquisition does not signal any interruptions in services or offerings under rePurpose's ownership.
“Existing clients and partners of Bluebird Climate can expect complete continuity of Bluebird's industry-leading services and software platform, including its on-demand Lifecycle Assessments, packaging waste & recyclability analysis, and consumer transparency tools,” Balasubramanian confirmed, adding that “there will be no major changes to Bluebird Climate's operations or services: rather, rePurpose will continue enhancing the product to make it even more user-friendly and helpful for clients and teams.”
Further, she shared, “we aspire to expand Bluebird’s reach beyond the beauty and wellness industry to serve the entire CPG industry, ensuring all brands have easy access to sustainability data for informed decision-making.”
Impact & global scope
The acquisition aligns with rePurpose Global’s broader sustainability and environmental objectives on a global scale. “Enabling consumer brands to confidently and holistically address their sustainability challenges is core to rePurpose Global’s mission of tackling the interrelated planetary crises of waste and pollution, biodiversity loss, climate change, and social inequity,” said Balasubramanian.
“To do this,” she explained, “we are building a virtuous flywheel of sustainability analysis, compliance, action, and communications solutions that inspires and empowers companies to contribute to positive systems change, and the addition of Bluebird Climate is a key step towards completing this flywheel, especially by accelerating our build-out of analysis and compliance capabilities.”
Therefore, the acquisition is also significant in the current landscape of climate and sustainability sectors. “As sustainability requirements from regulators and retailers become increasingly prevalent and meaningful, brands are recognizing the imperative of understanding and scientifically improving their material use, packaging end-of-life, and overall environmental impact,” Balasubramanian shared, adding that “what was once an elective consideration has now become essential for businesses striving to meet customer demands and regulatory compliance.”
She further explained within this landscape that “the collaboration between rePurpose and Bluebird signifies a commitment to addressing these exceedingly complex challenges that affect virtually all internal functions and teams on the part of brands, especially product development, operations, legal, and marketing.”
Considering that “the interrelated planetary crises of waste and pollution, biodiversity loss, climate change, and social inequity are worsening,” she continued, “we need swift and decisive action to confront these challenges, and businesses have a critical role to play in this global effort.” For industry stakeholders, investors, and the overall beauty and personal care product communities, “this is why rePurpose believes it is so important to enable the over 300 brands we work with to contribute to systems change, by providing them with holistic solutions to their sustainability and circularity challenges,” maintained Balasubramanian.
“The addition of Bluebird Climate greatly enhances our ability to do that, she concluded, “and we look forward to helping brands accelerate positive change together. There is no time to waste.”