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Frog Bikes reduces emissions by 10% despite surge in number of bikes built

British kids’ bike brand Frog has managed to reduce emissions by 10%, despite continuing to scale up its bike production in recent years.

The bike builder, based in Ascot, Berkshire, specialises in manufacturing bikes for children aged between one and 14, ranging from balance bikes to mountain bikes and track bikes.

Frog has released its Annual Emissions Report for 2021, looking back at how the brand improved its sustainability and carbon footprint as demand remained high during the coronavirus pandemic.

According to the report, Frog was able to decrease its emissions by 10%, despite increasing the number of bikes built by 14% in the same period.

The brand calculates total emissions, including raw materials, assembly, packaging, and logistics, along with the heating and lighting on its premises, travel to work by its staff, and emissions generated while working remotely.

Frog said its emissions totalled around 6,522 tonnes of greenhouse gases in 2021, mostly as a result of the materials used in the production of bikes.

The biggest output was in the aluminium used for frames, forks, handlebars, seatposts and cranks.

To reduce emissions, Frog made a number of design changes to its bikes, including reducing the aluminium used by 5.9% per bike, and reducing steel by 12.8%, through a new design of bottom bracket, spokes, and cranks. This resulted in a 6kg CO2 saving per bike.

Other sustainability improvements came through packaging, as Frog removed single-use plastic protection, bubble wrap and cable ties in outbound shipping, replacing these with paper bags and cardboard.

Looking to the future, Frog now has plans to further source lower carbon materials for bikes, continuing to reduce plastic-use in bike boxes, investing in a fully electric vehicle fleet for staff, and rolling out a store-based service programme, to promote longer use of each bike and second-hand sales.

Read the full report here.

Alex Ballinger