Green Mages: The Impact of Global Shipping and Magic: The Gathering
Magic is a game played all around the world, which means cards have to be delivered all over the world. Do we know what the environmental impact of this global shipping network?
Welcome to the second installment of “Green Mages” an article series where we explore the environmental impacts of Magic: The Gathering. Last month, with the launch of the series, I talked about one of my favorite gaming accessories on the market today: the Ultimate Guard Return to Earth Boulder, a deck box made of recycled waste wood. You can check it out here.
This month I want to begin the deep dive into the global supply chain of Magic and the impact that it has. In future editions, I will delve into the digital footprint of Magic with Arena and MTGO but for today I want to focus on the physical aspects of the game and their respective impacts.
If we break it down simply there are three major pillars that make up the supply chain of Magic:
Manufacturing: the making of the cards themselves.
Packaging: the material used to store and ship all the cards.
Shipping: the distribution of the final goods around the world.
I want to start at the end of the line today and talk about shipping. I will be covering the other facets of the supply chain in future editions, but those require a much deeper dive and that research is actively ongoing (including interviews with Wizards and Hasbro themselves so look forward to those).
Where Do Your Cards Come From?
Starting all the way back to the very beginning of the game with Alpha, Magic cards have been printed by a Belgium-based company called Cartamundi. They started off in the early days by, “literally flying jumbo jets loaded with cards from Belgium to the United States.” Over the course of time though that process has been refined with Magic cards being printed all over the world, but as it stands today it looks like cards are printed in two major locations:
-English cards being printed in Dallas
-Non-English cards being printed in Belgium
Having a distributed manufacturing network is actually a very critical step in decreasing the impact of a supply chain. While having manufacturing in only two places isn’t perfect, the fact that they manufacture closer to the end-use locations is a plus on the sustainability chart of Wizards.
North America comprises the largest player base for MTG and the fact that most English cards are printed and distributed within that territory is big. The more a company can do to shorten the journey that end products have to travel (and all input components as well) the lower the impact of the product itself.
But what is the impact of shipping? Does it really matter all that much?
The short answer, absolutely.
The long answer is it’s complex and depends a lot on what transportation medium you use to ship goods.
Globally, transportation accounts for 14% of total greenhouse gas emissions. This number includes all transport, not just the transport of commercial goods, but regardless this is a very significant percentage of total emissions.
Hasbro, in their 2021-2022 ESG progress report, cites three main forms of transportation they use to ship around the world: third-party distribution centers (which in Hasbro’s case is trucking-based distribution), air freight, and ocean freight. The chart below shows the GHG emissions in metric tons of CO2 equivalent of these three networks for 2017-2021.
One thing to call out quickly is it looks like their emissions rose from 2020-2021, but that is because they expanded their reporting scope, starting in 2021, to include all upstream emissions as well. With that note, it's hard to decipher if their emissions dropped during that period or not. I want to assume that they did but we will have to wait for the next report to see if they are actually decreasing or not. Another thing to note is this is Hasbro in general, not Wizards specifically so other products are factored in here. I am working on getting Wizards-specific numbers, but those will come in the future.
How Does Wizards Transport the Cards?
I want to focus more on the impact and intensity of these three shipping channels.
Of the three, air freight is by far the most GHG intensive, at a rate of 47 times more than that of ocean shipping for every ton-mile.
The next most intensive is trucking distribution, which has a much higher impact because of the raw number of vehicles on the road, but in terms of intensity, it isn't the level of air travel.
The least intensive of the three by a fair margin in ocean freight.
And based on the data we can see that Hasbro/Wizards uses both air and ocean freight quite a bit. The total emissions from these two sources is 83,217 metric tons of CO2e. As a portion of their total emissions, these two sources account for 33.5%, eclipsed by only the emissions from the factories that produce the final products. For reference that is equivalent to:
Anything that can be done to shorten the supply chain is critical to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. And it does seem like Hasbro/Wizards is working to reduce their impact. Again, in their annual ESG report, they cited that they have started implementing the Higg Index, a tool designed initially to measure the impact of supply chains within the apparel industry, but with efforts from industry professionals has been adapted to their needs.
In this report, Hasbro claims to have, “expanded the scope of this pilot and achieved 100% supplier participation in measurement of environmental performance. This more inclusive view of our supply chain helped to identify opportunities where Hasbro and our suppliers can work together to reduce our footprint.”
Hasbro has also made a commitment to achieving net zero status by 2050. Here is an excerpt from their website on this topic:
“In June 2023, the SBTi (Science Based Target Initiative) approved Hasbro’s near-term science-based emission reduction target. Hasbro commits to reduce absolute Scope 1 and 2 (emissions from Hasbro directly) GHG emissions by 47.5% by 2030 from a 2020 base year. Hasbro also commits to reduce absolute scope 3 (emissions from the supply chain) GHG emissions 42% within the same timeframe. Hasbro has also committed to set long-term emissions reduction targets with the SBTi in line with reaching net-zero by 2050.”
Personally, I believe that Hasbro can and should set more aggressive targets, but the fact that they have commitments to achieving net zero is a step in the right direction.
How Can We Improve?
What can be done to reduce these emissions and how can we as a community help push to make them happen?
Get manufacturing closer to the end-use destination.
As was mentioned above, manufacturing for Wizards takes place in two separate locations, but with this game as global as it is that is not enough. Markets like South America (Brazil specifically) and Japan are big for the game and the journey from production to store shelves is incredibly long as it stands today. Shortening that journey can do a lot to reduce total emissions.
Move away from air transit and focus on boat and rail transit.
Decreasing the amount of air freight used is key to decreasing total emissions. If Wizards and Hasbro relied more on less carbon-intensive forms of transit that would go a long way in decreasing their overall footprint.
Invest in and utilize alternative fuels.
All of the modes of transit that are employed by Wizards/Hasbro are heavily reliant on carbon-based fossil fuels. Transitioning fleets to electric vehicles is one way of doing this. Investing in and utilizing emerging biofuels is another.
How can you get involved?
The number one way to get involved is through education. Companies thrive when information is hidden, so the more reading and learning you can do helps hold companies accountable for their actions. Hasbro has made commitments to active net zero status and has set targets they need to hit along the way to achieve that. If they don’t hit those targets or don’t show signs of progress, we can speak up and hold them accountable.
Consumers have power, let's use it.
Another way to get involved is by joining the conversation. Green Mages is the first of its kind in the MTG space. We are not talking about the impact we have. If we continue to stay quiet, that shows Wizards and Hasbro that we don’t care about their environmental performance. That we don't care about our home planet.
Subscribe, comment, and share these Green Mages articles. Whatever you can do to start to spread the word is critical. And I am only one voice and my voice can only carry so far. If you care about these issues, if you want to see a decarbonized future for our game, write about it! We need more people talking. We need more experts.
If we join together we can change the future. So please, join me, and let’s change the future of this game we all love so much.
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