A lightweight case of the Allbirds M0.0NSHOT shoe

Have you heard of the M0.0NSHOT by Allbirds? It’s making waves as the world’s first carbon net zero shoe, and here’s why it’s so impressive and our critical questions.

3 Impressive things about M0.0NSHOT

Net Zero Without Offsets

M0.0NSHOT achieves net zero carbon emissions without relying on offsets. This is made possible through the use of regenerative wool from sheep grazing on land that absorbs more CO2 than the company emits. This innovative practice, known as insetting, is exemplified by the sourcing from Lake Hawea Station.

Minimal Carbon Footprint

From sourcing to manufacturing to transportation, each M0.0NSHOT shoe emits approximately 2KG of CO2—less than the amount of CO2 sequestered by the wool used in its production. This makes the shoe’s carbon footprint remarkably low.

Open-Source Methodology

Allbirds enhances the impact of M0.0NSHOT by openly sharing its methodology and sources. This transparency enables other companies to learn and adopt similar practices, scaling the impact far beyond individual products.

5 critical questions

1. Land Availability and Production Limits

How many shoes can be produced this way? Remember that available land is limited, and we need room for agriculture, wild nature, homes, and industry.

2. Output Volume, Pricing, and Company Scale

The output volume influences the price, which influences how many shoes Allbirds can sell and, therefore, how large a company that kind of shoe can sustain.
So, what is the ideal size of such a M0.0NSHOT company, and concerning that, what will happen to the rest of the product portfolio and Allbirds's total emissions?

The Allbirds Flight Plan, published in 2021, calls for it to halve emissions for its product portfolio by 2025 and to push the actual footprint per part below 1 kg by 2030.
We have found numbers for footprint per product but not the total numbers in the 2022 Sustainability Report.

3. Durability and Repairability

How long does it last? (and what does that mean for sale volumes and price?)
What about repair, upgrades, and resale services?

4. Alternative Uses for Regenerative Wool

Can, and if so should, the supplier, Lake Hawea Station, use its wool for something else? If the products don't last, then maybe.

5. Other Planetary and Social Boundaries

What about the other planetary and social boundaries?
Allbirds is working on some of them while others remain open and unanswered questions.

You can read the full story about what the shoe is made of in Allbirds's RECIPE BOOK here.

Appendix: 

Allbirds's financial performance
Allbirds has been experiencing a rough time since its IPO in 2021. In 2024, it traded under $1 per share, and it had to implement a turnaround plan to avoid a delisting from NASDAQ.

It has kept project M0.0NSHOT alive throughout the turmoil and sees it as a part of its turnaround plan (again, that's impressive).

We won't go into an analysis of what went wrong and whether or not Allbirds should have stayed clear of NASDAQ in the first place; that's beyond the scope of this explainer (we might dive into that in the future), but we also don't want to leave this perspective completely out, so here are a few suggestive readings for you to dive into:

What happened to Allbirds rise and fall
Allbirds keeps nerdy approach to emissions heart rescue plan
Allbirds shares sink on plan to avoid NASDAQ delisting