Figma’s first Sustainability Week: from office programming to carbon removal investments

Figma hosted its inaugural Sustainability Week this January, with five days of programming aimed at making the company more sustainable at both the individual and organizational levels. The event opened with a conversation between Figma CFO Praveer Melwani and Charm Industrial CEO Peter Reinhardt about carbon removal technology. Figma staff in San Francisco also toured Charm Industrial’s facilities to see how the company converts organic waste—known as biomass—into biochar and bio-oil, both of which sequester carbon. Biochar enriches soil, while bio-oil can be injected deep underground for permanent storage.

Across the company, Figma shared resources for tackling the climate crisis, including documentaries like Chasing Coral, books such as All We Can Save, and YouTube channels like Climate Town. Offices displayed sustainability trivia on screens, San Francisco and New York hubs brought in farm-fresh goods from local growers, and the company launched a sustainability wiki on Notion. Figma also compiled a list of organizations eligible for its donation-matching program.

A look at Figma’s climate commitments

Figma’s climate work predates Sustainability Week. In 2021, a group of employees began exploring carbon accounting and offsets, and a year later they formed the official Net Zero social impact group (SIG). The Net Zero SIG led Figma to sign the Climate Pledge, committing to become net zero by 2040. Figma has worked with the sustainability platform Watershed to measure its annual carbon footprint and purchase carbon removal credits through Watershed’s marketplace. In 2024, Figma made its largest purchase to date: $750,000 in offset and avoidance credits.

Figma’s 2024 climate investment portfolio includes new technologies:

  • Wakefield’s biochar carbon removal, which converts waste wood into soil-enriching biochar.
  • UNDO’s enhanced rock weathering, which accelerates a natural geological process to store carbon.
  • Vaulted Deep’s geologic sequestration, which stores human organic waste deep underground.

Figma has also continued investing in Charm Industrial’s bio-oil sequestration. In his conversation with Praveer Melwani, Reinhardt discussed the challenges and progress in the carbon removal industry. “The companies that ultimately end up in the strongest position to reach net zero are the ones that have gone very deep into a technical understanding of what the levers are for a good climate outcome,” he said. Reinhardt advised companies to plan years ahead on carbon accounting forecasts and to invest strategically in smaller suppliers to help them scale.

On an individual level, Figma has encouraged teams to take simple actions with large impacts, such as transitioning to electric stoves, water heaters, and cars. “If you buy green power, that will cut out half of the emissions in your life,” Reinhardt noted. “There are a lot of things we can do to create a clean, abundant future.”

How Figma customers are driving change

Figma points to customers using its tools to build climate-focused products. Nuuly helps people rent their daily wardrobes, using Figma to bring more consumers into the circular economy and reduce waste—an estimated 92 million tons of garments end up in landfills each year.

Ford is broadening its portfolio of fully electric and hybrid-electric vehicles and uses Figma to design its mobile app and in-vehicle applications. The company plans to expand its next generation of EVs and hybrids with a range of electrification options at lower prices and with longer battery ranges.

Watershed itself uses Figma to put corporate sustainability metrics at the fingertips of decision-makers. With Figma, Watershed’s product designers create consistent UX patterns, build realistic prototypes, and scope minimum viable products, enabling live collaboration across design, development, and product teams. “Because of tools like Figma, which facilitate collaboration, we were able to innovate quickly, shipping more than 90 new features and improvements in 2024,” said Hannah Hudson, Head of Design at Watershed.

Figma plans to continue evaluating its carbon footprint, champion sustainability in its operations, and invest in technologies that address climate change head-on.