09.13.22
The Pantone Color Institute (PCI) is collaborating with luxury tea blenders, Tealeaves, alongside other organizations and NGOs on an impactful partnership and awareness campaign to call attention to biodiversity loss through a novel Pantone color release, called the “Pantone Color of Biodiversity.”
According to UN Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) report, three-quarters of the land on Earth has been altered by human actions, and about a million species are under the threat of extinction. If biodiversity loss continues at this rate, it will undermine progress made in 80% of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Yet, the issue of biodiversity loss is not well understood.
That is why as the first day of the 2022 meeting of the UN General Assembly convenes, Pantone and Tealeaves partnered to create the Pantone Color of Biodiversity in support of United Nations Biodiversity, World Biodiversity Forum, and the 30x30 initiative to protect at least 30% of the world’s land and oceans by 2030.
Nature-Positive Solutions
The Pantone Color of Biodiversity, a bright pink hue, calls attention to the variety of species and ecosystems that underpin the health of the planet and viability of life, and the alarming rate at which we are losing them. The color represents the evolution of biodiversity and aims to bring awareness to biodiversity loss, a rising global environmental threat.
“The bright pink pigments are the molecular fossils of chlorophyll that were produced by ancient photosynthetic organisms inhabiting an ancient ocean that has long since vanished,” said Dr. Gueneli from the ANU Research School of Earth Sciences.
The Pantone Color of Biodiversity has brought together a creative collective of businesses, such as the New York Botanical Garden and the Frye Art Museum, NGOs, and climate-passionate individuals to create nature positive (preservative & regenerative) solutions.
“We approached our color selection for the Pantone Color of Biodiversity by circling back to a color emblematic of the oldest pigment on earth which was discovered in 1.1-billion-year-old marine sedimentary rocks of the Taoudeni Basin in Mauritania, West Africa by Dr. Nur Gueneili," said Laurie Pressman, vice president, Pantone Color Institute. “We thought turning to the Sahara, a location considered as one of the most ancient places on earth as our inspiration can help highlight what was found in the earth before it was inhabited, and humans had the opportunity to sully the environment’s natural resources.”
In addition to their work with NGOs and organizations for Pantone Color of Biodiversity, the partnership with Tealeaves’ and Pantone spans several years, as they continue to be committed to efforts to protect the global ecosystem. Tealeaves' work towards biodiversity solutions through biodiversity positive design with leading designers and have released several documentaries on environmental topics. Additionally, they work closely with botanical gardens to support their work, and through their products create social impact blends, as well as a home-compostable tea bag line.
Pantone adds the Color of Biodiversity to their list of environmentally focused color messaging campaigns and partnerships alongside Adobe Stock, and The Ocean Agency Glowing, Glowing, Gone, which was created to bring attention to global warming and the loss of coral reefs, Lacoste’s Foreverglades relating to the preservation of the Everglades and Lavazza’s Vanishing Color, which highlighted the impact of deforestation.
