Impact Reports

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Ecologi Impact Report 2020

In 2020, the coronavirus pandemic brought about a seismic shift across all industries, as well as in individuals’ personal, professional and social lives.
Aided by the global shutdown in response to COVID-19, we saw a reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, of <a href="https://essd.copernicus.org/articles/12/3269/2020/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">around 7% globally</a>. For the first time, humanity has been able to reduce emissions year-on-year, and if that trend were to continue, we could write down in the history books that 2019 was the year that global emissions peaked. We also now have a clear idea of what exactly is required to solve the climate emergency &#8211; the kinds of large scale collective action that will help us to mitigate the crisis.
On the other hand, considering the psychological and economic damage the global shutdown has caused, the pandemic has also produced a huge amount of climate anxiety &#8211; all this, for just a 7% drop in emissions?
As well as the pandemic shutdown, 2020 also saw other important developments in climate &#8211; from the <a href="https://www.unglobalcompact.org/take-action/20th-anniversary-campaign" target="_blank" rel="noopener">20th anniversary of the UN Global Compact</a>, to the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cop26-postponement" target="_blank" rel="noopener">postponement of COP26</a> here in the UK. Within climate, as within all industries, 2020 was a strange and challenging year.
At Ecologi, we are taking all of this to heart, and have been working tirelessly to develop our climate positive subscription products to have more impact. Luckily, we were able to adapt to online working: our in-house operations are fully remote at the present time, and thankfully our <a href="https://x.ecologi.com/">tree-planting and offset</a> projects have been able to continue operating throughout the pandemic.
Our Impact Report for 2020 shows a breakdown of the ways we have used our subscriber and B2B income to fund climate solutions, and how we have contributed to solving this most challenging of problems, in our first full-year of operation.
Despite the challenges of 2020, we are extremely proud of the massive impact we have had so far, and are optimistic and excited for 2021 to be a year of impactful and effective climate action.
If you have any questions about our impact, please contact <a href="mailto:hq@ecologi.com">hq@ecologi.com</a>.

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Over 6 million trees now funded by our subscribers

On 22nd December 2020, we funded our 6 millionth tree, ready to be planted in our planting sites around the world.
We had noted toward the end of the year that our tree count was accelerating, reaching a pace of approximately one million trees per month funded by our customers, in the run up to the festive period. The graph in Figure 1 shows the rate of growth in this regard, which we hope will continue into 2021.

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Figure 1

To put this in perspective, funding our first million trees took 9 months (surpassing the one million trees mark on 2nd March 2020). By the end of the year, it took our community of climate positive people 36 days to go from 4 million to 5 million trees, and it took only 19 days to go from 5 million to 6 million.
At the beginning of 1st January 2021, we had funded the planting of 6,419,515 trees.
Some of the end-of-year increase might be attributable to a festive bump, especially with the introduction of <a href="https://x.ecologi.com/gifting">our new gifting product</a>, which we launched in November. We don’t have the data on this yet, as we haven’t been through enough Christmases(!) but we anticipate that it’s likely we will see a slight slowdown in the early weeks of 2021 as the festive excitement quietens down.

Due to operational constraints, there is a time lag between trees being funded and trees being purchased; we operate on a grace period of around 60 days between trees being funded by our subscribers and being purchased from our partners.
Toward the end of 2020 this time lag extended slightly, as we are making some internal banking changes to allow us to move more quickly from funding to purchasing. We anticipate catching up with our trees due for purchasing in early January 2021, ready to start a more streamlined process in the year ahead.
By the end of 2020, we had purchased (and recorded on our <a href="https://lookerstudio.google.com/reporting/adfb141d-4153-4c22-b6b4-976f7f3930b2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Public Impact Ledger</a>) 3,471,589 trees from our partners, accounting for trees funded by subscribers up to the end of September 2020.
The graph in Figure 1 shows our accelerating rate of growth: we are currently near the bottom of an exponential curve, with our tree-funding pace approximately doubling each month. Factoring in the anticipated slowdown at the start of 2021, we can expect to reach 10 million trees funded in around March or early April 2021, with our 10 millionth tree purchased and planted well before the Summer.
Looking to the future, we are really excited for our subscriber base to continue growing, so that we can fund more and more trees around the world. With our tree count remaining on an exponential growth curve, we would expect to see around 46 million trees funded by 31st December 2021. A flatter curve would see around 17 million trees funded by then, and the reality is likely to fall somewhere in between these two.
As we are still only a young company, forecasts and projections for trees funded will become easier over time as we have more data points to look back on.

To accommodate the rapidly growing number of trees funded by our subscribers, we’ve also expanded our portfolio of planting sites. At the start of 2020, we were very small, primarily planting trees <a href="https://x.ecologi.com/projects/mangrove-planting-in-madagascar">in one plot of land at Marotaola, Madagascar</a>, and also as part of a fledgling project <a href="https://x.ecologi.com/projects/reforesting-kijabe-kenya">in partnership with the Intrepid Foundation in Kijabe, Kenya</a>.
That first Marotaola plot has a dedicated capacity for 3 million trees, which toward the end of September 2020 was getting full, meaning we needed to expand our planting locations. That particular plot is currently 95.3% full, with 2,858,345 of our subscribers’ mangroves being planted there. 
At the end of 2020, we now fund 9 tree planting projects based in 7 countries. Our original plot (which is now known as Marotaola 1) was joined in October by neighbouring Marotaola 2, and plots in <a href="https://x.ecologi.com/projects/reforestation-in-bosawas-nicaragua" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bosawas Biosphere Reserve, Nicaragua</a> and <a href="https://x.ecologi.com/projects/reforesting-changalane-mozambique" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Changalane, Mozambique</a>.
Our main tree-planting partner for these projects is <a href="https://edenprojects.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Eden Reforestation Projects</a> (‘Eden’), who we work with closely to plant the trees in our dedicated planting sites. The team at Eden provide the expert care, ecological knowledge and local support to make the planting happen in-country. Through our current planting sites, Eden offers steady employment and income to over 80 local people, providing sustainable and fulfilling job roles as planters, forest guards and site managers.  This is really important to us, as (as we will see in the following section), part of Ecologi’s ethos is to ensure that the effective climate solutions that we fund also generate co-benefits in other spheres &#8211; helping to establish self-sufficient sustainable local economies, and provide fulfilling and stable jobs to those that we and our partners employ.
Whilst the vast majority of our tree-planting takes place in locations in the Global South, in May 2020 we took on new tree-planting partners and began offering the opportunity for subscribers from the UK, USA and Australia to fund our much smaller tree-planting projects local to them.

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Figure 2

Since we started planting in our additional sites in October, we have already made a significant start on filling those plots too &#8211; with around 18% of each of Marotaola 2 and Changalane already planted, and 25% of the Bosawas plot also on its way. As above, these figures only take into account those trees already purchased from our partners, and therefore not those trees funded by our subscribers but not yet purchased.

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Figure 3

In 2021, we are looking forward to taking some more time to visit some of our planting sites, bringing back stories and progress reports that we can share with our supporters. We’re also looking forward to working with new tree-planting partners, opening up new planting sites in the UK and around the world, and planting many more millions of trees in more locations across the world.

This year, our UK team were sadly unable to visit our overseas planting sites as planned, due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, we were able to receive photographs and progress updates from some of our sites around the world, and our company founders were able to scope out some of our new UK sites.
Receiving our first full-year update report from our Marotaola 1 planting site in Madagascar, documenting the period up to September 2020, our partners Eden Reforestation Projects update that: “with generous support from Ecologi, Eden Reforestation Projects planted 1,888,483 mangrove trees and employed 35 full-time staff resulting in a tremendous impact on local livelihoods and the environment.”
Over the past year, the team at Marotaola 1 have been filling our plot with multiple species of mangrove trees, including avicennia marina, rhizophora mucronata, ceriops tagal and bruguiera gymnorrhiza. In the photos below, you can see how our little trees are thriving. This amazing progress in our original planting site was boosted further by the millions of trees funded by our subscribers in October through December, and by the addition of our new planting sites at Marotaola 2 and elsewhere around the world.

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Marotaola 1

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Our mangrove trees are growing majestically in <a href="https://x.ecologi.com/articles/updates/update-our-offset-earth-members-forest-is-growing-%F0%9F%8C%B1">Marataola, Madagascar</a>.

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Changalane

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First trees going in <a href="https://x.ecologi.com/projects/reforesting-changalane-mozambique">Changalane, Mozambique</a>.

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Dyrham

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Our latest site in Dyrham, England is prepared for this planting season.

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Over 10,000 trees are now in the ground at our site in <a href="https://x.ecologi.com/projects/reforesting-dalry-scotland">Dalry, Scotland</a>.

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Almost 250,000 tonnes of verified emissions reductions

Parallel to our tree-planting projects, our subscribers have funded the reduction of 249,464 tonnes of CO2e emissions through our verified carbon offset projects, up to the end of 2020. Each and every tonne is certified by an industry-leading formal standard (usually <a href="https://www.goldstandard.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gold Standard</a> or <a href="https://verra.org/project/vcs-program/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Verified Carbon Standard</a>).
Only purchasing carbon offsets which meet these rigorous standards is crucial to our aim of funding the most effective climate solutions, as they provide security in the measurement, additionality, permanence and (lack of) leakage of the projects that we fund. Research carried out on behalf of WWF Germany by the Stockholm Environment Institute <a href="https://www.sei.org/publications/making-sense-voluntary-carbon-market-comparison-carbon-offset-standards/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">goes into great detail</a> on how different carbon standards track these criteria, and supports the notion that Gold Standard and VCS (alongside the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism) are the most effective, successful and appropriate standards available for carbon offset projects.

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We recognise Gold Standard and VCS as the top international standards for the voluntary carbon market in terms of carbon reductions, but another key reason that we select projects that meet these standards is due to their verified and documented co-benefits relating to the <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sustainable Development Goals</a> (SDGs). As well as this, we use the expert knowledge of our Climate Committee and resources such as <a href="https://drawdown.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Project Drawdown</a> to carefully select which offset projects to fund, to ensure that our subscribers’ money is being used to support the most effective climate solutions there are.
As standard, we only fund offset projects that provide a verified benefit to SDG 13 &#8211; Climate Action. In 2020, on average, our carbon offset projects this year had 3.67 SDG co-benefits, meaning that, of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, our projects provided a verified and documented benefit to an average of 2.67 other SDGs (in addition to SDG 13). Our most prolific project in terms of verified SDG co-benefits was our <a href="https://x.ecologi.com/projects/biomass-power-project-raipur-india" target="_blank" rel="noopener">biopower project in India</a>, which had a whopping eight SDG co-benefits! Going forward, by tracking additional SDG co-benefits, we can target those projects which provide much more than just their tonnage of carbon reductions, and meet verified standards in other important areas.
The breakdown of each SDG co-benefit as a proportion of all SDG co-benefits is shown in Figure 5.

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Figure 5

Aside from SDG 13 (Climate Action), the most common SDG co-benefit among our projects this year was <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SDG 7 &#8211; Affordable &amp; Clean Energy</a> (verified in 14.9% of our projects), followed by <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SDG 8 &#8211; Decent Work &amp; Economic Growth</a> (13.2%) and <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SDG 3 &#8211; Good Health &amp; Wellbeing</a> (11.6%). 
Going into 2021, as well as selecting projects with a higher average number of co-benefits, we aim to seek out and select projects which will balance out the relevant co-benefits to ensure that as well as the climate impact that we have through the carbon standards and SDG 13, our impact will also be felt in other vital areas within the remit of the Sustainable Development Goals.

As of 31st December 2020, our supporters have funded 33 offset projects in 20 countries around the world.
Subscriber funding was spread out among projects in a broad geographical range. Predominantly, the countries where we funded offset projects in 2020 were in South and Central America, East Africa and Southeast Asia. This said, the countries which featured the most of our projects this year were India (7 projects), followed by Turkey (6 projects), followed by Brazil (3 projects).
This phenomenon occurred in 2020 because projects were selected based on individual merit (per the criteria and standards described above), which meant that in some regions (such as South America) we were funding a few projects in many countries, whereas in other regions (such as Western Asia) we were funding many projects in just one country.

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Figure 6

In terms of scale, our offset projects tend to fall into one of two categories at either end of the spectrum: either small-to-micro scale community-based projects (such as cookstoves, or local water distribution projects) or large-scale wind or solar energy projects.
As before, the selection of projects was broadly based on the individual merit of the project itself, according to the measures in our criteria (above), which meant that any trends to do with the scale of projects funded were mostly byproducts.
The mixture does however reflect our strategic aims to fund the most effective climate solutions and projects which will promote meaningful change for the climate and for local communities, and is guided by how the projects individually map onto the most effective solutions as ranked by <a href="https://drawdown.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Project Drawdown</a>.
In terms of the types of projects we funded in 2020, this varied, and the full breakdown is displayed in Figure 9. What this chart shows is that our most frequently funded project types pertain to higher ranked solutions on the Project Drawdown table of solutions.
For example, wind energy (<a href="https://drawdown.org/solutions/onshore-wind-turbines" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Drawdown solution #2</a>) made up 24% of projects funded, and fuel-efficient cookstoves (<a href="https://drawdown.org/solutions/improved-clean-cookstoves" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Drawdown solution #21</a>) made up 12%. Other popular project types this year included avoided deforestation (15% of projects; <a href="https://drawdown.org/solutions/forest-protection" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Drawdown solution #38</a>) and landfill gas capture (15% of projects; <a href="https://drawdown.org/solutions/landfill-methane-capture" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Drawdown solution #58</a>).

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Figure 7

We also focused a lot this year on protecting the Amazon (including through avoided deforestation), which is why South America was our most popular region for offset projects, with projects funded in 5 countries there this year &#8211; in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Uruguay. Afforestation tends not to be very prominent in the count in Figure 7 (3% of projects), because the vast majority of our afforestation work takes place as part of our tree-planting projects portfolio, and the offsets projects are instead focused on other areas, such as renewables (or in the case of forestry, avoided deforestation). 
This year, we also updated the way that we calculate subscriber carbon footprints to a more robust methodology, and using the latest data available from the UNFCCC and CAIT. The new calculations will contribute to a slight change in the cost of subscriptions for some of our users, but will give us a much more accurate and robust mechanism for tracking carbon footprints offset going forward. You can read all about this update <a href="https://x.ecologi.com/articles/product/carbon-footprinting-at-ecologi">on the blog</a>.

Virtual climate festival reaches 24,000 views

In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the UK government announced its intention to cancel the 2020 iteration of the Conference of the Parties (COP 26) which was due to take place in Glasgow, in November.
We were disappointed by the cancellation of the COP for two main reasons: because much of global governance and business had gone online without issue (including other intergovernmental summits) and often, even when the UN climate conferences do go ahead, tangible outcomes from the COPs are so bureaucratically dense as to be indecipherable for many people.
Motivated by these frustrations and the knowledge that the climate clock <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">would remain ticking</a>, we decided to run our own global virtual festival of climate action. We called it <a href="https://itstime.earth">It’s Time</a>, and it took place on 17-18th November 2020.

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It's Time

With just three months to plan and organise the event from start to finish, we put together a small team and brought together <a href="https://itstime.earth/speakers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">162 speakers from all over the world</a> to inspire our virtual attendees to climate action, through both pre-recorded and live talks, activities, performances, panel discussions, documentary screenings and more.
The event was broadcast over two days from a television studio, with hosts Cel Spellman and Basma Khalifa, with content segregated into five virtual stages, streamed via Vimeo. Broadcasting over 65 hours of content, our It’s Time line-up included speakers and representatives of WWF UK, Project Drawdown, Project Everyone, Rainforest Trust UK, OLIO, Green Is The New Black, Extinction Rebellion, Intrepid Travel and many more.
The event was opened by His Royal Highness, The Prince of Wales, received a video endorsement from Sir Keir Starmer, received 205 pieces of press coverage, and reached 24,481 views from attendees in 80 countries.
As part of our commitment to plant a tree for every email sign-up to It’s Time, we funded the planting of 9,011 trees for the event. Feedback from the event was sparkling, and we were extremely proud of the positive, upbeat impact that the event had managed to deliver for so many people around the world, in an extremely challenging year for all.

Factoring in the anticipated slowdown at the start of 2021 (our Christmas gifts were a big hit), we are expecting to reach an incredible 10 million trees funded by April 2021. 
At the end of 2021, on our current trajectory we’re expecting to have planted between 17 and 46 million trees. Where our year-end total will fall, between these two figures, will become clearer as the first few months of the year take shape.
Quite frankly, whether we plant 17 million trees by the end of 2021, or 46 (or more!), we hope you’ll join us in relishing the prospect of these incredible numbers. 
On top of this, we are aiming for an anticipated 1.5 million verified tonnes of carbon dioxide prevented from entering the atmosphere from funding our other climate action projects, such as from <a href="https://x.ecologi.com/projects/supporting-new-hydropower-plant-uganda">micro scale hydropower</a>, <a href="https://x.ecologi.com/projects/landfill-gas-in-brazil">landfill gas capture</a>, and <a href="https://x.ecologi.com/projects/preserving-the-mesoamerican-biological-corridor-in-guatemala">preventing deforestation</a>.
This is epic climate action funded principally by small amounts of disposable cash from individuals, families and businesses. And excitingly, there’s so much further to go. This amount of impact will be achieved by around 30,000 subscribers, nowhere near 150 million subscribers that the likes of Spotify and Netflix enjoy.
Thank you to our subscribers, partners and to all who have supported Ecologi in 2020. We cannot wait to see what 2021 brings.

Blog

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Meet our Impact Team

Ecologi’s mission is to inspire and empower businesses to accelerate global climate action. In everything we do, we’re guided by our company values:
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<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Planet first</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Always accountable</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Change-makers</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Act, together.</li>
</ol>
Because of our values, we put impact for our climate, nature and people, right at our heart: and this is driven by our Impact Team.

<h2>Meeting the Impact Team </h2>
The Impact Team is responsible for directing our efforts toward meaningful climate action aligned with the latest science and industry best practice. The team’s role encompasses several key areas, including:
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<li>Ensuring adherence to best practice through our research bases, rigorous due diligence processes, and expert understanding of key sustainability frameworks.</li>
<li>Building and managing relationships with some of the world’s leading implementation partners to facilitate the delivery of high-impact climate solutions.</li>
<li>Delivery of emissions measurement and reporting projects, assisting customers with data collection, emissions calculations, and helping them identify effective decarbonisation strategies.</li>
<li>Engaging with academia, including the stewardship of the Ecologi Climate Committee — our advisory network of academic and industry experts on topics relevant to our work.</li>
<li>Providing climate and sustainability expertise and strategic guidance to align our products and services with the latest in environmental science and industry best practices and to guide our internal policy.</li>
<li>Driving our industry forward through participating in industry advisory groups, policy advocacy groups, consortia and alliances with Ecologi’s peers and partners in corporate sustainability, </li>
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</ul>
In this article, we’ll meet the team making it all possible!

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<h2>Sam Jackson, Director of Climate Science &amp; Impact</h2>
MSc, MA, PIEMA REnvP, FRSA
Sam is department lead for Impact at Ecologi, and a member of Ecologi’s senior leadership team. He is responsible for providing climate and sustainability expertise and strategic guidance to the business, with the priority of aligning Ecologi’s products and services with the latest in environmental science and industry best practice. Sam is an advisor to a number of industry groups and a regular speaker at sustainability industry events.
Sam has a varied background in climate science, international operations, development, and environmental governance. In his early career, he worked primarily in the charity and sustainable tourism sectors before moving permanently into climate and corporate sustainability. Sam holds Master’s degrees in International Relations and Climate Change Science and Policy from the University of Exeter and the University of Bristol. He is a Practitioner Member of IEMA, a Registered Environmental Practitioner with the Society for the Environment, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

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<h2>Eleanor Turner, Climate Solutions Manager</h2>
MSc, BSc, PIEMA 
Eleanor has a senior role within the Impact team, helping to guide our strategic direction and shape our theory of change, as well as supporting the team across all Impact functions. Eleanor leads much of our external engagement with academia, including managing the Ecologi Climate Committee: our advisory network of academic and industry experts across a wide range of topics relevant to our work. She also works cross-functionally around the business, to drive much of Ecologi’s own internal sustainability efforts.
Eleanor holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Science from the University of York, in addition to a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Geography. Eleanor’s career began as a sustainability consultant within the engineering and construction industry, focusing on BREEAM assessments and decarbonisation across the public sector. Eleanor then moved to an in-house sustainability role within the consumer goods industry, focused on internal sustainability strategy and greenhouse gas inventory management, before joining Ecologi as our Climate Solutions Manager.

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<h2>George Gibson, Senior Carbon Accounting Manager</h2>
George provides technical expertise to support the development of the carbon accounting methodology underpinning our Ecologi Zero platform for businesses. George also leads the consultative delivery of emissions measurement and reporting projects with our customers, guiding them through data collection and helping them to identify decarbonisation strategies. Key to his role is ensuring compliance with the relevant standards and that the tool provides a comprehensive and accurate account of a business’ emissions.
With a degree in Economics and Management from Cardiff University, specialising in economic development, George has previously worked as a sustainability consultant providing insight into compiling greenhouse gas inventories to measure and report emissions, developing decarbonisation strategies, setting Science-Based Targets and supporting businesses in attaining B Corp certification.

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<h2>Katie Pownall, Impact Partnerships Manager</h2>
MBiol, MRSB, ACIEEM
Katie works closely with Ecologi’s reforestation and other implementation partners, ensuring that funding from our community goes to the best projects, and sharing stories about the projects with the Ecologi community. As Ecologi continues to grow, Katie is helping to identify new types of impact projects, enabling Ecologi customers to fund cutting-edge climate action with some of the most well-respected organisations around the world.
Katie has a Master’s degree in Biology from University of York, where she focused on ecology and conservation, and during which she worked in the North York Moors National Park’s Conservation department, where she gained knowledge about protected species, habitat management, and on-the-ground conservation work. This  hands-on experience combined with her understanding of the theory of conservation and ecology helps Katie to guide Ecologi’s decisions so that we optimise our positive impact on people, biodiversity, and the planet.

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<h2>Lucy Gemmell, Carbon Portfolio Manager</h2>
In her role as Carbon Portfolio Manager, Lucy drives our in-house due diligence to identify top-tier carbon avoidance and removal projects, manages our relationships with project developers, and helps to educate customers in ensuring they are communicating about their impact correctly. In her work, she manages our relationships with a number of our key strategic impact partners including Sylvera and Earth Blox. Lucy originally joined Ecologi in 2022 as part of our Commercial team and spent a year working cross-departmentally, immersing herself in the voluntary carbon market before transitioning permanently into the Impact team. 
Lucy has a diverse background, having managed a boutique real estate brokerage in her earlier career and chaired the board of an education-based NGO in Johannesburg, South Africa. She is currently pursuing a Master&#8217;s degree in Climate Change and Development, following the recent completion of an ESG Specialisation from the Corporate Finance Institute.

Alongside the Impact team, we have some incredible individuals who assist us in reaching our goals and supporting our work. Collaboration is at the heart of everything we do, and their contributions help us stay on track and maintain momentum.

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<h2>Monsoon Modi, Commercial Operations Executive</h2>
Monsoon originally joined Ecologi in 2022 as part of our Customer Success team and spent a year working cross-departmentally before moving into the Commercial team, now as an Operations Executive. 
Key to her role is optimising commercial projects, building commercial resources and providing support for small businesses along their sustainability journey. Monsoon also supports the Impact Team with internal educational material, project reports and administrative tasks. 
With a degree in Politics and International Relations, Monsoon is currently pursuing a Master&#8217;s degree in Environmental Sustainability at the University of Edinburgh.

<h2>Climate Committee </h2>
Ecologi’s Climate Committee was founded in 2021 to bring together industry experts and research professionals who sit outside of the business to bring specialist knowledge and support to maximise our climate impact. Our committee members bring best-practice thinking, and ongoing developments with regard to global climate science, carbon accounting methodology, nature-based projects and the voluntary carbon market through our three working groups, Nature, Climate and Policy.
The committee supports the Impact team through providing expert knowledge across specialist fields which help shape the future of the team, and the wider business. In turn, this improves our internal decision-making and strategy development through staying at the forefront of industry developments and innovation.

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Case studies

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Case study: the Focusrite Group

<h2>About the Focusrite Group </h2>
<a href="https://x.ecologi.com/focusritegroup" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Focusrite</a> is not your average audio technology group. This passionate bunch is united by a single objective: to smash through barriers and unleash boundless creativity in the world of sound.
Founded in 1985 and based in High Wycombe, this team of over 500 is on a mission to remove barriers to creativity. And they believe that technology can play an important role in breaking down other barriers too, including geographical, social, economic, and even environmental. 
Focusrite is an organisation that’s driven by purpose, with a keen desire to be a force for good in the world. Responsible practices are an essential part of how they do business, and that includes keeping a keen eye on their impact on the environment.

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<h2>Issue</h2>
Focusrite has been working to reduce its environmental impact for many years and in 2020 developed a carbon accounting process that now provides near real-time data on Scope 1, 2, and 3 GHG emissions.
This progress has allowed the team to set goals, but they are in the process of applying to set Science Based Targets (SBT) to replace them. In the meantime they are already aligning their approach with SBT guidelines. 
As a UK-based company, Focusrite is committed to 2050 as the ultimate deadline for net-zero, but they want to get there quicker. So their approach is not to set a net-zero target year until they have gone through the SBT application process by 2026 at the latest, and instead use carbon reduction metrics and targets to set them up for long-term success.

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BST Hyde Park 2013 - London - MLA - Andrew Land

<h2>Challenges</h2>
The team at Focusrite use emissions data to guide action, and their emissions are largely dominated by their hardware products, which account for 96% of GHG emissions. 
They have already made good progress in reducing the use of aluminium, plastic, and product packaging, with many more areas under review. As they roll out changes across their product range, the team aims to increase the pace of their reductions, with any new products being designed from more sustainable materials from the start.
Focusrite is striving to become a sustainability leader in its industry, setting the standard for peers to emulate. Environmental stewardship is a big part of that, and the message from the entire employee base is that they want to support nature beyond their value chain. This is why they reached out to Ecologi to help them do more good for our planet.

<h2>Solution </h2>
Focusrite has worked with Ecologi since 2021. Ecologi supports the team to fund tree planting for internal initiatives like employee charity fundraising, but also to offset the wood used in their products. The wood used is already FSC certified, so by planting trees with Ecologi they replace more than they consume. 
Focusrite also works with Ecologi to support projects to mitigate any remaining Scope 1 and 2 emissions they can’t avoid. So far they have funded 17 projects, including a solar power project in Morocco, supplying high efficiency cookstoves in Somalia, and preserving Amazonian rainforest in Brazil.
The team isn&#8217;t shy about sharing Focusrite’s success. They talk about their climate impact prominently in their annual report and employee newsletter, and dive into the details in their dedicated environment and climate reports. 
Taking such positive climate action has boosted Focusrite’s reputation with customers and colleagues alike. They have enjoyed press coverage for their tree planting, which positioned them as a leader in their industry, and they have even had employees join the company purely because of their environmental sustainability programme.

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<h2>Outcome</h2>
Since 2021, the Focusrite Group has funded the planting of 89,080 trees, supported the prevention of 132 tonnes of CO2e from being emitted, and funded the removal of 81 tonnes of CO2e from the atmosphere. In total 17 different projects have been funded.

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<h2>Is your business ready to take climate action?</h2>
If this article has inspired your business to start its climate journey, talk to our team today.

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What happened at COP29

This year’s Conference of the Parties is underway in Baku, Azerbaijan and will run until the 22nd of November. Our team at Ecologi are monitoring the daily events to give you real-time analysis and reactions to the developments and agreements taking place. 
What is COP29? Click <a href="https://x.ecologi.com/articles/uncategorised/what-to-expect-at-cop29" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a> for a comprehensive guide to all things COP29. 
What happened at COP28? Click <a href="https://x.ecologi.com/articles/blog/whats-happening-at-cop28" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a> to read a full report of the event in 2023.

<h2>Overall sentiment &#8211; COP29 wrap-up</h2>
The overall sentiment at COP29 reflects a little bit of progress and an awful lot of frustration. As is often the case at the climate COPs, any progress that does get made is often overshadowed by the missed opportunities – and this one is no exception on that front.
The largest positive from this COP is in the agreements made on operationalising carbon market standards under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. This consensus signals hope for greater transparency, higher standards, and clear opportunities for businesses to engage in global climate action projects, in a new carbon market managed under the UN framework. These draft documents on Article 6 were published on the first day of the COP and have stayed relatively static since then – indicating that agreement was achieved early. They did come under criticism though, with the Presidency offering up documents to be accepted as-is, with no opportunity for countries to scrutinise the wording.
The COP as a whole, and its broader negotiations on a range of other topics, have been marred by tensions, frustrations, and geopolitics. Proceedings were thrown somewhat, by world leaders disappearing from the world leaders’ summit at the conference and reconvening in Brazil (next year’s COP host country) for the G20 – leading to <a href="https://www.gov.br/planalto/pt-br/media/18-11-2024-declaracao-de-lideres-g20.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a multilateral G20 declaration</a> which seemed to both celebrate and chastise the country negotiators back in Baku. 
Geopolitics making things difficult – COP29 has taken place against a backdrop of heightened geopolitical tensions between a wide range of countries, which have diverted attention and resources away from climate action and have complicated negotiations. Add to that the problems coming from the COP itself – from country boycotts, to backhanded oil and gas deals, to threats to drop out of the Paris Agreement by Argentina (a threat which was later clarified as rescinded) and by the USA (which is likely to be upheld under the incoming administration) – and it’s easy to wonder how nearly 200 countries can be convinced to agree on anything at all. Let alone an issue with the gravity, urgency, and complexity of climate change.
Poor management by the Presidency – if you’ve followed our daily coverage you’ll have spotted over the past two weeks how this COP has felt quite chaotic and frenetic. It hasn’t really felt throughout proceedings that the Presidency is in control of things – and this applies on the diplomatic level but also in a practical sense, with uncomfortable stories coming out of the conference centre about poorly-managed bathroom facilities and catering. On the draft decisions, the Presidency’s strategy has been cavalier and uncharitable, with something of a ‘take-it-or-leave-it’ attitude to negotiations which isn’t helpful or conducive to compromise. On the last day of the COP, the Climate Action Network awarded the Azerbaijani Presidency their Fossil of the Day award because it “doesn’t understand the gravity of the Presidency, or for that matter the value of civil society”. This is a damning assessment, but one which is hard to disagree with.
Somehow, fossil fuels are still the elephant in the room – we heard from UNEP before COP29 started that <a href="https://www.unep.org/resources/emissions-gap-report-2024" target="_blank" rel="noopener">global emissions are still rising</a>, driven by continued fossil fuel use – and yet COP29 has failed to advance any fossil fuel reduction commitments. In Dubai last year, we saw the agreed cover text mention the “phase-down of unabated coal power”, the “transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems” and the “phasing out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies” (which was pretty weak in itself). This year, the fossil fuel lobby was typically massive – with over 1,700 fossil fuel lobbyists in attendance. Despite the overwhelming scientific evidence showing that fossil fuels must stay in the ground, the dominance of fossil fuel interests has continued to undermine progress, with the Arab Group in particular this year refusing to back any texts that reference the phasing out of fossil fuels. The COP29 texts on the UAE dialogue and the Mitigation Work Programme (which ought to have been used to further the outcomes of last year’s Global Stocktake) were meant to enhance climate mitigation. The final version of the MWP fails to mention the transition away from fossil fuels, the 1.5ºC warming goal or the Global Stocktake and its outcomes, and the UAE dialogue on how to proceed on the Global Stocktake wasn’t adopted at all. Interestingly, the earliest drafts did mention the 1.5ºC warming goal and the seriousness of 2023 being the warmest year on record. As the drafts progressed this messaging was removed, despite many calling for the final text to be more ambitious and specific. A deal on the MWP was adopted during the closing plenary session without any intervention. 
Article 6 and UK government provide a few reasons to be positive for businesses 
Whilst the overall sentiment at this year’s COP29 has been disappointment, particularly regarding the pace of global climate action and the lack of firm commitments from key global players, there are still some glimmers of hope for businesses. Among the more promising developments is the aforementioned progress on Article 6 of the Paris Agreement and the UK government’s climate commitments. The outcomes on Article 6 pose a step forward for businesses. By advancing frameworks for international carbon markets, COP29 has created a clearer pathway for companies to engage in high-quality carbon offsetting and trading, fostering transparency and credibility in the process. This opens up new opportunities for organisations globally to progress towards net-zero targets whilst supporting climate action projects and global emission reductions. 
The UK government’s renewed focus on climate policy has created incentives such as increased funding for green technology, support for nature based projects and streamlined regulation for sustainable investment, catalysing innovation and market growth. The developments at COP29 have reinforced the role of businesses as a key actor in the fight against climate change when world leaders fall short on agreeing ambitious climate goals. Through embracing innovation, adopting bold emission reduction targets and funding climate action, companies can fill the leadership gap and accelerate progress where governments falter.

COP29 - Daily updates 

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The two-week conference, scheduled for November 11th-22nd will bring together representatives from all countries that have agreed to be bound by the UNFCCC. The conference takes place annually to negotiate new measures, develop policy and review progress against the goal of limiting climate change.
Azerbaijan, the host nation, has received its fair share of criticism for becoming this year’s COP president. Oil and Gas make up 92.5% of the country’s GDP per capita, and President Ilham Aliyev has stated his support for oil and gas producing nations to continue investing in the sector, clashing with last year’s COP28 outcome in which all nations called for accelerating the transition away from fossil fuels.

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<h2>The key talking points and priorities in the run up to COP29</h2>
This year, priorities are focused on climate finance, with COP29 being coined the Finance COP, this is reiterated by the programme of scheduling with Finance, Investment and Trade taking priority spot on the first day of discussions.
Energy and Science are also high on the agenda, while Nature and Biodiversity and Oceans and Coastal Zones take more of a back seat, only being scheduled for the final day before negotiations; naturally, this comes as a disappointment as this signals these areas of discussion are considered lower priority when compared with energy and finance.
It is likely momentum and attendance will decrease by the end of week two and could undermine the urgency needed to address the implications of climate change on nature globally and reduce their integration into wider climate strategies.
The following key priorities are expected to lead discussions at COP29;
<h3>New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG)</h3>
Developing countries, particularly those most vulnerable to climate change, require substantial financial support to transition to green economies and adapt to climate impacts. COP29 aims to agree on a new commitment to provide annual climate finance to developing countries, replacing a goal of $100 billion per annum set in 2009 at COP15. The World Economic Forum states that ‘the NCQG must be ambitious yet realistic, balancing the financial capacities of developed countries with the urgent needs of developing nations’.
<h3>Growing the loss and damage fund</h3>
Established and operationalised at COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, the loss and damage fund acknowledges the disproportionate burden that climate change places on vulnerable nations. It is a financial mechanism that helps countries cope with the loss and damages they face due to climate change – this includes loss of life, damage to infrastructure and displacement.
At COP29, there is hope to see significant progress in the fund’s operationalisation and funding. Countries are expected to make substantial pledges to the fund to ensure it can meet the needs of developing countries. To date, major contributors include the UAE, Germany and the United States. Other big-emitting countries such as China and Saudi Arabia are yet to announce their intention to contribute to the fund.
<h3>Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)</h3>
At COP29, nations will be encouraged to commit to more ambitious and robust Nationally Determined Contributions; these are climate action commitments made by countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to climate change mitigation, aligning with the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
NDCs are submitted every 5 years to the UNFCCC, and with the next global stocktake approaching NDCs are to be put forward by February 2025, demonstrating increased ambition and concrete action plans. At COP29, there is likely to be a push to provide financial and technical support to developing countries to enable them to outline and implement NDCs of their own.
<h3>Article 6 of the Paris Agreement</h3>
Article 6 of the Paris Agreement aims to promote the use of carbon markets to achieve their climate targets. At COP29 we can expect discussions with regards to how a robust and well-regulated international carbon market can be developed and maintained. A key goal of COP29 is to finalise the rulebook for Article 6, which will provide clear guidelines for its implementation, and address concerns with regards to the quality of carbon credits, double counting and sustainable development.

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<h2>Who is attending COP29</h2>
With just 2 months to go until COP29 kicks off, there has been minimal discussion with regards to which World Leaders we can expect at the event.
From the UK, Ed Miliband, the newly appointed Secretary of State for Energy and Net Zero, is confirmed to be leading UK negotiations for COP29. However, with the USA election taking place just 5 days before COP29 begins, it is unlikely that the President will be in attendance. As the event draws closer, we can expect more countries to confirm which delegates will attend.

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<h2>What to expect during COP29</h2>
An anticipated 40,000 participants are heading to COP29, almost half the number of attendees than at <a href="https://x.ecologi.com/articles/blog/whats-happening-at-cop28" target="_blank" rel="noopener">COP28</a> in Dubai last year; this poses the question of if bigger is necessarily better, fewer attendees reduce the environmental impact of the conferences, with the UN Climate Chief Simon Stiell <a href="https://www.climatechangenews.com/2024/04/24/peak-cop-un-looks-to-shrink-baku-and-belem-climate-summits/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">saying he hopes to see fewer people attending COPs </a>as size does not necessarily translate to the quality of outcomes.
COP29 still presents a crucial opportunity to make significant strides in climate action, by focusing on climate finance and reaffirming climate goals, countries can collectively work together to provide the funding and tools necessary to shape the trajectory of global climate efforts.

<h2>Partner with us for COP29 and beyond</h2>
Over the next 12 months we want to support as many businesses as possible to tackle climate change.
If your business is interested in a partnership to help scale climate action or starting its climate journey during COP29 or beyond, get in touch.

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