We answer your questions

• Why did we create Ecologi?

  So we can do something about this! We’ve got an incredible opportunity to turn this mess around and be the greatest thing our generation does. We’re not waiting for politicians to make the necessary changes to put us on the right course.

  Contributing to climate crisis solutions is hard. Apart from some lifestyle choices that you can make there’s little you can easily do.

  We started this when we found that we can make an incredible impact with just a few pounds a month. Read more.

• Is my carbon footprint that big?

  It’s very likely your carbon footprint is way beyond the targets for limiting a climate catastrophe. Even if your food is plant-based, local and in season, there’s a mind boggling carbon cost for almost anything you spend your money on.

  With Ecologi we’ll help you become carbon aware of everyday things and start your journey to low carbon living.

• Can this stop climate change?

  There are billions of concerned people on this planet who care, but don’t know how to make a meaningful contribution. If we can get the right platform that allows us to make the impact we want to, and continue the process of carbon awareness then there’s an amazing opportunity.

  The underlying projects you’ll be supporting (e.g. reforestation, renewables, efficient cooking stoves) are all ranked highly in terms of climate change solutions.

  One of our goals is to plant one billion trees, read about why this isn’t such a crazy idea.

• Is my carbon footprint offset by newly-planted trees?

  No! The trees you’re funding right now are years away from doing their thing.

  Every Ecologi subscription is used for two purposes: to offset your carbon footprint through verified carbon offsets, and – separately – to plant trees.

  The carbon offset projects you fund to offset your footprint rotate each month between top-quality projects that avoid greenhouse gases from entering the atmosphere (such as renewable energy projects which displace existing fossil fuel energy). We only fund offset projects which meet the highest verification standards, such as Gold Standard or Verified Carbon Standard. In addition, we aim to fund offset projects which meet other important sustainability and development standards like CCBS and SDVista.

  Until they are several years old, your saplings are not mature enough to sequester carbon in large quantities – and those verification programmes which do exist often will not verify carbon removal from trees until they are around 10 years old. That’s why we do not count your trees as contributing towards offsetting your footprint – and only offset using verified carbon credits. Of course – your trees are still out there, quietly sucking up carbon all the same!

• How do you ensure the trees are protected?

  The difference between a well-managed reforestation project, and one that isn’t, is huge. It’s imperative that your funds go to a project that meets the exceptionally high criteria needed for mass tree planting as a tool for combating climate change.

  For answers to lots of common questions such as “how do you protect the trees?” you can read our article on the subject here.

• Are you a registered charity?

  Ah, no. It might seem at odds with our mission, but there are some limitations that would hamper our ability to reach our targets of positive climate impact. We want to plant billions of trees, and offset a carbon footprint the size of a G7 nation. To do this we need to scale quickly, and that means accessing investments, and incentivising talented team members and agencies in lieu of money.

  We are otherwise operating like a charity: publicly publishing financial information, subscriber data, impact data.

  As a limited company, there is plenty we can do to cement our mission and our approach to transparency and profit taking directly in to our company documents. This is through changing what’s called Articles of Association. It will ensure that these values stay with us, even if the company was to ever change hands it must continue to operate how it was originally intended.

  In the future we’ll create the Ecologi Foundation, our non-profit arm where we will be able to handle all your funds for direct project donations.

• How can you prove my impact?

  In our drive to be transparent about the climate solutions we fund, we publish the certificates for all of the carbon credits (verified tonnes of carbon emissions reduced) that we buy, and also the receipts from our purchases of tree planting services from our tree-planting partners. You can view these here.

  We only fund carbon offset projects which meet the highest verification standards, such as Gold Standard or Verified Carbon Standard. In addition, we aim to fund offset projects which meet other important sustainability and development standards like CCBS and SDVista – which show how the offset projects (as well as meeting a recognised carbon standard) also contribute positive impacts to the local communities, and to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

  We only work with tree-planting partners who plant trees responsibly. In addition, our partners are regularly audited by third parties, and publish internal reports for us with updates and data from our planting sites. Check out this annual audit for our Madagascan tree planting project for an audit example. You can read more on responsible reforestation here.