How much of my money goes to climate projects?
Our success is measured in impact, and this is reflected in how we spend your money. As an individual Ecologi subscriber, 85% of your subscription money goes directly to fund these planet-saving projects. Included in the project costs are any transaction fees incurred and carried out on your behalf.
For our business customers, we charge a little more to cover the extra costs associated with our Climate Positive Workforce ® product. For these customers, 77.5% of subscription revenue goes to climate impact.
The rest covers everything else – including disclosure, personnel and facilities costs, and accommodation and licenses.
Transparency and trust are our core values. They go hand in hand with using your money responsibly in the best possible way. For those who are interested, you can view our Public Impact and Operations Book which lists our receipts and certificates - and we also post financial reports on this website every quarter so you can see we're keeping our word.
Are you a registered charity?
We are not a charity but a social enterprise. This means that we are not registered as a non-profit organization.
It may seem different from our mission, which is to create a platform to stop climate change. But nonprofits come with financial constraints - mainly, that we couldn't just rely on government grants and donations to achieve the scale we intended. Only a self-sustaining business model is attractive to investors who often come with deep pockets and mean we can grow very quickly.
Other than that, we're operating like a charity, borrowing the best elements that serve our cause: publicly publishing financial information, customer revenue data, impact data, and board meeting minutes. Furthermore, our margin of just 15% is comparable to that of some of the best charities.
Can it stop climate change?
There are billions of concerned people on this planet who care but don't know how to make a significant contribution. If we can get the right platform that allows us to make the impact we want and continue the carbon awareness process, then there will be an incredible opportunity.
The underlying projects you will support (such as reforestation, renewable energy, efficient kitchen stoves) are all ranked high in terms of climate change solutions.
How can you prove my impact?
For carbon offsets, we publish retirement certificates every month, which show how many tons of CO2 were prevented from going into the atmosphere through our funding. You can see it here.
We only buy carbon credits that meet industry leading carbon standards - primarily the Gold Standard, but also the Verified Carbon Standard.
For our tree planting activities, you can view invoice receipts associated with purchases from our tree planting partners around the world.
Our partners are regularly audited by third parties to ensure that the planting of trees with our community funds is being carried out properly. For example, check out this annual audit for our tree planting project in Madagascar.
Surely my carbon footprint isn't that big?
Your footprint depends on many factors, including where you live and how you live your life.
If you live in the Global North, it is very likely that your carbon footprint is well beyond the tolerable amount to limit warming to 1.5ºC. Even if your food is based on vegetables, local and in season, there is a mind-boggling carbon cost for just about everything you spend your money on.
We recognize that the concept of an individual carbon footprint is controversial, especially as it is often reported that the majority of emissions come from just a small cabal of ultra-high emission companies. However, our platform is built around the principle of inspiring the collective action of millions of individuals – so the individual carbon footprint is a useful framework to use to help individuals contribute a small share of the burden.
It also allows our subscriptions to be a little cheaper for those who come from low-emission countries (because their subscription footprint is smaller), which gives those who have contributed the least to climate change a reduced burden to fund the solutions that will resolve this.