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How To Launch A Sustainable Business

Businesses have a big role to play in helping to tackle the climate crisis. In the UK, the commercial sector was responsible for <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/7ab0bfb0-b37c-463d-b132-0944b6fe8e8b" target="_blank" rel="noopener">18% of CO2 emissions in 2018</a> and in the US, industry accounted for <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/7ab0bfb0-b37c-463d-b132-0944b6fe8e8b" target="_blank" rel="noopener">more than a fifth</a> of greenhouse gas emissions. Businesses need to play their part to make emissions reductions in order for us to collectively meet the 1.5°C target set by the Paris Agreement. 
You might think that as a small business that is just starting out, your actions will have very little impact. However, according to the World bank, small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) make up about<a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/smefinance" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> 90% of businesses</a> and account for <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/smefinance">50% of employment</a> worldwide. If every new business that was launched did everything they could to help the planet as they started out, think of the difference it would make. 
Being sustainable also just makes good business sense. There is now a huge market for environmentally-friendly products or platforms. <a href="https://www.porternovelli.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/20_2015-Cone-Communications-Ebiquity-Global-CSR-Study.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">93% of global citizens</a> have a positive image of companies that support environmental and social causes, with <a href="https://www.porternovelli.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/20_2015-Cone-Communications-Ebiquity-Global-CSR-Study.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">80% </a>saying they would be willing to buy a product from an unknown brand with stronger environmental commitments.  This means that if you make the effort to launch your business in a way that is beneficial to the environment, and get your messaging right about it, then you will have access to a whole network of environmentally conscious customers right from the start. 
Starting out sustainably is also easier in the long run. If you are just beginning your business journey, you are in a unique position. You can make your organisation sustainable right from the start! Not only will this make a bigger impact on the planet, but it will also make your lives a lot easier. It&#8217;s a lot more simple to start out right, then to have to change everything later. 
Sometimes it can be difficult to know where to start, especially when you are a small team with limited resources. So, our team has put together a guide with our top tips on launching a sustainable business:
1. Make your product sustainable 
Regardless of what your business product is, think about how the product itself can help the environment. Start off by designing your product with sustainability in mind. If you make clothes, make them out of sustainable materials (organic cotton or hemp, recycled plastic bottles etc.); if you make food, use organic and local ingredients; if you are an event planning company, make your unique selling point that you only plan sustainable events. If you start off with sustainability designed into your product, you are starting off well. To go even further, you could make your product <a href="http://www.ecologi.com/business/how-to-make-your-business-carbon-neutral">carbon neutral</a> right from the start, or <a href="http://www.ecologi.com/business/how-to-plant-trees-with-your-business-products">plant trees</a> for every product you sell. 
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2. 100% renewable energy 
This might be a pretty obvious tip, but that&#8217;s because it&#8217;s important! Make sure wherever possible, when you are using energy, it comes from renewable sources. Whether you are working from home or acquiring office or factory space, power it with renewable energy. This is easier to do when moving into a new space, then it is later when your operations are up and running. Some great options for renewable energy providers include <a href="https://www.ecotricity.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ecotricity</a> and <a href="https://www.ovoenergy.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ovo energy</a>. 
3. Green web hosting 
Whatever business you are launching, it&#8217;s fairly safe to assume that you will have a website. This means that one easy step you can take is to host this website on a server that operates using 100% renewable energy. An example is <a href="https://krystal.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Krystal hosting.</a> These guys use green energy for their power, all their operations, and for their data centre. This means that your website will be powered entirely by the sun, wind and sea. 
Once your business is established, and your website is in constant use, it is a long process of migration to a new web hosting provider. It&#8217;s best to pick a good one right from the start! 
If you are yet to create a website, you can use <a href="https://www.create.net/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">create.net</a> to design and build a website that is powered by renewable energy. 
4. Be picky about your suppliers 
This is the big one. And the tricky one. Supply chains hold the biggest opportunities for breakthroughs in sustainability. The typical consumer company’s supply chain creates a far greater environmental cost than its own operations and can account for up to <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/sustainability/our-insights/starting-at-the-source-sustainability-in-supply-chains#" target="_blank" rel="noopener">80% of the greenhouse gas emissions</a> and <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/sustainability/our-insights/starting-at-the-source-sustainability-in-supply-chains#" target="_blank" rel="noopener">90% of the impact</a> on air, water, biodiversity and geological resources. 
Again just starting out puts your company in a unique position to get this right the first time round. Most established supply chains are not set up to meet sustainable and ethical principles, but yours can be. It’s easier to pick sustainable suppliers from the start, than to switch suppliers later on, or to work with difficult suppliers to change their polluting ways.
The key is to think of every stage in your supply chain: where the raw materials are coming from; what factory the products are made in; and how your waste is disposed of at the end. It helps to know what you are looking for. A good tip is to write an ethical sourcing guide and write down all the things that are important to you. For example that all supplies need to be organic, or recyclable; all workers need to be paid a living wage; or where possible all operations need to be powered with renewable energy. You can consult this when searching for suppliers, and check whether they meet your criteria. 
This process can take a long time, but it&#8217;s worthwhile implementing from the start, and don’t worry if you don&#8217;t get it perfect. A couple of good ideas to get you started on your search include: <a href="https://reboxed.co/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reboxed </a>to buy refurbished tech equipment; <a href="https://globechain.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Globechain</a> to find second-hand items of all kinds; and <a href="https://thefirstmile.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Firstmile</a> to sustainably dispose of your waste. 
5. Sustainable Search Engines 
One easy way to increase your business&#8217;s climate impact immediately is to install a sustainable search engine on all of your company devices. This means that with every google search you will be planting trees and funding charities that are doing great things. <a href="https://www.ecosia.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ecosia</a> is the most famous charitable search engine, and they donate about 80% of the profits that they make from advertising to planting trees. So far they have planted over 120 million trees! Another great option is <a href="https://www.searchscene.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SearchScene</a>, which donates 95% of their profits to charities, with a focus on supporting those that help fight climate change, and those that alleviate the suffering caused by it.
6. Greening your finances
One of the first steps to setting up your business is to set up your bank account. This is another opportunity to incorporate sustainability by using ethical, environmentally friendly banks that invest in good things. 
There is an increasing awareness that banks are ‘carbon majors’ alongside the fossil fuel producers themselves. Banks globally have provided<a href="https://www.ran.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Banking_on_Climate_Change__2020_vF.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> $2.7 trillion in financing</a> for fossil fuels since the 2015 Paris Agreement, and banking for fossil fuels rose <a href="https://www.ran.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Banking_on_Climate_Change__2020_vF.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$736 billion in 2019</a> alone. Banks fund environmental degradation by funding fossil fuels,  deforestation,  and extractive mining industries, with most major banks being implicated. Instead of helping to finance environmental degradation, set up your accounts with banks that will invest your money in projects that do good. 
An example is <a href="https://www.triodos.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Triodos bank</a>, which focuses its activities across three overarching themes: environmental, cultural, and social. These cover a broad range of sectors &#8211; from renewable energy, organic farming, and social housing through to arts and culture, charities, and education. One of their key values is transparency and they publish details of every organisation they finance on their website, so you can see for yourself how your money is delivering positive change.

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7. Pensions with intentions
Employers have to provide a workplace pension scheme for eligible staff as soon as your first member of staff starts working for you. This is another area where you can, yes we say it again, do it right from the start by making sure your pensions align with your values and support the things that your organisation works for and believes in. 
There is £3 trillion in the UK pensions pot alone. This is money that could be used to do something good like investing in renewable energy, green infrastructure, or companies with extremely high environmental standards; or it could be invested in fossil fuels, tobacco or the worst-polluting companies. 
When setting up your employees pensions schemes, make sure that you know where the money is going, and that it is going somewhere good. <a href="https://makemymoneymatter.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Make My Money Matter </a>has some great resources to help you with this, including examples of pensions funds that are doing good things for the planet, such as the Church of England Pension Fund, the Environment Agency Pensions Fund, and NEST. 
Don’t undermine all the good work your business has been doing by investing in something damaging to the environment without even realising it!

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<h3>Make sustainability part of your business mission statement </h3>
When you are launching a new business, it&#8217;s important to think about why you are doing it, and what values and ethics you stand for. One of the most important things you can do is to found your business on sustainable values, and for every big decision you make, or wherever your journey goes, take the impacts on the environment into account. Learn more about our <a href="https://x.ecologi.com/business">carbon offset programs for business </a>and for more great tips check out our guide on <a href="https://x.ecologi.com/business/how-to-reduce-your-business-carbon-emissions">how to reduce your business carbon emissions</a>.

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Carbon Compensation vs. Contribution - What’s the difference?

Climate change is a topic that many of us are discussing at work each day. You may have heard terms such as ‘carbon compensation’ or ‘contribution’ being used in conversations about how to take meaningful action against climate change, but what do they actually mean, and how do they differ from one another? 
We regularly speak to businesses who have similar questions and in this guide, we’ll break it all down. Here’s a quick run-through of what we will cover:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">What are the definitions of carbon compensation and contribution?</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">What is the purpose of each approach?</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">What mechanisms do both approaches utilise? </li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">What types of projects do they involve?</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">What types of certification are associated with each approach?</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">What kind of costs are associated with each approach?</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">What role do they play in achieving net zero?</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">What are examples of each?</li>
</ul>

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<h2>Definitions of carbon compensation and contribution</h2>
 
Carbon Compensation
Carbon compensation refers to the idea of balancing out a certain amount of carbon emissions by investing in projects that prevent or remove an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide elsewhere. This tonne-for-tonne ‘balancing’ or ‘offsetting’ is compensatory.
 
Contribution
This approach focuses on separating financial contributions from any compensatory claims. Instead, it involves directing funding to projects that will support global net-zero and nature restoration – but crucially without making compensatory claims. <a href="https://www.onepercentfortheplanet.org/join?utm_feeditemid=&amp;utm_device=c&amp;utm_term=one%20percent%20for%20the%20planet&amp;utm_source=google&amp;utm_medium=ppc&amp;utm_campaign=&amp;hsa_cam=20766754741&amp;hsa_grp=155667469859&amp;hsa_mt=b&amp;hsa_src=g&amp;hsa_ad=680329727495&amp;hsa_acc=%7B8900384824%7D&amp;hsa_net=adwords&amp;hsa_kw=one%20percent%20for%20the%20planet&amp;hsa_tgt=kwd-299092657918&amp;hsa_ver=3&amp;gad_source=1&amp;gclid=CjwKCAjwooq3BhB3EiwAYqYoEs0haU6oWnJZze5_b4QrYSQvdqPvXRSRdMCOrjloCv_URVN-RaIXIBoChu8QAvD_BwE" target="_blank" rel="noopener">1% Percent For the Planet </a>is an example of this kind of scheme.

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<h2>What is the purpose of carbon compensation and contribution</h2>
 
Carbon Compensation
Compensation is aimed at achieving a ‘carbon-neutral’ status by offsetting specific emissions through equivalent carbon reduction elsewhere.
 
Contribution
Contribution focuses on supporting and financing sustainability projects and initiatives to encourage environmental stewardship, without associating this with compensation for emissions.

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<h2>What mechanisms do carbon compensation and contribution utilise?</h2>
Carbon Compensation
Compensation is carbon-centric and relies on detailed measurement and verification processes to ensure that the projects avoid or remove the claimed amount of CO2. Whilst projects may have ‘co-benefits’, project quality and credit utility is predicated on whether the carbon dioxide benefit is being delivered.
 
Contribution
Contribution is not predicated on carbon dioxide. It involves making donations to strategic funds which are designed to produce a range of benefits for net-zero and nature restoration – but may not require rigorous CO2 measurement or verification, but other kinds of monitoring and reporting are essential to ensure benefits are being realised.

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<h2>What types of projects do carbon compensation and contribution involve?</h2>
 
Carbon Compensation
Compensation is limited to projects which generate carbon credits,  typically those that are issued to an ICROA-endorsed carbon standard like Verra, Gold Standard or Puro. It includes projects such as afforestation, blue carbon removal, landfill gas, cleaner water systems and enhanced rock weathering.
 
Contribution
Contribution can include carbon credit-issuing projects but is not limited to them. Other projects that can be financed include funding for environmental research, habitat restoration, conservation programs, reforestation projects, educational initiatives, and donations to NGOs working on climate action.

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<h2>What type of certification is associated with carbon compensation and contribution?</h2>
 
Carbon Compensation: 
Carbon compensation requires third-party verification and certification by bodies such as the Gold Standard, Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) and Puro to ensure the credibility of carbon credits. 
 
Contribution:
Contribution typically does not require certification as it is focused on voluntary financial support for environmental causes. However, reputable organisations receiving contributions may provide transparency reports or impact statements.

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<h2>What kind of costs are associated with carbon compensation and contribution?</h2>
 
Carbon Compensation: 
Costs for carbon compensation vary depending on the project type and verification costs. The price per tonne of CO2 offset can differ significantly with some being much more expensive than others.
 
Contribution: 
Contribution is usually more flexible when it comes to costs. This is because the focus is on voluntary contributions towards environmental outcomes,  rather than compensating for a specific amount of emissions.

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<h2>What role do carbon compensation and contribution play in achieving net zero?</h2>
 
Carbon Compensation:
The <a href="https://sciencebasedtargets.org/net-zero" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SBTi’s Net-Zero Standard</a> specifies that businesses must achieve a minimum 90% reduction in emissions on their path to net-zero &#8211; at which point a compensatory approach can be applied for the remaining &lt;10% of emissions which cannot be reduced directly. In this case, compensation is limited to carbon removals only, not carbon avoidance credits. To understand the difference between carbon avoidance and removal credits, <a href="https://x.ecologi.com/articles/blog/carbon-removals-vs-carbon-avoidance" target="_blank" rel="noopener">read our blog post here.</a>
 
Contribution:
The SBTi also promotes ‘beyond value chain mitigation’ known as BVCM. This involves a company funding climate action to support global net-zero efforts. BVCM does not count towards the organisation’s own corporate net-zero goals, however, the SBTi considers it “urgent and essential” that businesses contribute to global climate action outside of their value chain.

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<h2>Examples of carbon compensation and contribution</h2>
 
Carbon Compensation:
A company offsets its annual carbon emissions by investing in carbon credits from a landfill methane capture project that prevents an equivalent volume of emissions.
Contribution: 
A company contributes to an environmental project that works on biodiversity conservation, without claiming an offset of its own emissions. Instead, the company reports on how much it contributed, and the outcomes intended, and monitors the project’s progress over time.

<h2>Conclusion</h2>
In summary, Carbon Compensation focuses on the idea of ‘balancing’ or ‘offsetting’ emissions through purchasing carbon credits. The credits purchased are often used to offset emissions generated by businesses.  Contribution focuses on funding projects that support global net-zero goals without compensatory claims. Through supporting a contribution model, you can support a wide range of projects all offering crucial co-benefits, and in some cases, credit-issuing projects too. 
Both approaches play a critical role in supporting climate action. The Oxford Principles for Aligned Net Zero recommend a combination of carbon compensation (durable removals only)  and contribution to help maximise impact. At Ecologi, we believe that while both have their merits, prioritising high-quality, holistic climate action through a contribution-based approach is the best way to support global net-zero efforts and future-proof your sustainability strategy. This is why we created <a href="https://x.ecologi.com/business/ecologi-impact-funds" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Impact Funds</a> &#8211; to allow our customers to support a wide range of projects that contribute to a particular climate goal.

<h2>Why did you create Impact Funds?</h2>
Our industry is moving and evolving all the time in an effort to reach global Net Zero goals and at Ecologi we witnessed the challenges firsthand through our Impact Partners, below is a quote from our Impact Partnerships Manager, Katie; 
<blockquote>At Ecologi, our partners were extracting tree-planting costs from a wider landscape restoration project because that’s what the market wanted. We need to change this &#8211; and educate the market on the solutions our planet needs.</blockquote>
Contribution models are increasingly focused on outcomes rather than inputs and go beyond metrics such as carbon credits purchased, or the number of trees planted. These projects produce a host of diverse impacts that aren’t being captured by single metrics. Supporting projects such as landscape restoration focused on the wider strategy &#8211; in addition to tree planting, landscape restoration captures co-benefits such as increased biodiversity, improved soil health, and reduced pollution.
Interested to learn more? <a href="https://info.ecologi.com/ecologi-impact-funds/get-started" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Get in touch to find out more about our Impact Funds</a>.

Speak to our team. We're here to help you find your perfect climate solution.

Case studies

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Case Study: BioPak UK

<h2>About BioPak UK</h2>
A world without waste. That’s the mission of BioPak, and they’re working hard to achieve it. By disrupting the current take, make, waste model, BioPak’s sustainable food packaging solutions are leading the way to a truly circular economy.
Founded in 2006, BioPak has become a globally recognised brand, loved by businesses and consumers across Australia, New Zealand, the UK, the US, Hong Kong and Singapore.
BioPak’s packaging solutions are designed to be better for our planet. They use renewable plant-based materials that are sourced responsibly. To promote responsible disposal of their packaging, BioPak encourages composting through their Compost Connect scheme—a not-for-profit initiative that connects customers to compost pick-up services.

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BioPak is better for people too. The company is B Corp certified and donates 5% of all profits to positive change via their Give Back Fund. BioPak is a business that’s truly committed to the principles of the Triple Bottom Line: People, Planet, and Profit.

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<h2>Issue</h2>
BioPak’s commitment to combating climate change is unwavering. Having been carbon neutral certified for over a decade, in 2022 the team took the strategic decision to shift away from carbon-neutrality, and instead focus on emissions reduction.
This decision wasn’t taken lightly, but they recognised the need to move beyond mere carbon offsetting. They view it as a leap forward rather than a step back, and a move to create a more substantial positive influence on the planet. 
The team believes that understanding their total carbon footprint is vital. They are dedicated to clarifying the sources of their emissions, which span the entire product lifecycle, encompassing offices, product transportation, packaging production, raw material extraction, and end-of-life emissions.
BioPak uses an independent third party to measure their carbon footprint, cost to the environment (including impact on biodiversity, human health, climate change and material scarcity) and lifecycle phases of their products. This is done to enhance transparency, accountability and demonstrate their commitment to combating greenwashing.
BioPak is serious about combating climate change, with reducing carbon emissions being crucial in achieving this goal. A key part of this goal is supporting industrial composting through the Compost Connect scheme. The team is committed to diverting food waste and compostable packaging from landfill and incineration by making compost facilities more accessible across Australia, New Zealand and the UK.
Working together with customers, BioPak truly believes it can pave the way for a more sustainable world for future generations.

<h2>Challenges</h2>
As a B Corp and leader in sustainable food packaging, the team at BioPak feels a keen obligation for environmental stewardship. They describe BioPak as a “profit for purpose business”, and as such are driven to preserve and protect the environment while giving back to the communities in which they operate. 
To honour this obligation, BioPak set up its Give Back Fund in 2012, and since then have dedicated their time and energy to partnering with leading environmental and social charities to bring about positive change. So far they have donated a total of £2,495,352.
In the last decade, BioPak’s commitment to Australian environmental conservation has flourished through a partnership with Rainforest Rescue, which has planted and safeguarded 95,720 trees and reclaimed eight hectares of endangered Daintree Rainforest.

<h2>Solution </h2>
BioPak donates 1% of all profits to community and environmental projects, and here in the UK we’re proud that Ecologi has been chosen to support that commitment through tree planting. The team firmly believes that tree planting is a powerful solution that produces oxygen, stores carbon, and helps tackle climate change.
BioPak’s reforestation work with Ecologi underpins a global commitment to ecological restoration. This ambitious initiative is a cornerstone of BioPak’s corporate responsibility ethos, aiming to not only mitigate the impacts of climate change but also foster local biodiversity, enhance soil health, and support local communities in achieving sustainable development goals.
Working with Ecologi proves BioPak’s cast iron commitment to the environment, and in turn boosts its credibility, enhances its brand reputation and helps its customers make a positive impact. The team regularly communicates their sustainability milestones with customers and colleagues alike, through impact certificate, emails and internal communications.

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<h2>Outcome</h2>
Since 2021 BioPak has planted 102,479 trees with Ecologi, and the team plans to continue to regularly donate to increase this figure as much as they can. 
As a profit-for-purpose business, BioPak’s commitment to protecting the environment is vital in retaining current customers and attracting new customers, who are looking to make a positive impact through their supply chain. The Give Back Fund, and the work with partners like Ecologi, remains a fundamental part of BioPak’s brand messaging and ethos.
Sam Walker, Technical Director at BioPak UK, said:
<blockquote>It&#8217;s great to partner with Ecologi and support both the large scale reforestation projects they do and the more grass roots initiatives which really make a difference locally&#8230; Reforestation and habitat restoration are the foundations of reversing biodiversity loss and critical in the fight against climate change. We&#8217;re proud to work with Ecologi and share the impact data with our customers.</blockquote>

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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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At Ecologi we believe in transparency, which is why, when we make changes, we want to let you know.
As of Tuesday 1st October 2024, we will be making a few changes to the Ecologi Impact Shop, including discontinuing some projects, as well as adding new ones and changing our prices slightly. 
Keep reading to find out more, or jump to the section on <a href="#customers">What these changes mean for our customers</a>, or our <a href="#faqs">FAQs</a>.

<h2>Update to our ‘Carbon avoidance’ project</h2>
We will be removing our generic ‘<a href="https://x.ecologi.com/impact-shop/support-carbon-avoidance" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Carbon avoidance</a>’ product from the Impact Shop, and replacing it with a new type of carbon avoidance project, which specifically supports landfill methane capture. This project is among the first in the world to receive the CCP-Approved quality label from the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM).
<h3>Why are we making this change?</h3>
In June of this year, the ICVCM, an independent governance body dedicated to establishing a global benchmark for high-quality carbon credits, <a href="https://icvcm.org/integrity-council-announces-first-high-integrity-ccp-labelled-carbon-credits-as-assessments-continue/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced the first carbon-crediting methodologies</a> that meet its high-integrity Core Carbon Principles (CCPs).
As part of this, the ICVCM have applied its ‘CCP-Approved’ label to a variety of projects that tackle potent greenhouse gases by capturing methane from landfill sites (like our supported <a href="https://x.ecologi.com/projects/avoiding-methane-emissions-from-landfill-in-brazil" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Macaubas LFG project</a>), and by destroying ozone-depleting foams and refrigerant gases from discarded equipment such as refrigerators and air conditioners.
We have been supporting landfill gas projects through our platform since our early days, including some of these first projects which have received this ICVCM stamp of approval. Effective on 1st October 2024, we are replacing the general ‘support carbon avoidance projects’ product on our Impact Shop, to specifically support these newly CCP-Approved landfill methane capture projects.

<h2>Discontinuation of our ‘Renewable energy carbon avoidance’ project</h2>
In addition, we will be removing the ‘<a href="https://x.ecologi.com/impact-shop/support-renewable-energy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Renewable energy carbon avoidance</a>’ product from our Impact Shop. The ICVCM recently decided it would not award the existing renewable energy credit methodologies its CCP-Approved label, so we’ve opted to preemptively stop offering these on our platform. For additional insight into this decision, we encourage you to read our <a href="#faqs">FAQs</a> further down on this page.
<h3>Why are we making this change?</h3>
One of the next decisions made by the ICVCM as part of its assessment of carbon credit methodologies was to acknowledge that existing renewable energy generation credit methodologies do not meet the standard to achieve CCP-Approval. 
One key reason these methodologies don’t meet the CCP-Approved criteria is that the methodologies themselves fail to meet the stringent requirements for additionality, a key factor in ensuring that carbon credits represent genuine emissions reductions that wouldn&#8217;t have occurred without the carbon finance. See this quote from Sylvera on what additionality refers to: 
<blockquote>Additionality refers to the causal relationship between the project&#8217;s activities and the climate benefits it claims including the risk of the project over-crediting. A project is considered additional if the project activities would not have occurred without the revenue from a voluntary carbon credit. The additionality score is a function of how likely it is that the project is additional, and how likely it is that the project is over-crediting on the carbon avoidance or removal it is delivering.</blockquote>
Ecologi has always had a regionalised approach to our impact, consistently applying additional scrutiny to the projects we elect to support through our platform. Only six renewable energy projects are currently eligible for receipt of funding from our platform – out of an estimated &gt;2,200 renewable energy projects on the voluntary carbon market. Our careful selection process has ensured that we consider not only the type of project but also its specific implementation location.
For example, we have deliberately chosen not to fund large hydroelectric dams due to their associated social and environmental risks and we have generally steered clear of offshore wind projects, favouring onshore wind solutions that are more appropriate for the regions we support. We have always prioritised those situated in areas where the energy grid is still heavily reliant on fossil fuels, such as Morocco and Mexico, to maximise impact as much as possible.
This all said, following the ICVCM’s ruling on renewables, we have made the decision to stop offering renewable energy carbon credits via our Impact Shop.
We believe it is a good thing that the ICVCM is rejecting certain methodologies from receiving its high-quality label. This rigorous approach is necessary to maintain and improve the integrity of the carbon market – to raise the quality of projects across the board – and to ensure that all participants can trust that their investments are driving real, additional climate benefits.

<h2>Updates to pricing on the Impact Shop</h2>
Finally, on October 1st we will be updating pricing across our Impact Shop to reflect recent changes in market prices, and as a result some of our products will be cheaper to support.
<h3>Why are we making this change?</h3>
As part of our commitment to staying aligned with the evolving voluntary carbon market and providing the best prices we can to customers, we are also adjusting our pricing structure. To better reflect current market prices, we have reviewed and updated all the prices for carbon projects, some of which have reduced in price slightly. We are pleased to report that none of our existing projects have increased in price.
Pricing in the carbon market is dynamic, influenced by a variety of factors including regulatory updates, market demand, geographies, ratings, and broader project qualities. We aim to stay responsive to these changes and ensure that our offerings continue to provide value to all stakeholders involved, from project developers to buyers and the communities benefiting from these projects.
As an impact-driven organisation who put planet first, we want to ensure that we are responsive to the market and our customers are getting the best deal for the impact they want to support.

<h2>What do these changes mean for our customers?</h2>
There are no direct actions that our customers will need to take in light of these changes.
As of October 1st you will notice that our generic ‘<a href="https://x.ecologi.com/impact-shop/support-carbon-avoidance" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Carbon avoidance</a>’ project and our ‘<a href="https://x.ecologi.com/impact-shop/support-renewable-energy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Renewable energy carbon avoidance</a>’ project will no longer be available on the Impact Shop. You will also notice that our new CCP-Approved landfill gas capture project will be available to support, and that the price of some of our existing projects have decreased slightly.

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