There is an increasing urgent pressure looming over us to act and do more for the environment. The problem is, as individuals, we don’t know what to do. This state of flux drives anxiety and ultimately in-action. Don’t worry this article isn’t going to tell you how many trillion tonnes of CO2 we need to remove or how dramatically bad the state of the earth is, co founders Cat and Joanna have built a product that quite simply helps you take action and feel good about it.
Cat and Joanna founded Trace after noticing a pattern in human behaviour. Many of us do small things everyday to wave the environmental flag, whether it be using a keep cup, recycling a plastic bottle or taking your own bag to the supermarket I am sure you can relate. In fact keep cups are used in over 65 countries around the world**. The irony is that we go to great lengths to bring that reusable bag to the supermarket but most of us then jump in the car or (pre-COVID) hop on a plane and all the good is unravelled.
Unfortunately, even the most diligent and environmentally conscious individuals and businesses have a carbon footprint, anything from charging your phone to reading emails emits carbon.
The founders at Trace understand; they call themselves “Climate conscious hypocrites”, and so built a product that enables you to give back to mother earth for all those things you just can’t change (easily). Whether you’re a jetsetter or an eco-warrior, Trace’s affordable monthly membership helps you take climate action by offsetting your footprint. And better yet, you can see exactly where your money is spent, read stories from the projects you support and see your impact grow over time.
You might be thinking that this must be expensive, actually from just the price of a coffee per week, $3.50, you can fund verified climate positive projects around the world and plant trees.
But what is a carbon offset?
For every tonne of carbon you offset with Trace they will guarantee to purchase at least 1 carbon credit on your behalf from a certified climate project. These credits essentially fund projects around the world that remove or reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
What people don’t often know is that the carbon credit funds meaningful and impactful social projects, helping to support sustainable development and improve the lives of communities in some of the poorest countries in the world, for example Safe Community Water Supply which helps increase access to safe water sources for communities in Rwanda. If something closer to home resonates with you, you can support the Myamyn Lowland Forest Conservation project that protects the natural habitat of Australia’s vulnerable wildlife.
Traditionally bought by companies, Trace is bringing offsets to the people. The carbon credits market is complex & difficult to navigate – they were not made for consumers.
There has been 160% YoY increase in online search for ‘carbon offset’ in Australia*** proving consumers’ curiosity and increasing awareness of the space. Trace has seen an interesting pattern emerge with offsetting as a gift – for just $30 you can gift carbon neutrality for the entire month. This makes the materialistic items we spend hours searching for seem rather silly.
And what about businesses?
As the need to address climate change becomes more urgent, businesses are facing mounting pressure to become carbon neutral and so are turning towards emissions reduction schemes.
One of the major problems that organisations are dealing with in their sustainability plans (current or future) is that employees are disconnected from the process and this matters;
44% of millennials would leave their employer in the next 2 years to gain more meaning and fulfilment*
Currently the solutions for businesses are expensive in this space. There is certainly an opportunity to effectively educate and engage staff. Trace’s first product to market to solve this problem is the “climate positive workforce” – perhaps this will be the future workplace perk.
Whilst technology may advance to enable a greener future and avoid, reduce, remove must be the sentiment individuals and businesses take; we need to do everything we can and offsets provide a practical and affordable mechanism to take action immediately.
