Blog

blog_dontlookup_header_01-1

Blog_DontLookUp_Header_01 (1)

<a href="https://variety.com/2022/film/news/dont-look-up-netflix-weekly-viewing-records-1235147910/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Breaking Netflix records</a>, Adam McKay’s latest film, Don’t Look Up, depicts scientists’ warning of an imminent meteor strike on Earth, presenting an extinction-level threat. Within its first 28 days of release, Don’t Look Up had racked up an incredible 350 million hours of viewing time &#8211; the second-most of any film on Netflix so far.
As many commentators have pointed out, the core message of Don’t Look Up isn’t actually about a meteor strike, <a href="https://dontlookup.count-us-in.com/story" target="_blank" rel="noopener">it’s about climate change</a>. 
So, we chatted to members of the Ecologi team to hear their thoughts about the movie.

blog_dontlookup_banner_01-1

Blog_DontLookUp_Banner_01 (1)

Working in the climate space, many members of the Ecologi team watched Don’t Look Up with some trepidation; would our own personal experiences of struggling to communicate the seriousness of climate change be reflected in the film? The answer, it turned out, was an emphatic ‘yes’.
Don’t Look Up is a parody of reality, but it definitely wasn’t the laugh-a-minute experience one often expects of a parody &#8211; at least not for the Ecologi team. Alex, one of our Senior Developers, remarked right away that he found it “a hard watch”, and Paula, our Senior Finance Manager, said that parts of the film made her feel “uncomfortable and anxious because it shone a light on the reality that is climate denial”.
Matt, one of our Product Managers, summed up how impactful the film was, saying he found himself “going from seeing clearly the synonymity with the climate emergency, then getting immersed in the film, then bang, back to seeing clearly again. The power was in having this realisation over and over during the film. It was like a rollercoaster ride.” 
Sam, our Climate Impact Manager, noted that “not all ‘climate denial’ is as clear-cut as abject denial of human-caused climate change. Often, responses to our concerns about warming are heard and understood &#8211; even by family members or friends &#8211; but then, nothing happens. Their perceptions and behaviour don’t really change. For me, that can be a form of denial too.”
The stark contrast between the response of people working in the climate sector and people who are less involved in climate work was made clear in <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/emmastewart_dont-look-up-science-themed-movie-review-ugcPost-6890455727878524928-p91l/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">one of Netflix’s promotional posters</a> for the film. While one representative from the American Film Institute described the film as “a screamingly funny action film”, climate scientist <a href="https://rhstar.org/nominee/peter-kalmus-phd/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Peter Kalmus</a> echoed our team’s responses, describing the film as “the most accurate film about society’s terrifying non-response to climate breakdown I’ve seen”.

blog_dontlookup_banner_02-1

Blog_DontLookUp_Banner_02 (1)

Don’t Look Up satirises power and politics through a populist US President character, portrayed by Meryl Streep, a Bezos-Zuckerberg-Musk-esque tech billionaire character (Mark Rylance), and two overly-manufactured media personalities on a daily talk show, The Daily Rip (Cate Blanchett and Tyler Perry). Whilst there are certainly no prizes for guessing who Meryl Streep’s character is based on &#8211; with her three-word catchphrases and nepotistic White House hiring practices &#8211; there is more nuanced commentary than simply political caricaturisation taking place.
Sam, our Climate Impact Manager, said “One of the great challenges in climate action, and one of the key drivers of the ‘knowledge-action gap’ &#8211; which we see when our politicians understand climate change but do nothing substantial about it &#8211; is political short-termism. When political time horizons extend only as far as the next election cycle, candidates resort to cheap slogans and insubstantial policies which don’t even try to address more long term issues, like climate and ecological breakdown.” 
Regarding the media, <a href="https://twitter.com/ayanaeliza/status/1475257735184891909?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the climate community has felt seen</a> by the cringeworthy interactions between Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence (the concerned scientists) and their contemporaries in power and in the media.
Sam continued, “The dynamic on the talk show satirises a very real trend in coverage of climate change, which is that for over 40 years the media has spectacularly failed to deliver key messages on climate in the service of either ‘balance’ (where climate deniers are given equal priority to climate experts) or ‘entertainment’ (where the gravity of climate change is trivialised or diminished).”

blog_dontlookup_banner_03-1

Blog_DontLookUp_Banner_03 (1)

The verdict from our team was that Don’t Look Up does well to capture typical human responses to learning of imminent existential threats, such as reacting with disbelief, humour or avoidance. We’ve all seen these emotions and reactions in friends and family members, not to mention politicians and people with the power to change our trajectory &#8211; and have even gone through many of these stages ourselves. 
As we try to help others understand the threats posed by climate change in the hope of bringing about change, responses such as “don’t be so dramatic” or “it can’t possibly be that bad” are all too familiar. Accusations of hysteria are also all too common, especially targeted towards prominent young female activists such as <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/long_reads/women/greta-thunberg-climate-change-crisis-strike-austism-misogyny-protest-speech-a9127971.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Greta Thunberg</a>. This was perfectly portrayed in the film when even high-level scientists and experts responded to news of an imminent extinction-level event by saying “let’s not be dramatic here” and “let’s all calm down”! 
Abi, our Marketing Manager, said that, “The main point that really struck me throughout the film was disbelief. We know that there is a climate crisis, the science is there, but it comes down to humanity’s ability to emotionally comprehend the effects on their own lives that is really the deeper issue.” Despite the <a href="https://lens.monash.edu/@science/2021/10/21/1383952/the-scientific-consensus-on-climate-change-gets-even-stronger" target="_blank" rel="noopener">clear and overwhelming evidence and scientific consensus about climate change and our role in causing it</a>, the frustration that the scientists &#8211; DiCaprio and Lawrence &#8211; felt is something lots of us can relate to. Matt, one of our Product Managers, pointed out just “how ridiculous the responses and reactions were to the situation”, and that, because of this, the film makes it “hard not to stop and think”.
Even when protestors in Don’t Look Up can physically see the threat heading towards them, they still choose not to believe it &#8211; because, naturally, it scares them. As it does everybody. 
“By ignoring the science, we’re avoiding the inevitable, but by stopping ourselves from exploring these feelings of mortality, we’re actually just joining the ranks of ‘Don’t Look Up’ protestors, avoiding facing what’s really in front of us, which in turn means we’re avoiding being part of the solution to reverse climate change.”
Abi, Ecologi
&nbsp;

blog_dontlookup_banner_04-1

Blog_DontLookUp_Banner_04 (1)

Using analogies to talk about climate change

The scenario in Don’t Look Up isn’t a perfect analogy for climate change. For starters, the threat of the comet strike is fundamentally different to that of climate change, and it’s important to understand this in order to draw useful learnings from the film.
In some ways, climate scientists and activists might wish that the threat of climate change could be observed as visually and immediately as a comet flying towards the Earth! The threat of the comet is clearly defined, and characters in the film can literally see it heading towards them (hence the title, Don’t Look Up). The impacts of climate change are much harder to distill into an image as compelling as an incoming comet &#8211; making it harder to encourage people to act immediately to avoid further loss and damage.
In the film, the scientists first observe the comet and its path to strike Earth with around 6 months’ notice before impact. In contrast, we’ve known about climate change and the role of humans in causing it <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/how-19th-century-scientists-predicted-global-warming/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">since the 1800s</a>, and only very recently have global leaders begun to take the threat seriously. Moreover, part of the problem we face with climate change is the idea that impacts are somewhere indeterminate in the future &#8211; and so the analogy of a comet striking the Earth isn’t perfect here.
The film also portrays political actors delaying action on the comet when it is discovered that there are apparent economic gains to be made by doing so. This satirises certain misguided arguments against climate mitigation, since combating climate change will in reality bring far <a href="https://www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminstitute/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/F_Green_Nationally_Self_Interested_Climate_Change_Mitigation.pdf">more benefits, including sustainable and long-term economic growth</a>, than an unwillingness to adapt. This dichotomy of pitting economic growth against solving the existential issue is a useful tool in the film, but in mapping it across to the reality of climate change it is imperfect, since the opportunity to develop a <a href="https://www.unep.org/regions/asia-and-pacific/regional-initiatives/supporting-resource-efficiency/green-economy">green economy</a>, still bringing some economic growth but prioritising planetary and human health over economic gain, genuinely presents countless new jobs and opportunities, and mitigates further climate risks.

blog_dontlookup_banner_05-1

Blog_DontLookUp_Banner_05 (1)

What is clear is that Don’t Look Up has opened many people’s eyes to the reality of climate inaction. Its viewership tells us that!
The film draws attention to the importance of not ignoring things that scare us, and by doing so has helped to start conversations about climate change that may not otherwise have taken place. 
“I have had conversations with friends and family about climate change for the first time because they watched ‘Don’t Look Up’. That has been the biggest win for me from the movie, it has encouraged discussion among people who are at various stages of their journey in taking climate action.”
Paula, Ecologi
By talking about climate change, and finding new ways of communicating about it, we begin a journey from thoughts to action, helping those struggling to come to terms with climate change to take meaningful action. And for those already working hard to do their part in the fight against climate change, the film strengthened their resolve to continue that work. Alex, one of our Senior Developers, said the film had made him “more determined to push harder on everything that is possible for me to do personally to help with the climate crisis”.
We need to bring along as many people as we can in our mission to combat climate change, and a simple conversation sparked by a film such as Don’t Look Up can lead to a lifetime of climate action. To that end, however imperfect the analogy is, and however challenging the content is, media like this is crucial in our drive to restore the planet.
&nbsp;
Ecologi makes climate action simple. <a href="https://ecologi.com/plan">Sign up today</a> with our subscription to reverse climate change.

The Greenprint: Climate insights bulletin

blog_thegreenprint_header

Blog_TheGreenPrint_Header

Stay up-to-date with the biggest sustainability stories shaping the business landscape. Each edition highlights critical shifts in climate news, policy and finance, providing clear analysis of emerging risks and opportunities for sustainability professionals.

The Greenprint timeline

Connect with one of our climate experts

blog_carbon-credits_whitepaper_01blog_carbon-credits_whitepaper_header

Blog_Carbon credits_Whitepaper_01Blog_Carbon credits_Whitepaper_Header

UK Voluntary Carbon Market Guide: Best Practices for Climate Action

The voluntary carbon market plays an important role in corporate climate strategies – but its effectiveness relies on buyers doing due diligence and rigorous quality assessment on each project, as well as placing the purchase of credits in the right place in the climate journey.
To ensure meaningful climate impact, businesses must develop a comprehensive carbon strategy and find ways to fund only high-quality credits in the voluntary carbon market – and this guide shows you how to do so with Ecologi.

<h2>Table of contents</h2>
<ul>
<li>When to buy carbon credits</li>
<li>Our new carbon projects assessment framework</li>
<li>Ecologi&#8217;s core due diligence principles</li>
<li>How Ecologi scores and ranks carbon credit projects</li>
<li>Questions to ask your carbon credit supplier</li>
<li>Take action in the voluntary carbon market</li>
</ul>

blog_carbon-credits_whitepaper_01blog_carbon-credits_whitepaper_banner_01

Blog_Carbon-credits_Whitepaper_01Blog_Carbon-credits_Whitepaper_Banner_01

<h2>When should businesses buy carbon credits in the voluntary market?</h2>
Businesses must not use credits in place of making direct, measurable reductions in their emissions. Instead, follow these steps to ensure you buy your carbon credits on the right step of your corporate climate action journey, and in the right way:
<ol>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Measure your emissions first – to allow you to understand where your business’s emissions are coming from. 
</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Set science-based targets and work towards them – set ambitious targets aligned with the SBTi and compatible with the global 1.5ºC warming target.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Beyond value chain mitigation (BVCM) – design your BVCM portfolio to work alongside your decarbonisation plan and address your unabated emissions in each reporting year. Align it with SBTi guidance and the Oxford Principles. </li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Buy high-quality carbon credits – use this guide to ensure the carbon credits you buy meet rigorous quality standards. Remember, under the SBTi framework you’ll also need permanent carbon removal credits for neutralising your residual emissions when you reach your net-zero date.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Disclose and report transparently – publicly disclose information about your carbon credit purchases, and clearly communicate the limited role of carbon credits in your broader sustainability strategy.</li>
</ol>

blog_carbon-credits_whitepaper_01blog_carbon-credits_whitepaper_banner_02

Blog_Carbon-credits_Whitepaper_01Blog_Carbon-credits_Whitepaper_Banner_02

<h2>Ecologi&#8217;s carbon project assessment framework</h2>
In April 2025, we published a report summarising how we assess carbon credit projects against our rigorous proprietary rubric. A snapshot of what goes into our carbon credit project assessment is below, or you <a href="https://cms-assets.offset.earth/app/uploads/20250428124112/Ecologi_Whitepaper_A4.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">download the full whitepaper here</a>.

<h2>Carbon project due diligence: Ecologi’s core principles</h2>
At Ecologi, we maintain general due diligence principles which we apply universally across the voluntary carbon market, to support our efforts to supply only high-quality carbon credits.
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">ICROA-endorsed standards only – we supply credits exclusively from carbon standards which are ICROA-endorsed.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Responsive to ICVCM decisions – we support the ICVCM’s two-tick approach to providing CCP-Approval to project methodologies, and we go further still, to assess individual projects on their merits and limitations as well.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Keep the carbon credit life cycle as short as possible – 75% of our credits in 2024 came directly from project developers and their nominated dispensaries (as opposed to intermediaries on the secondary market), maximising the proportion of purchase price which goes to the developer.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Locally-appropriate projects only – we take care to ensure that supported projects are being applied in appropriate geographies, where they can have the greatest impact.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Deep project-level scrutiny – our extensive assessment criteria are specific to each type of project, and we assess every project against these criteria, ensuring the project’s specifics have been taken into account.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Methodological consensus – we synthesise data we receive from our partners Sylvera, BeZero Carbon, Calyx Global and Renoster) with our own in-house analysis to uncover where there is consensus about project quality, and improve confidence.</li>
</ul>

blog_carbon-credits_whitepaper_01blog_carbon-credits_whitepaper_banner_03

Blog_Carbon-credits_Whitepaper_01Blog_Carbon-credits_Whitepaper_Banner_03

<h2>How to evaluate carbon credits: Ecologi&#8217;s scoring methodology</h2>
We designed a three-layer assessment process which takes into account the merits and limitations of the carbon standard used, the carbon credit methodology used, and of the individual project design.
The tables below summarise some of the data inputs we use at each stage.

<h3>Assessment level: Carbon Standard</h3>
Examples: Gold Standard, Verra, Puro Earth, Isometric, Plan Vivo.

<h3>Assessment level: Methodology (or ‘Protocol’)</h3>
Examples: GS TPDDTEC, VM0048, ACM0002.

<h3>Assessment level: Project</h3>
Examples: GS 10790, VCS 1571.

Criteria in the assessment are categorised as either quality criteria or risk criteria, and are segmented by our three pillars of impact: Climate, Nature and People. Based on how it meets each criterion, the project gains points for quality criteria, and loses points for excess risk – ultimately giving a risk-adjusted value out of 100 for each of these pillars.
Having gathered our risk-adjusted pillar scores, we use our own unique scoring formula which weights the risk-adjusted Climate score of the project equally with the combined risk-adjusted Nature and People scores. The formula then produces an ‘overall’ score (also out of 100) for the project. In order to be supplied by Ecologi, projects must meet a minimum overall score of 80, and must achieve no lower than 65 in any given risk-adjusted pillar score.

blog_carbon-credits_whitepaper_01blog_carbon-credits_whitepaper_banner_04

Blog_Carbon-credits_Whitepaper_01Blog_Carbon-credits_Whitepaper_Banner_04

<h2>Key questions to ask carbon credit suppliers</h2>
Selecting the right carbon credit provider is important to help guide you to make informed choices as part of your corporate sustainability strategy. Before purchasing carbon credits, businesses should ask:
<h3>Project quality </h3>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Do you assess/validate/underwrite project quality? If so, how?</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Do your projects get good ratings from the ratings agencies? If so, what ratings are they?</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Do you source credits directly from project developers, or from the secondary market?</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Do you monitor projects over time to ensure continued success, and how do you remedy it, if a project&#8217;s quality drops?</li>
</ul>
<h3>Due diligence</h3>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">How do you ensure you are supporting the right projects in the right locations?</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">How do you account for project permanence and mitigate risks?</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">What makes your projects additional?</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">How do you assess the project&#8217;s impacts on climate, nature and people?</li>
</ul>
<h3>Positioning</h3>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">How do you contribute to the development of a high integrity voluntary carbon market?</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Do you align your portfolios with the Oxford Principles? If so, how?</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">How do you reflect ICVCM guidance on carbon credit methodologies and technologies?</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Do you build multi-year portfolios that align to mid- &amp; long-term SBTs?</li>
</ul>
As the voluntary carbon market evolves, corporate buyers have the power and the responsibility to demand high-impact credits to drive real climate progress. This means buyers have a responsibility to do due diligence before placing an order for carbon credits.

<h2>Take action in the voluntary carbon market</h2>
As a business committed to corporate climate action, understanding the voluntary carbon market is essential for making informed decisions about carbon credits. Our comprehensive whitepaper provides deeper insights into creating an effective sustainability strategy.
<a href="https://cms-assets.offset.earth/app/uploads/20250428124112/Ecologi_Whitepaper_A4.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Download our full whitepaper</a> to learn how your business can navigate the voluntary carbon market with confidence.

<h2>Connect with one of our climate experts</h2>
Please complete our form to arrange a 30-minute discovery call to discuss your goals and get a tailored solution for your business.

blog_goodnews_header-2

Blog_GoodNews_Header

The Good News timeline

It’s not all bad. While there’s a lot of negative news about the climate, let’s not forget the good stuff. Find climate wins, reasons to be hopeful and plenty of positivity in our good news timeline.

‘Don’t Look Up’ : Our take on the movie

Hitting close to home

Power and popularity

Human reactions to the crisis

Using analogies to talk about climate change

Starting conversations

More posts

The Greenprint: Climate insights bulletin

UK Voluntary Carbon Market Guide: Best Practices for Corporate Climate Action

The Good News timeline

Follow us

Members

Resources

© 2025 Ecologi

Stay in touch with Ecologi