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Our third year in numbers

Have you ever wanted to visualise the good you’re doing, or wondered just how much of a positive impact you’ve had on the planet by being a member of Ecologi? Well, these are the kinds of things we think about a lot! 
One year might not seem like a very long time at all, but over the course of just 12 months we’ve been able to create real and positive change by helping our 35,247 brilliant Ecologi members to take meaningful climate action.
This was also the year in our history when <a href="https://ecologi.com/articles/blog/ecologi-b-corp-company" target="_blank" rel="noopener">we became a B Corporation</a>, and were recognised as one of the <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6952919728751276032/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Best for the World™ B Corps of 2022</a> in two categories.
Having just passed our third birthday on July 15th 2022, we’ve pulled together some key numbers that illustrate the Ecologi community’s amazing achievements since the beginning.

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This is one of our favourite metrics to track &#8211; not just because this number is growing at an incredible rate, but also because of the huge array of benefits for people, biodiversity and the planet that this number represents. The total number of trees our community has funded for planting is 45,057,949 &#8211; with 27,406,893 trees funded since our last birthday.
Thanks to the incredible quality of the reforestation work being done by our <a href="https://ecologi.com/articles/blog/get-to-know-our-reforestation-partners#!" target="_blank" rel="noopener">trusted planting partners</a>, these benefits extend well beyond just environmental gains, covering social benefits too like gender equality, education, and livelihood protection. 
At Ecologi, it’s non-negotiable that all of our reforestation projects are community-driven. Our partners all work closely with local communities to establish planting sites and design planting strategies which will ensure that local people feel a sense of ownership and pride in the success of the project, and further instils recognition and enjoyment of the co-benefits that stem from the thriving environment created. By creating alternative sources of income derived from the healthy habitats they are helping to restore, communities can thrive alongside the trees that might once have been destined for deforestation. Over time, the impact of the restored land continues to increase as biodiversity returns, and the local community are able to reap the benefits of these projects for generations to come.
It’s always helpful to visualise the number of trees we’ve funded for planting this year in real terms to get some perspective on how amazing this achievement is. We calculated that our weighted average tree density is 77.69 sq km &#8211; which is about 1.3 times the size of New York’s Manhattan Island. This means that we’ve funded the planting of enough trees to cover the whole of Manhattan Island, and then some!

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At the end of our first year in 2020, we had reached a total of just under 100,000 verified tonnes of emissions reduced. This number more than quadrupled by the end of our second year, when we reached a total of just under 450,000 verified tonnes of CO2e reduced.
Now, at the end of our third year in operation, we’ve funded verified emissions reductions totalling 2,078,672 tonnes &#8211; that’s quadruple the amount we were able to reduce the previous year &#8211; it’s both mind-boggling and motivating to know we can have such an impact over just 12 months! According to the <a href="https://data.cdp.net/Emissions/2021-City-wide-Emissions/tmta-7i7p/data" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CDP’s 2021 City-wide Emissions</a> data, that’s approximately equivalent to 6.4% of London’s annual emissions, or 117.5% of Oslo’s annual emissions! 
All the CO2e emissions that we reduce are done through the purchasing and retiring of carbon credits from projects that are verified by top carbon standards &#8211; either the <a href="https://ecologi.com/articles/blog/what-is-the-gold-standard-carbon-offset" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gold Standard</a> or the <a href="https://ecologi.com/articles/blog/what-is-the-verified-carbon-standard#!" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Verified Carbon Standard</a>. An additional layer of scrutiny that we introduced this year was <a href="https://ecologi.com/articles/updates/weve-teamed-up-with-carbon-intelligence-platform-sylvera" target="_blank" rel="noopener">teaming up with Sylvera</a>, a carbon intelligence platform, to ​​independently assess the quality of the nature-based carbon reduction projects we support. This ensures that we’re supporting some of the most impactful carbon reduction projects in the world.
The combined benefit of our climate impact projects is huge &#8211; but as a global community, we still have a long way to go to secure 1.5ºC or “well under” 2ºC rise in global temperatures as required by the IPCC, and discussed in their <a href="https://ecologi.com/articles/in-depth/whats-in-the-new-ipcc-report-and-what-does-it-mean" target="_blank" rel="noopener">latest report</a>. Ecologi continues to support projects that directly contribute to restoring nature and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and we’re so proud of how our community’s impact has grown over these first three years.

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Our <a href="https://ecologi.com/business/climate-positive-workforce" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Climate Positive Workforce®</a> subscription allows businesses to offset the lifestyle emissions of their employees through verified carbon reduction projects, and also plant trees on their behalf.
This number represents all the businesses who, often as part of their wider sustainability efforts, are dedicated to ensuring that their employees are having a positive impact on the planet. These businesses are making a fantastic contribution towards Ecologi’s mission to <a href="https://ecologi.com/collective-action" target="_blank" rel="noopener">collectively reduce half of global carbon emissions by 2040</a>.

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Taking climate action should be accessible and easy as you go about your daily life; climate action at your fingertips is what we’re all about. Last year, we developed an app that enables stores hosted on Shopify to easily add trees to their impact profiles. 
So far, our <a href="https://ecologi.com/articles/product/automatic-tree-planting-via-shopify" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tree-planting API</a> has allowed well over 2,000 partner stores to plant trees alongside selling their wares. This is a great example of how businesses can embrace ease and agility in their approach to tackling climate change, much like <a href="https://ecologi.com/bother" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bother</a>, <a href="https://ecologi.com/revolutionfoodslimited#" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Revolution Foods</a>, and <a href="https://ecologi.com/wolfandmoon" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wolf and Moon</a> have done. 
To learn more about our business integrations, see <a href="https://ecologi.com/business/integrations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.

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Ahead of its highly anticipated Beta launch, we have over 1,700 businesses on our waitlist, ready to be the first to use our powerful carbon accounting software, Ecologi Zero, which will lead them on their journey to net-zero. 
Ecologi Zero securely connects to your businesses’ accounting software to analyse your supply chain emissions in near real-time. Along with information on energy use, business travel and employee activity, Ecologi Zero will provide a breakdown of the full spectrum of your business emissions.
Attaining accurate carbon footprinting data for your business is a crucial first step towards net-zero. A detailed and accurate carbon footprint allows your business to identify areas where meaningful emission reductions can be made and provides you with the ability to make achievable emissions targets.
Carbon accounting and your businesses’ journey to net-zero doesn’t have to be daunting or complicated. If you’re interested in finding out more or signing up to our waitlist to use this powerful software, see <a href="https://ecologi.com/business/zero" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.

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We’re all about delivering the best climate action solutions to our community, and the past 12 months has seen our community support a host of new reforestation and carbon reduction projects.
Our tree planting efforts wouldn’t be possible without our trusted reforestation partners. As we continue to grow, it&#8217;s been a priority to be able to support more reforestation projects globally, whilst maintaining the high level of quality and integrity that we’ve always offered. It’s quite a lengthy and detailed process to ensure we partner with the best organisations out there, which is why we were so delighted to partner with four incredible new reforestation organisations this past year; <a href="https://trees.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Trees for the Future</a>, <a href="https://www.globalforestgeneration.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Global Forest Generation</a>, <a href="https://www.internationaltreefoundation.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">International Tree Foundation</a>, and <a href="https://highatlasfoundation.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">High Atlas Foundation</a>.
Each month, members of our community support two high-quality carbon reduction projects which have been certified by either the Gold Standard or the Verified Carbon Standard. Over the past 12 months, the types of projects we’ve funded have varied greatly, but they have one key thing in common: they’re all fantastic climate solutions. From electricity generation through <a href="https://ecologi.com/projects/solar-electricity-egypt" target="_blank" rel="noopener">solar power</a>, <a href="https://ecologi.com/projects/wind-power-project-in-mexico" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wind power</a>, <a href="https://ecologi.com/projects/landfill-gas-to-energy-turkey" target="_blank" rel="noopener">landfill gas capture</a> and <a href="https://ecologi.com/projects/waste-biomass-electricity-chile" target="_blank" rel="noopener">waste biomass</a>, to <a href="https://ecologi.com/projects/preventing-deforestation-in-the-democratic-republic-of-congo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">preventing deforestation</a>, <a href="https://ecologi.com/projects/cleaner-cookstoves-in-zambia-ghana" target="_blank" rel="noopener">providing cleaner cookstoves</a>, and even <a href="https://ecologi.com/projects/delhi-transport-efficiency" target="_blank" rel="noopener">improving transport efficiency through electrifying trains</a>, the projects the Ecologi community has supported in the past year have all made big positive impacts on people and the planet.
We’re incredibly grateful for the support that our community of businesses and individuals shows us every single day. Thank you all for being part of our journey 🌿
<a href="https://ecologi.com/business/checkout" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sign up today</a> to take real climate action with Ecologi.

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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>

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<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>

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<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>

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<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.

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<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.

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