In Depth

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What we learned by offsetting world leaders' travel to COP26

<a href="https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/cop26">COP26</a>, the next UN climate conference, starts on 1st November. In the days before the conference gets underway, world leaders and their entourages from all corners of the globe will make their way to the UK, and over to the conference venue in Glasgow.
As one of our COP activities, at Ecologi we decided to offset the world leader’s flight emissions, as well as planting two trees &#8211; one tree at one of our reforestation sites in Scotland, and one tree in our overseas sites &#8211; for every world leader representing a Party to the UNFCCC at COP26 &#8211; even the ones who didn’t bother to show up.
That’s 197 world leaders’ travel in total, totalling around 331 tonnes of carbon to be offset, and also 394 trees to be planted.

We chose to do this because, whilst all of us should be taking steps to reduce our emissions (including limiting or abstaining from air travel) our team &#8211; guided as ever by our wonderful Climate Committee &#8211; agreed that attending a key UN climate conference in person is one of the more compelling reasons to fly across the world.
As we’ve discussed before, <a href="https://ecologi.com/articles/in-depth/carbon-offset-faqs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">offsetting is not a substitute for making cuts in emissions</a>: not flying is always better than flying and then offsetting. However, given the importance of COP26 and the fact that we believe that, for this particular kind of event, attending in-person is better than being remote, we chose not to chastise world leaders for flying to Glasgow.
Instead, we chose to celebrate the idea of leaders coming together to negotiate and discuss climate change. We calculated what their emissions would be, assuming they travelled from the location of their country’s seat of government (a full breakdown of how we did our calculations is below), and we will be retiring carbon credits equivalent to that amount &#8211; in our usual mix of tonnes verified to a leading carbon standard (to see how we select our projects for offsetting, <a href="https://ecologi.com/articles/in-depth/carbon-offset-faqs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">take a look on the blog</a>). We hope that this gesture will mitigate some of the negative impact associated with the flights these world leaders have taken to get there.
As well as the offset, we thought the act of planting two trees apiece for all 197 Parties, with each nation’s name on it, into <a href="https://ecologi.com/copse26" target="_blank" rel="noopener">our virtual &#8216;COPSE26&#8217; forest</a>, would represent our feeling of goodwill about the COP finally taking place after a year’s delay.
Our gesture comes with a very simple message to world leaders: make it count.

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The 331 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent produced by these world leaders’ travel to COP is, according to the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gas-equivalencies-calculator">EPA&#8217;s calculation</a>, approximately the same as the emissions produced by burning 766 barrels of oil, or by consuming over 37,000 gallons of gasoline, or by <a href="https://www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gas-equivalencies-calculator" target="_blank" rel="noopener">charging a smartphone 40 million times</a>.
According to <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aag2345" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this 2016 article in the journal Science</a>, the 331 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions produced by sending these world leaders to COP will result in the loss of 993 square metres of Arctic sea ice.
As with every COP, there are already discussions taking place in the media about whether the event is or will be a success. Lots of these are centred around the fact that certain world leaders have ‘snubbed’ the event by not showing up in person. 
More pressing is the notion that concrete, effective climate agreements and commitments need to result from COP26 in order for there to be a realistic chance of limiting global surface warming to 1.5ºC by the end of the century, and perhaps even for limiting it to 2ºC warming.
This is why our message to the world leaders, in particular those representing countries of the Global North and countries with the highest historical and current emissions, is this:
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Welcome to Glasgow.
We have offset your personal travel here (even if you didn’t show up) and we have also planted two trees for each of you, in your country’s name.
We have done this because we believe that running COP26 in person will lead to a better chance of the conference ending in an agreement that will heal our ecosystems, restore balance to our climate system, and support a just and equitable transition away from fossil fuels.
It is our hope that you will listen to the billions of people worldwide who are calling for climate action. These people deserve and expect you to deliver real, impactful action in Glasgow in the coming days.
The following two weeks are your opportunity to step up. Show leadership. Take initiative. Cooperate. You already know what’s at stake &#8211; your own scientists have been warning you for years.
It now falls to you to carry out your end of the bargain. 
Make it count.

5 things we learned whilst researching this campaign:

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Last year, COP26 was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic whilst other global summits simply went online. Telepresence (a fancy word for <a href="https://drawdown.org/solutions/telepresence" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tuning in remotely</a>) is a recognised climate solution since it dramatically reduces (though does not totally eliminate) carbon emissions associated with running the event.
But undertaking an international climate summit online would have its challenges. Aside from the now-routine issues with accidental muting and difficulties connecting, there are more substantial ways that telepresence cannot match being there in person, when complex, sensitive issues are at hand.
As Leo Hickman, Editor of <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CarbonBrief</a>, pointed out during <a href="https://www.bristol.ac.uk/cabot/events/2021/annual-lecture-2021.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Cabot Institute’s recent Annual Lecture</a>, it can be much easier for representatives of powerful countries in the Global North to ignore or shut out the voices of their counterparts from the Global South &#8211; when ignoring them can plausibly be blamed on a poor wifi connection.
The negotiations that take place at COPs are incredibly complex, involving thousands of people, and relying on quick, reliable, person-to-person communication to produce effective outcomes. In 2011, the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action, which committed the Parties to a new legally-binding treaty to be defined in 2015, was agreed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_United_Nations_Climate_Change_Conference#Durban_Platform" target="_blank" rel="noopener">after a marathon 60-hour negotiation</a>. That new accord that the Parties had agreed to be bound by in 2015 became the Paris Agreement. Producing similar outcomes remotely may be difficult or even impossible.

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We already know that the countries of the Global North <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/contributed-most-global-co2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">are responsible for the vast majority</a> of historical emissions, and we also know that the countries of the Global South <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/world/global-climate-risk-index-2021" target="_blank" rel="noopener">are more at risk from the impacts of climate change</a> that they are not responsible for having caused. In addition, key pledges of funding by the Global North to the Global South <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-why-climate-finance-flows-are-falling-short-of-100bn-pledge" target="_blank" rel="noopener">have not yet materialised</a>, and this funding is <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-59040538" target="_blank" rel="noopener">unlikely to be made available until 2023</a>.
There are a huge number of ways in which rich countries are treated differently on the international stage, but the ways in which the influence of countries from the Global South is suppressed at events such as COP26 goes beyond this. 
The COP has become prohibitively inaccessible for many delegates from the Global South. Two of the key reasons for this are vaccine inequity (since many countries are simply blocked from attending due to UK travel restrictions) and cost (since accommodation in Glasgow for two weeks during COP could set you back well over £5,000). In addition to travel bans, vaccine inequity means delegates from some countries in the Global South may be forced to risk their own health if they make the journey to COP. Delegates from many countries are also forced to reconcile the fact that journeying to COP in multiple legs &#8211; which applies far more to countries of the Global South than those of the Global North &#8211; creates far more emissions than a direct route.
As a result of all this, some activist groups including the Climate Action Network recently <a href="https://climatenetwork.org/2021/09/07/cop26-must-be-postponed-climate-action-network/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">called for the COP to be postponed (again)</a> until it could be carried out inclusively. The COP is going ahead, but unfortunately, it still features exclusion and injustice.

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The airline industry operates <a href="https://science.howstuffworks.com/transport/flight/modern/airline3.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">with a ‘hub and spoke’ model</a> &#8211; meaning that some airports (like London Heathrow, Dubai International Airport, and Amsterdam Schiphol) are vast international hubs. From far away, you usually have to travel long-haul to these hubs if you want to get to any of their nearby smaller cities. That’s why <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Dgk7vSL-7ZznhqZPjc5SsUXeQYYZ7HYeA3zkR7_GpUw/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">so many of the routes</a> to get world leaders to Glasgow include travelling through London or Amsterdam &#8211; these are the nearest major hubs.
Many of the possible routes provide hints at their respective countries’ colonial histories. This is why places like Nairobi in Kenya and Bridgetown in Barbados have direct flights to London, places like Luanda in Angola and Maputo in Mozambique have direct flights to Lisbon, and places like Bogotá in Colombia and Lima in Peru have direct flights to Madrid. Often these direct routes are run by the ‘flag carrier’ airline from the country which was historically the coloniser.
There are practical reasons this is the case too &#8211; for example, these countries are likely to share a common language (though of course this is often related to colonial history as well) &#8211; but looking at the data in researching commercial routes to COP, it’s hard to ignore the trends that appear before you.
In parallel, there <a href="https://www.ecosia.org/search?q=climate+change+and+colonialism" target="_blank" rel="noopener">are lots of long-reads</a> about the links between climate change and colonialism, and <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-021-01460-w" target="_blank" rel="noopener">research has been conducted</a> into the coloniality of ecology too. This coloniality is why, for example, the Latin names for hundreds of bird species incorporate the surnames of European people, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-021-01460-w" target="_blank" rel="noopener">with most of these species appearing outside Europe</a>, in formerly colonised countries.

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The Working Group I submission to the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report, which was published in August, <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">gave a stark warning</a> of how slim the window of opportunity now is for us to limit warming to 1.5ºC. In each of the five emissions scenarios examined by the IPCC, warming was projected to surpass 1.5ºC (though it is important to note that in the lowest emissions scenario, warming recedes to 1.4ºC by the end of the century). Current policies have us <a href="https://climateactiontracker.org/global/cat-thermometer/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">on track for significantly more warming</a> than this.
However, the ‘ratchet mechanism’ from Paris, exercised for the first time in Glasgow, is specifically designed to make these pledges, targets and policies more ambitious over time. This makes Glasgow’s conference enormously high stakes, and also a huge opportunity to show climate leadership. That’s why our message to world leaders is to make it count.

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Over the last five or six years, there has been an unprecedented upswell in awareness and action on climate. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/10/25/climate/world-climate-pledges-cop26.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The progress that has been made in such a short time</a> since the Paris Agreement is truly astounding. It’s still not enough yet, but the needle is starting to turn.
This applies both in terms of policy, but also the economics of climate change, with the price of renewables plummeting over the past few years, as well as the public awareness and consumer attitudes; increasing numbers of people are choosing plant-based diets, electric vehicles and gaining an <a href="https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/survey-results/daily/2021/10/14/6e40a/2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">improved public understanding</a> of the importance of climate change.
The latest IPCC report shows us that we need action on climate now. The movement has never been bigger, and we are really only just getting started. In Glasgow, what we need is an understanding of the gravity of climate change, coupled with a fierce determination that will motivate us to drag down emissions and restore nature. The action we’ve seen in these past few years should encourage us, and give us hope that we can seize these immense opportunities and set things right.

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Firstly, we took a list of all 197 Parties to the UNFCCC, alongside listing their seats of government. We chose the seat of government because not all capital cities are used to host government offices or agencies (for example, in the Netherlands the capital is Amsterdam but the government is based in The Hague).
Where multiple candidate cities existed (for example, South Africa, which has three capital cities), the executive capital was chosen, as this is where the relevant world leader would be ordinarily based.
Where the seat of government does not contain an airport, or where a short overland journey could reduce the number of flight legs required, then the nearest accessible airport was selected as the origin airport. For example, we used Amsterdam Schiphol as the origin airport for the Netherlands, even though The Hague is 28 miles from Amsterdam. This process ignores political or other reasons which would otherwise exclude the nearest airport from use. 
Having established the origin airport and the destination airport (Glasgow), a simple online flights search was carried out for each world leader’s journey, to establish the optimal route for the journey. This journey was split out into its constituent legs, and each leg was entered as a return premium class flight into the <a href="https://www.icao.int/environmental-protection/CarbonOffset/Pages/default.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ICAO Carbon Emissions Calculator</a> to produce an estimate of the emissions output in tCO2e.
After a few iterations of this process, data for the final legs of many journeys could often be copied across, since so many routes to Glasgow arrive via a popular hub airport nearby &#8211; most often Heathrow, Dublin, Amsterdam Schiphol or Paris Charles de Gaulle. The data shows that 4 countries&#8217; representatives were able to travel to Glasgow in a single flight, 81 were able to reach Glasgow in two flights, 85 in three, and the remaining 27 in four.
A small number of journeys produced by the online search required an airport change between legs of the route on arrival (such as arriving into London Gatwick but leaving London via Heathrow). This was allowed.
A number of assumptions were required for producing the calculations for this campaign, primarily due to lack of available data, including:
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<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">That all world leaders would attend COP 26, and that all of them would fly from the location of their seat of government. Comprehensive lists of world leaders attending the COP are not available, nor are there lists including where they will be travelling from, or their mode of transport.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">That world leaders would fly via commercial routes. In reality, some world leaders will fly to Glasgow on governmental planes, landing at military airbases and so on, as opposed to taking commercially available routes.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">That all world leaders will travel in premium class or equivalent. This makes a difference because emissions calculations per passenger are often produced as a function of the increased physical space afforded to the passenger in their specific class of travel.</li>
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Once we had completed the calculations for the amount of carbon dioxide emitted to get an individual from the seat of government of every UNFCCC Party to Glasgow we summed them together, totalling 330.15 tonnes (which we rounded to 331 tonnes), and we added this as impact to <a href="https://ecologi.com/copse26" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the COP 26 forest profile</a>. 
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<a href="https://ecologi.com/business/overview">Sign up</a> to Ecologi today to start taking real climate action.

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Climate Commitments Survey 2024

Our Climate Commitments 2024 report surveyed 1,400 business owners and decision-makers to businesses with 1-1,000 employees spanning all regions of the UK and 28 professional sectors. 
There were three clear themes that emerged this year. Despite the continuing economic downturn, businesses are still making sustainability a core part of their strategy and reaping the benefits. Whilst more and more businesses are starting their net-zero journey the majority are not on course to hit their targets by 2050. Key barriers around investment, time and tools still remain as well as a lack of government support to accelerate the transition to the net zero economy.
<h3>Read the full report </h3>
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 📁 Download the PDF report <a href="https://cms-assets.offset.earth/app/uploads/20240415131731/Climate_Commitments_Survey.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>

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<h3>1. Despite the continuing economic downturn, businesses are making sustainability a core part of their strategy and reaping the benefits.</h3>
76% said becoming more environmentally sustainable is a core business strategy for their organisation in 2024.
Despite the current cost of living crisis nearly two thirds (64%) say that the economic downturn is having a positive or no impact at all on their sustainability commitments with only a third (29%) saying it is having a negative impact. As a result 81% are planning on either increasing or maintaining their investment in sustainability initiatives.
Changing business practices are wide-ranging and have seen nearly half of respondents increasing rates of recycling (49%) or reducing energy consumption (48%) while over a third (37%) have taken the step of using ‘greener’ suppliers and products, been educating employees on best practices to reduce climate change (35%) and increased their use of renewable energy (35%).
For the two thirds of businesses (63%) who have set sustainability targets, they are reporting multiple business benefits. These range from improved brand reputation (34%), reduced costs (31%), increased productivity and/or innovation (30%), attracting more eco-conscious customers (28%), employee loyalty and/or motivation (28%), competitive advantage (22%) and increased revenue and/or market share (22%).

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<h3>2. More and more businesses are starting their net-zero journey but are not on course to hit their targets</h3>
72% of businesses have either measured their footprint consistently over the past few years (35%) or in the last year (37%) demonstrating the momentum in the first step on a net-zero journey.
Around a third have calculated their carbon footprint (30%), set emissions reductions targets (35%), achieved emissions reductions (30%) and funded climate action (35%) but less than a third (27%) were on track to reach net-zero by 2050 or sooner.
Businesses still recognised the role of carbon offsetting as an effective way for businesses to contribute to global climate action (21%) when used as part of a wider strategy (17%) after reducing emissions as much as possible (17%). Funding tree planting still tops the list as businesses’ number one favoured climate action solution (46%), followed by renewable energy (38%), habitat conservation &amp; restoration (37%), rainforest conservation (32%) and carbon dioxide removal (31%).

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<h3>3. Barriers around investment, time and tools still remain, as well as a lack of government support.</h3>
Over a third of UK businesses cited financial constraints (32%), the cost of tools or technology (28%), lack of government support in the form of incentives (25%), time constraints (25%) and the lack of the ability to measure their carbon footprint (20%). 
The business sector is calling out for more support from the government.  Nearly eight in ten (79%) of UK businesses feel that the government should provide more support to improve their environmental affairs, three quarters (76%) feel that the government investing in the green economy would be good for business, creating jobs and lowering their running costs while 73% feel more government support is key to their business increasing its sustainability targets.
With less than half (49%) of businesses yet to apply for government funding to make their business greener there’s a clear desire for more funding (45%) and incentives (44%) to be made available as well as clearer information (40%) on how to access these.

<h3>Businesses can lead the sustainable revolution</h3>
Ecologi remains committed to supporting businesses on their climate journey through our all-in-one platform allowing organisations to calculate their carbon footprint, set targets and reduce their emissions whilst funding high quality climate action projects. Our mission is to inspire and empower businesses to accelerate global climate action.
We’re trusted by over 20,000 businesses. Why not add yours to the list? If you want to make your business greener, better, faster, stronger, speak to our expert team.
You can access the full data set <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vR2QZj3JAUk_f4suOMmd653C6AEiytUp_T5WhBnUOypIkW9Wf9yT61C9TzQ4_GMwQ/pubhtml" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>

Speak to our expert team to make your business greener, better, faster, stronger

Ecologi Impact Report 2023: Another year of impact for our planet

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Impact Report 2023: Another year of impact for our planet

Read our 2023 Impact Report to discover the incredible achievements of the Ecologi community.

It’s that time of year again, when we share our annual Impact Report to highlight the scale of the impact funded by our community, and the incredible achievements of the impactful projects that Ecologi has supported over the past twelve months.
Read the full report below, or stick with us here, as we summarise some of the top facts and figures from 2023.

<h2>Over 75 million trees funded</h2>
…in fact, nearly 77 million! As of the end of the year, the Ecologi community has funded the planting of 76.9 million trees in eighteen countries around the world – from Argentina to Tanzania.
This includes 20.6 million trees which were funded by the Ecologi community in 2023, representing 27% of our overall count of trees funded to date.
We also now support reforestation projects in all four nations of the United Kingdom, and have planted 300,000 trees here at home.

<h2>Over 38,000 livelihoods supported through reforestation and agroforestry projects</h2>
We are constantly working on improving our understanding of how our funding for reforestation projects supports local people and communities.
Thanks to improved data visibility across our projects this year, we can report that the reforestation projects we fund support at least 38,000 people – for example through training, employment, investment in micro-businesses, or the provision of healthcare and wellbeing services.

<h2>New habitat restoration projects already showing results</h2>
In October, we launched our first-ever dedicated habitat restoration project – called <a href="https://ecologi.com/projects/wildflowers-wetlands-and-wildlife" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wildflowers, Wetlands and Wildlife</a>. This project supports the Future Forest Company’s projects restoring and conserving habitats and ecosystems that are important for native biodiversity in the United Kingdom – costing only a few pounds per square metre of habitat restored.
In just the last quarter of 2023, our community funded it’s first 5,000 m2 of habitat restoration, and the sites are already seeing some exciting signs that this restorative effort is working – with the return of the Northern brown argus (Aricia artaxerxes) to Stirlingshire, and elusive pine martens (Martes martes) spotted at Dumyat.

<h2>Another half a million tonnes of carbon avoidance</h2>
Our community funded another 565 ktCO2e this year, bringing our all-time total of emissions avoided to 2.96 MtCO2e (million tonnes).
This year, we saw increased demand for a wide range of projects that feature lots of co-benefits, with Community-based projects (like cookstoves and boreholes) averaging 7.25 validated benefits for the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and Nature-based projects averaging 5.38 SDGs.
The voluntary carbon market has received a lot of attention and scrutiny this year, which has helped to expose some of the poor-quality projects on the market, as well as increasing transparency, due diligence and quality standards across the board. This year, we joined the <a href="https://cmif.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Carbon Markets Innovation Forum</a>, to join up with other startups in the carbon markets who are dedicated to supporting only high-quality projects.
Thanks to all these positive changes, as well as a huge demand for high-quality projects, the market is starting to bounce back – and high-quality projects are starting to receive the attention (and funding) they deserve. You can read more about how we review projects before funding them <a href="https://ecologi.com/articles/blog/funding-carbon-credits" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.

<h2>Our first 1,000 tonnes of carbon removal</h2>
Late in the year, we launched our first carbon removal projects onto our <a href="http://ecologi.com/impact-shop" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Impact Shop</a>, enabling our community to <a href="https://ecologi.com/projects/biochar" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fund biochar projects</a> for the first time, and our community funded our first 1,056 tonnes of removals.
Carbon removal projects are those which take carbon dioxide (CO2) which is already in the atmosphere, remove it, and store it somewhere in the biosphere (like in forests) or the geosphere (like underground). These tend to be much more expensive on the market than carbon avoidance, and so the volumes are modest. This year, we began to fund projects with durable storage – <a href="https://ecologi.com/impact-shop/support-biochar-carbon-removal-projects" target="_blank" rel="noopener">biochar carbon removal</a> – as well as those with nature-based storage, through <a href="https://ecologi.com/impact-shop/support-certified-blue-carbon-projects" target="_blank" rel="noopener">blue carbon</a> and <a href="https://ecologi.com/impact-shop/support-certified-afforestation-projects" target="_blank" rel="noopener">terrestrial afforestation (ARR)</a>.
Around 10% of our community’s carbon removal tonnes funded this year went towards biochar, with 40% for blue carbon and 50% for green ARR.

<h2>Read more stats and stories in our full Impact Report 2023</h2>
We’ve collected just a few of our favourite stats in this article, but you can read more – and more in-depth stories from all the projects supported – in the full report, <a href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vSGPflji-t40_-gNYvj9Nam45ZQbcrU8EEFo9uuTk--SakI9khZ_kb3F42lxKq8JlwNzxAqyHK9vOz_/pub?start=false&amp;loop=false&amp;delayms=60000" target="_blank" rel="noopener">which you can view here</a>.
As ever, we extend our heartfelt thanks to every member of the Ecologi community who supported these wonderful projects in 2023, as well as all our partners and suppliers and other organisations who we have worked with this year.

Ready to make a difference for our planet? Get in touch, and let’s chat about how we can help you on your climate journey.

Case studies

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Case study: How EET Group is embedding sustainability

Case study: How EET Group is embedding sustainability into IT distribution 

<h2>About EET Group</h2>
EET Group is a value adding IT distributor. They pride themselves on providing expert industry knowledge, tailored logistics solutions, unique sales services, and innovative marketing tools to support their partners&#8217; success.
Founded in 1986, operating in 23 markets across Europe and shipping to over 70 countries, EET Group offers an extensive portfolio of more than 1,100 brands. Their team of 750 employees works collaboratively to deliver unparalleled value to partners and customers.

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<h2>Issue</h2>
The distribution of spare parts was EET Group’s initial business focus and remains a cornerstone today, even as they have expanded their business into other areas. With a 30-year heritage in spare parts distribution, environmental purpose is embedded in their DNA.
Their mission is to extend the lifespan of electronic equipment, including printers, laptops, mobile phones, and servers, thereby diverting them from landfill. They give tech products a second life, before they become electronic waste. The team is already making significant progress in their climate journey, having calculated their carbon footprint and set emissions reductions goals. Their next step involves setting Science Based Targets.
EET Group was looking for a trusted partner capable of assisting them in making a greater positive impact on our planet while enhancing transparency. EET Group&#8217;s decision to collaborate with Ecologi was driven by a desire to attract employees, suppliers, and customers, as well as to enhance brand reputation and drive business growth.
The team also saw the benefit of joining a community that’s working together to collectively tackle the climate crisis, and connecting with other like-minded businesses through initiatives like the Million Tree Pledge.

<h2>Challenges</h2>
There were some barriers to overcome, such as a lack of knowledge about the appropriate climate action, and concerns about potential greenwashing accusations. However, Ecologi’s expert team was available to provide assistance in addressing these challenges.
EET Group was reassured by Ecologi&#8217;s credibility, demonstrated through our trusted relationships with over 20,000 businesses and the fact that our climate experts employ state-of-the-art data and monitoring capabilities throughout the verification and due diligence process. They were also reassured that we regularly update our transparency page with evidence of our strategy, impact ledger and financial information.
EET Group was also confident that Ecologi’s business toolkit and communication guidelines are available to offer practical assistance in using the correct language and avoiding the pitfalls of greenwashing.

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<h2>Solution</h2>
EET Group’s climate journey began by selecting the right portfolio from Ecologi&#8217;s extensive list of high quality carbon avoidance projects. The team introduced ‘climate conscious outbound shipping’, which involved purchasing carbon credits to mitigate emissions from outbound carriers.
Then, at the beginning of 2021, EET Group took the Million Tree Pledge and committed to planting one million trees by 2025. Since then, they have planted one tree for every five shipments leaving their warehouses. With around 1.1 million outbound shipments a year, they have planted more than 220,000 trees annually – that’s an area the size of two tennis courts every single day! EET Group actually smashed their 2025 target and fulfilled their million tree pledge in April 2023.
EET Group has already implemented circular practices and eliminated virgin plastics from their own private label eStuff Infinite consumer products. Now, they are focusing on reducing the environmental impact of their B2B products as well. In the future, they plan to collaborate with Ecovadis and the SBTI to introduce more sophisticated tracking of Scopes 1,2 and 3 emissions, thereby improving the accuracy of their measurements to date.

<h2>Outcome</h2>
EET Group has already funded the planting of a staggering 1.43 million trees and, through purchasing and retiring certified carbon credits with Ecologi, has prevented the emission of over 26,300 tCO2e.

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By sharing EET Group’s impact with customers, suppliers and employees, Ecologi has added even more value to the partnership.
Ongoing sustainability initiatives are discussed at every ‘town hall’ and board meeting, with regular updates on trees funded for planting. The partnership has truly become a part of the corporate culture. EET Group also regularly reports its environmental impact through dedicated company web pages. And to increase awareness of their reforestation initiative, every physical shipment notice includes a marketing message highlighting that for every five shipments, the planting of a tree is funded. They also link directly to both Ecologi and the Million Tree Pledge through their website and social media channels.
The team is regularly invited to talk about their reforestation efforts at customer and supplier events, and they have completed several annual initiatives with suppliers, inviting them to stand together and grow the EET Group forest by contributing trees to the cause.
At Ecologi, we believe that sharing impact is fundamental to the climate journey. Our badges, business toolkit, and communication guidelines have made it easier and more effective for the team at EET Group to share their good work.

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Kristian Lading, Group Chief Products and Solutions Officer at EET Group, is building something of a reputation for his sustainability efforts, both at home and at work. His colleagues fondly refer to him as the “Tree Man” and his daughter describes his job as “selling electronic spare parts and planting trees”. We fully endorse that job description! 
<blockquote>Making a positive impact on the environment and contributing to the fight against climate change is something we at EET take great pride in. We will continue to work with Ecologi and our valued customers and suppliers to grow the EET Forest and support reforestation efforts around the world. It helps us engage with customers and suppliers, and attract new employees, as everybody understands that planting trees is great for our planet.</blockquote>

<h2>Want to make your business greener, better, faster, stronger?</h2>
If this article has inspired your business to start its climate journey, talk to our team today.

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