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Pitch

The online platform to unite individuals and corporations in creating a carbon-neutral world.


Description

Summary

We are building a global platform to raise money from individuals and corporations to fund carbon mitigation projects. Powered by a data- and technology-driven model, we will provide individuals with the application to save the planet.

The application will enable individuals to measure their carbon footprint and offset it via a monthly subscription. Individual contributions will be matched by corporate contributions and each corporation will contribute up to the point where they will be carbon-neutral. That way, we can raise billions of dollars to invest in carbon mitigation projects such as industrial-scale reforestation, liquid absorption, algae farms, solar, wind, and biomass.

The unique selling points are as follows:

Engagement:
- Clearly quantified individual and collective targets based on world-class environmental research
- Calculation of individual footprint via combination of input-based questionnaire and application-based data science
- Corporate matching, i.e., individual contributions will be matched by corporations creating a) emotional loyalty and b) a cooperation betweenindividuals and cooperations to mitigate climate change

Impact investing
- Projects sourced world-wide and evaluated according to one common metric, i.e., savings of CO2-equivalents over various time horizons
- Maximization of impact of individual contributions by performing rigorous due diligence of mitigation projects

Monitoring and transparency
- Continuous monitoring of project efficiency
- Transparency of where funds have been allocated and what the achieved impact to date is
- Development of evolutionR certificate providing corporations with independent, quantified verification of contributions


What actions do you propose?

We currently rely on our governments to set the right mechanisms for the world economy. Faced with special interests on a national level and the inefficiency of multilateral negotiations in inter-governmental organizations, governments are, however, ill-equipped to be effective stewards of global interests.

Awareness creates change. By creating mass awareness of which individual behaviors create which emissions profiles, we can impact behaviors on a mass scale. This is not about preaching, it's about providing individuals with the tools to make objective decisions and to live the life they want and yet be carbon-neutral.


Who will take these actions?

Powered by a data- and technology-driven model, we will provide individuals with the application to save the planet. The application will enable individuals to measure their carbon footprint and offset it via a monthly subscription. Individual contributions will be matched by corporate contributions and each corporation will contribute up to the point where they will be carbon-neutral. That way, we can raise hundreds of billions of dollars to invest in carbon mitigation projects such as industrial-scale reforestation, liquid absorption, algae farms, solar, wind, and biomass. 


Where will these actions be taken?

Worldwide


How will these actions have a high impact in addressing climate change?

In economics, it is well-established that the most efficient regulatory mechanism is to internalize the costs that were previously external. Currently, neither individuals nor corporations appropriately internalize the costs of the emissions they are releasing into the atmosphere. That is where evolutionR comes in - it will be the self-regulatory body for the world economy to establish a price on carbon.

This approach will address global warming much faster and more efficiently than policy solutions can. It will also provide individuals with the awareness which behaviors impact the environment to which degree, which will drive a reduction in energy consumption and lower the distribution costs for the most efficient alternative energies, thereby accelerating the move to renewable energies as soon as they are cost-efficient.


What are other key benefits?

Our planet has an estimated $22 trillion worth of fossil fuels that we won’t be able to burn to avoid a 2 degree celsius temperature rise. With the evolutionR model, we will be able to leverage the resources that our planet has endowed us with.

Beyond the oil & gas, aviation, and renewable energy industries, the incentive for other corporations to match individual contributions will also be significant: On a systemic level, they will get to share the costs of climate change with individuals rather than paying for it all alone and spending large sums on lobbying and complying with regulations. On a corporate level, they will get an independent label quantifying their contribution to saving the planet. On a customer level, they will be able to build emotional loyalty with their target audience and thus increase their brand value.


What are the proposal’s costs?

$1 million dollars in costs to fund the startup. Many dozens of billions of dollars per year to remove carbon emissions from the atmosphere.


Time line

We have gathered a highly capable team of talented and passionate individuals that includes an environmental research and software development team from Harvard as well as top creative talent from Europe. Our team has experience working at Goldman Sachs, McKinsey, Facebook, and other leading companies. We are moving fast and are ready to bring in the resources to make our vision a reality. 

Our informational website is up at www.evolutionR.org, we are incorporated as a Delaware Benefit Corporation, and we are working with top lawyers (Morrison Foerster) and accountants (Ernst & Young) to ensure everything is handled professionally. 

We are planning to launch the platform in the US and China on June 21. By September 21, we want to be in G20 countries and by December 21 in the 55 countries with 55% of global emissions. 

Before the launch, we will be operating many work streams in parallel: We will raise financing, build the application and full back-end infrastructure, create awareness in targeted communities via social media, source and evaluate carbon mitigation projects, develop the carbon calculation methodology, engage with large corporates to select a group of launch partners, and build out an ambassador program with select individuals who are aligned with the mission and want to be part of the movement.

If you are interested how to get involved as an investor, individual supporter, or corporate partner, reach out to the founder at robin@evolutionR.org.


Related proposals

https://www.climatecolab.org/contests/2016/mit-climate-mitigation-solutions


References