A Chat with Elliot Coad, CEO and Co-Founder at Environmental Conservation Organisation: Ecologi

Ecologi is a platform that provides the tools and guidance to make it easy for everyone to take climate action.

To do this, we call on individuals and businesses to take personal responsibility and help tackle the most significant threat of our generation. Our platform helps people to fund the best climate solutions worldwide through monthly subscriptions, supporting reforestation projects around the world, as well as a broad range of carbon avoidance projects – from renewable energy to cleaner cookstoves – that are certified at the very highest level by Gold Standard or the Verified Carbon Standard.

With a little input from a lot of people, we can create real, tangible change in the fight against the climate crisis. Our community of over 37,000 members has already achieved incredible things, funding the planting of over 50 million trees and avoiding more than 2.3 million tonnes of CO2e through verified carbon avoidance projects – just think about how much we could achieve if millions of people and businesses joined this collective movement!
 
 

 

How did you come up with the idea for the company?

 
One morning in 2019, as I was buying my regular morning coffee, I thought: what impact could I have if I spent this money on some form of climate action?

By applying this concept on a wider scale, I realised that the loose change millions of us have in our pockets could make a huge impact on the planet. So the idea for Ecologi was born: a subscription service for the planet.
 

How has the company evolved over the last couple of years?

 
Since starting in 2019, our community has already helped us fund planting over 50 million trees and avoided over 2.3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent – equal to more than 6% of London’s annual emissions in 2021.

Working to become a B-Corp was a long process but something we were determined to do – the movement exists to make businesses a force for good in the world by prioritising people and planet. After becoming accredited in December last year, we were delighted to be listed in the top 5% of B Corps globally in 2022, for Environment and Governance.

We have also just expanded into the North American market after posting a 200%+ revenue increase in Q2 of this year, with over 80% of profits going directly into climate action. We are now working towards a Series A fundraise.
 

What can we hope to see from Ecologi in the future?

 
We want to become the end-to-end platform for climate action, making it transparent, trustworthy and tangible for everyone. We’re already funding the planting of close to a million trees every fortnight and, within the next three years, hope to be at a million trees a day.

We’ll soon be launching a pay-as-you-go marketplace, where customers can fund projects including wildflower meadow restoration and biochar, one of the most effective natural carbon dioxide removal methods.

2023 will be a really exciting year for us, with the full launch of our freemium carbon footprinting calculator. Ecologi Zero will help SMEs start their net-zero journeys by removing the cost, technology and skills barriers to carbon footprinting, so every business can be a force for good.

2,000 businesses are already signed up on the waitlist, which is a really positive sign!