Imagine if you could buy your favourite Latte and balance the 340g. of its carbon footprint at the time of purchase as easily as swiping your card. Imagine if the cost to you of doing this was minute, so that you started to do it with all your everyday purchases. Imagine if by doing this, you were helping to save a rainforest on the other side of the world at the same time. What if millions of people started to do this all over the world? How much faster could the climate goals be met?
On May 12th this year, this vision will start to become a reality thanks to a revolutionary new venture that Equilibrium Futures is working on with E+ – called Poseidon.Eco.
The revolution is to sell high quality, verified, forest carbon credits to consumers in grams – as easily as swiping a paycard. The credits are created through investments made by the impact investment fund Althelia Ecosphere, that help local farmers transition to sustainable production. The farmers produce coffee, cocoa and other commodities without cutting rainforests down and burning them, so reducing emissions that might otherwise have occurred. The tonnes of carbon saved are calculated and verified independently to the highest standards. All the data is put into a blockchain registry – so every transaction can be tracked transparently – all the way to the consumer.
Poseidon purchases these credits in tonnes from Ecosphere Plus, the marketing arm of Althelia, and makes them available to consumers in grams through its new platform, launching on May 12th. Buyers of everyday purchases will be able to track their progress towards a lifestyle more in equilibrium with nature, by making their lifestyles gradually less carbon intensive. A mobile phone app will connect the purchases they make to the blockchain information, reinforcing a commitment to each consumer’s personally set climate goals and linking these efforts directly to the families and forests they are helping maintain.
Retailers will find a new way to connect with their customers and demonstrate their own efforts to meet climate goals alongside delivery of a sustainable product. Every day purchases such as chocolate, coffee, ice cream and cakes all contain products linked to deforestation. In fact 50% of European supermarket products do, so the potential is huge!
Investors can get involved by transferring some funds into Poseidon, to help this movement scale globally. The first €2.1 million, has already been received. They get tradable OCN tokens in return whose value will go up or down, like any other currency. 80% of funds they invest will be used to purchase carbon credits from E+, so helping directly to finance rainforest projects in the E+ portfolio.
Poseidon aims to enable retailers to reimagine how their customers engage with sustainability, whilst tapping into the purchasing power of Millennials. 77% of them say they want to buy into cause related businesses.
Everyone needs to reduce their carbon footprint but it needs to be made simple and affordable. Poseidon’s vision may just become the new normal for all of us.
