I’m starting Think Footprint. You might ask “Another carbon footprint start-up??”

Not sure how you feel about this, but I find it increasingly frustrating to hear about climate change without being able to do anything. It’s so conflicting: all research agrees that something big is happening but we as society can’t seem to agree on a good strategy to stop it. And as long as we as consumers don’t know if what we are doing is making any difference, why would we adjust our behavior?

My question is: if this issue is so important, why are we failing to convert the urgency into meaningful action?

I decided to research this topic a bit more and it turns out that it’s not all bad news. I was quite surprised to learn how much is already being done by businesses to be more environmentally friendly. We as consumers seem to mainly hear about the ones that do ‘green washing’ and for many of us the topic has become a bit of a bore. But reality is that a lot of businesses make quite an effort to become environmentally friendly and we as consumers could make a big difference by supporting those that do and choosing the lower carbon options more often.

So the next question is: why isn’t there more trustworthy information available to consumers that we can use to make better decisions?

It takes quite some digging to find out which businesses actually try to reduce their carbon footprint. Most of us simply don’t want to research a company’s ISO 14001 reporting when making a shopping list or a dinner reservation. At the same time it can be hard to trust the companies’ own marketing. The more I look into it, the more it seems that this isn’t an issue of conscience as much as it’s an issue of data accessibility.

Companies spend a lot of time getting certified and doing the right things, but while great reductions in emissions from operations are possible through the type of reporting and certification that exists now, these certifications don’t really help us as consumers to understand what carbon footprint-friendly behavior looks like.

Enter: Think Footprint

Our team wants to make information about carbon footprint more accessible to enable all of us to take action. Think Footprint empowers you to compare your options. It’s straightforward and easy to understand. As a start, it’ll allow all of us to make better decisions when choosing where and what to eat.

Think Footprint’s vision is a world in which consumers can make smart choices because they understand how their actions and decisions impact their carbon footprint and eventually the world we live in.

Here is what you can do right now:

Sign up to our newsletter or like us on Facebook and Instagram to follow our journey, learn about your carbon footprint and receive our offers. By signing up you are sending a signal to the businesses we are working with. They are happy to invest more in reducing their environmental impact. It will encourage them to go further if they know that consumers care.