Keeling Curve

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Project Summary / Description:

Cogo is a carbon footprint management product that helps individuals and businesses to measure, understand and reduce their impact on the climate. Cogo does this through partnerships with some of the world's largest banks and financial institutions to integrate leading carbon-tracking functionality into their banking apps. 
Cogo uses best-in-class models to provide accurate ways to measure carbon emissions specific to local markets and cutting-edge behavioural science techniques to nudge customers to make more sustainable choices. 
Cogo currently works with over 20 banks, with plans to double this in the next twelve months. Founded in 2016, Cogo operates in 12 countries across Europe, Australasia and North America (including the UK, Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Singapore and Canada).

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How Project Affects Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions:

Cogo’s carbon footprint management software helps individuals and businesses to measure, understand and reduce their impact on the climate

Cogo turns spending insights into emissions data and suggested actions for individuals and businesses to reduce their climate impact.

Based on our theory of change, our Impact Model is designed to guide our efforts to enable millions of businesses and individuals to measure, understand and reduce their impact on the climate (which includes replacing GHGs, reducing GHSs, and removing/storing GHGs).

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Impact on Underrepresented Groups:

Our products empower those traditionally underrepresented in the climate movement by providing them with accessible and actionable information about their carbon footprint. By integrating carbon tracking into banking apps, we make it easy for everyday individuals to understand and take control of their impact on the climate. 

By making sustainability information and actions more accessible, we hope to encourage greater participation and engagement in the climate movement, helping to amplify the voices and perspectives of those who have historically been underrepresented. 

We‚ re also on a mission to decentralise our ownership model, placing the power of ownership in the hands of staff, customers and users ‚Äî those who are creating value for the company. Because Are you ready to change the world, together? hardly rings true when that ‚ world‚ isn‚ t one created for and owned by those who make the biggest difference.

Our decentralised ownership model places a cap on maximum investments, not minimum ones; and instead of a handful of investors, we‚ re aiming to partner with a globe-full so that everyone who invests in ‚ collective action‚ to solve the climate crisis ‚ those creating the millions of small changes that we‚ re relying on for a better tomorrow ‚ can share in that tomorrow in every sense of the word.

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Mission Statement:

Cogo was originally set up as a charity in 2010 called 'Conscious Consumers'. We created a free consumer app, that allowed people to find businesses that aligned with their social and environmental values. In 2015 we enabled users to connect their debit and credit cards to the app, so every time they spend with that card at a participating business they were informed of the sustainability practices of the business, and the business got insights on the values of their customers. 

In 2016 the charity moved to a company structure in order to raise more funding and grow. Since then, the team has grown from 15 to 125, located in 12 countries across the world. More than half of the staff own shares in the company.

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