11–20 of 38 posts
Anyone ever used the app Joro [1]? It calculates your carbon footprint based on your credit card transactions (via Plaid integration) and provides convenient ways to offset. I've been on it for a few months and it's had a huge impact by way of behavioral nudges. Also, the carbon calculations are surprisingly solid.
Or maybe the opposite is needed - a list of companies one should be ashamed to work at due to their negative impact on the climate?
Hey Olivier, thanks not only for sharing your learnings, but for electricitymap. I believe it’s foundational for measuring and directing electrical climate change efforts, and wish you the best on this next part of your entrepreneurial journey.
The core problem here is that emitting carbon doesn't cost the polluters much, so helping them or their customers to avoid it doesn't save them money. It's not a pain point, so the only motivation for them to do anything about it would be altruism/"Look How Green We Are!" CSR marketing. That's why the world desperately needs a carbon tax, so emission goes from being an externality (i.e. somebody else's problem) to be…
The core problem here is that emitting carbon doesn't cost the polluters much, so helping them or their customers to avoid it doesn't save them money. It's not a pain point, so the only motivation for them to do anything about it would be altruism/"Look How Green We Are!" CSR marketing. That's why the world desperately needs a carbon tax, so emission goes from being an externality (i.e. somebody else's problem) to be…
From an engineering/economic perspective, I totally agree. From a sociology/philosophy perspective, a lot of the West was built on cheap carbon emission. Can we realistically take all that embodied energy that represents our current state and expect/demand that developing nations to pay the same price for carbon as we do, starting now?
Yes. Because the alternatives are stark and unwelcoming. And developed nations should enact development sharing to assist at the desire of the developing nations (way more than tokens and pittances).
If we want to go far, we have to go together.
The core problem here is that emitting carbon doesn't cost the polluters much, so helping them or their customers to avoid it doesn't save them money. It's not a pain point, so the only motivation for them to do anything about it would be altruism/"Look How Green We Are!" CSR marketing. That's why the world desperately needs a carbon tax, so emission goes from being an externality (i.e. somebody else's problem) to be…
From an engineering/economic perspective, I totally agree. From a sociology/philosophy perspective, a lot of the West was built on cheap carbon emission. Can we realistically take all that embodied energy that represents our current state and expect/demand that developing nations to pay the same price for carbon as we do, starting now?
And it's not like rest of the world doesn't benefit at all. The early adopters always pay more, the late adopters get to leapfrog.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
From an engineering/economic perspective, I totally agree. From a sociology/philosophy perspective, a lot of the West was built on cheap carbon emission. Can we realistically take all that embodied energy that represents our current state and expect/demand that developing nations to pay the same price for carbon as we do, starting now?
Do we have other choices, when the alternative is the Apocalypse? And it's not like rest of the world doesn't benefit at all. The early adopters always pay more, the late adopters get to leapfrog.
The core problem here is that emitting carbon doesn't cost the polluters much, so helping them or their customers to avoid it doesn't save them money. It's not a pain point, so the only motivation for them to do anything about it would be altruism/"Look How Green We Are!" CSR marketing. That's why the world desperately needs a carbon tax, so emission goes from being an externality (i.e. somebody else's problem) to be…
Agriculture in particular would fit in that category but any manufacturer emitting carbon is basically burning something that they could burn less of and save money.
So I don't think carbon emission reduction is necessarily a good way to market a company. Efficiency and cost savings that just happen to reduce emissions? That's where the focus should be.
The core problem here is that emitting carbon doesn't cost the polluters much, so helping them or their customers to avoid it doesn't save them money. It's not a pain point, so the only motivation for them to do anything about it would be altruism/"Look How Green We Are!" CSR marketing. That's why the world desperately needs a carbon tax, so emission goes from being an externality (i.e. somebody else's problem) to be…
From an engineering/economic perspective, I totally agree. From a sociology/philosophy perspective, a lot of the West was built on cheap carbon emission. Can we realistically take all that embodied energy that represents our current state and expect/demand that developing nations to pay the same price for carbon as we do, starting now?