Almond is a platform allowing individuals and businesses to understand, reduce, and offset their carbon footprint

While thanks to the effort of several individuals and organizations, the majority of the world’s population is aware and concerned about climate change, only a very small part (<0.1%) know their carbon footprint – and even fewer do offset it.

In this interview with the CEO and Founder Oliver Bolton, we will learn how Almond’s app can turn spending into a force for good, by automatically planting and protecting trees.

What inspired you to start Almond?

Oliver Bolton: I remember the exact moment – it was a rainy October morning two years ago shortly after the birth of my son. I was at home reading the IPCC’s 1.5 degrees report as every major newspaper ran the headline: “We have 10 years to defeat climate change”. You couldn’t miss it.

After reading the report I wanted to understand what was happening to the climate so immersed myself in the data – and began to see the enormity of the challenge ahead. At that moment, I made a commitment to focus my future career on making a maximal positive impact in the climate space – a motivation the whole team at Almond shares and is wholly committed to.

Fast forward to today and these unprecedented times of COVID-19. Our economy and the way we live will no doubt be changed forever. But this also gives us a rare chance to ‘reset’ the way we consume things – to reconnect with nature and reflect on what is most important in our lives.

At the heart of the issue is the fact that whilst 70% of the global population are concerned about climate change, less than 0.1% of us know our carbon footprint – and even fewer take action. So the huge challenge that lies ahead is driving people from caring to doing and to climate action.

At Almond, though we’re thinking big – we have a clear plan of how we can make a meaningful difference to the climate crisis by helping millions of people around the world reach Net-Zero carbon emissions by 2030.

In the picture: This is how Almond works. Photo Credit: Almond

What do you aim to achieve with Almond?

O. B. : Almond is a platform that empowers individuals and businesses to easily understand, reduce, and offset their carbon footprint – and become carbon balanced. Our free app turns spending into a force for good, by automatically planting and protecting trees whenever purchases are made with our responsible brand partners via a connected bank card.

At Almond, we want to reduce our impact on the natural world by actively supporting the creation of a more conscious economy. To make a meaningful contribution, our ‘moonshot’ mission is to help 100 million people globally reach carbon ‘Net-Zero’ in the next decade. We understand we can’t do this alone – so we are creating a community of like-minded people, brands, and projects united in a collective desire to reduce carbon emissions.

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What kind of impact do you think you can have on the environment?

O. B. : The project has been designed to scale globally and have a meaningful impact on the climate crisis. On one side we showcase best-in-class low carbon products and services in our ethical directory and on the other we help divert funds to high-quality nature-based carbon removal projects.

Looking at our impact to date our community has planted 87,414 Mangrove trees in Madagascar through our charity partner Eden Reforestation Projects and protected 1,043,500 trees in the Peruvian Amazon via the Rainforest Trust UK, who are helping indigenous communities to acquire the legal title to their land which drastically helps reduce deforestation.

Over the next 25 years, these trees will absorb over 126,632 tonnes of CO2, the equivalent of taking over 27 thousand cars off the road for a year!

In the picture: The app by Almond. Photo Credit: Almond

How do you see your company’s business evolving in the next couple of years?

O. B. : As we scale we will be deploying our platform into new territories with expansion into Europe and the USA a key priority. Looking at our ethical brand directory we are targeting to onboard 3,000 brands offering offset rewards (trees planted and protected) to our customers by the end of 2021.

On the carbon removal/reduction side of our project, we plan to be working with hundreds of high-quality nature-based carbon removal projects and help thousands of people and businesses around the world balance out their carbon footprints.

Almond’s crowdfund campaign is currently overfunding on Crowdcube. If you wish, you can still join their mission to help build a new green economy, by clicking here.

Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed here by Impakter.com contributors are their own, not those of  Impakter.com