The Change Climate Project

amika is one of nearly 200 brands putting real money behind their climate targets. Since 2022, the clean beauty brand has invested more than $335,000 in verified climate solutions. Highlights of their investment include: → Funding regenerative agriculture, warehouse energy efficiency, verified carbon credits, and a donation to the Green Beauty Community Foundation → Recent wins: swapping virgin plastic for 90% recycled packaging, and moving 10% of the company's California freight from trucks to rail This is what accountability looks like: Measure your carbon emissions, fund innovative solutions to drive then down, and show the receipts. Explore amika's full Climate Label profile in the comments.

This Friday, we’re heading to Martha’s Vineyard with PlanetHAUS, where our own Ellie Sharpe Read will be joining the lineup of speakers exploring the role of consumer brands in building an irresistible, low-carbon future. If you’re on the island, join us for an afternoon of ideas, community, and climate action - it'll be a pretty great way to spend a summer Friday. And next month, we’ll be joining PlanetHAUS again for two days of programming during Climate Week NYC. More on what’s ahead soon. 👀

A framework, a standard, a certification: three words that often get taken as synonyms, even though they're not. This confusion isn't just semantic — it can lead to duplicate work, and in the worst cases, troubles with compliance. In his latest Trellis Group column, our CEO Austin Whitman returns to first principles and lays out how the building blocks of climate action (measurement, planning, mitigation, and reporting) tie together with frameworks, standards, and certifications. Plus, a few rules to keep it all straight and manage the constant changes: ⭐ When it comes to carbon, mitigation is the north star. Every other building block should serve it. 🎯 Mind the gaps. Most strategies fall short specifically on mitigation and reporting, which is usually where the real ambition test is. ♻️ Look for overlap. One GHG inventory built for a reporting requirement should serve multiple purposes. Reuse data instead of recreating it. Full piece in comments.

The worst downsides of AI are obvious: the egregious energy use. The terrible ethical choices of AI companies. The dark consequences of their frenetic, grow-at-all-costs attitude. And of course, the treachery and deception that AI tools generate and spread across the internet. If you aren’t convinced and need examples for each of these claims, I’m sure ChatGPT can help. Our team is aware of these challenges and we wish that many things were different: that the AI explosion would be slower, the ethics more intentional, and the downsides less tempting. At the same time, if you’re facing a runaway horse, you can either jump aside or grab the reins. We recently outlined how we’ll steer AI adoption in our work (link below). Our approach, inspired by Michael Pollan, can be summed up as: Use AI. Not too much. Track the impacts. After establishing this general principle, we spent the next four months getting our feet wet. Our team tried vibecoding. Our engineers did some real coding. We blasted away at some nagging roadblocks in our software development roadmap. And we built our first set of tools using AI, which allowed us to iterate and design rapidly. These new tools addressed three questions that every new company wants to know about The Climate Label Certification: What’s it take? What’s it cost? What’s it worth? To explore these questions we built a chatbot, called Buzz; a cost calculator; and an ROI calculator (links below). Each one takes information we’ve held for years in spreadsheets, Notion pages, pdfs, and Google slides, and makes it accessible and interactive. Nobody can predict the future of AI. But in our line of work – inspiring companies to decarbonize – we see an opportunity for AI to clear some of the many small roadblocks that prevent companies from taking climate action. We’ve always made it our mission to relieve these roadblocks; now AI is accelerating that mission. This is the beginning of a new chapter. In the months ahead we’ll collect more user input about other roadblocks and release new tools. We’ll also report out on the impacts of this AI use – the bad, which we’ll strive to minimize, and the good, which we know is possible. If you’d like to share your thoughts on AI use, and opportunities to use it to scale decarbonization by our community of brands, leave us a comment! 

We're excited to share that The Climate Label is a finalist for Innovation Project of the Year: Frameworks & Standards at this year's edie Energy & Tech Awards. The recognition reflects a simple idea: The world needs more funding for climate solutions, not more climate targets. The Climate Label is the world's first certification that puts an explicit price on carbon and climate funding. It channels private sector dollars to verified climate solutions by requiring companies to fund them in proportion to their emissions. By linking emissions directly to corporate budgets, GHG emissions are transformed into a mandatory funding commitment. For every one million tonnes of carbon emitted, $15 million gets invested in verified climate solutions. We're proud to see our approach recognized, and even more excited about what comes next as more companies pursue certification. #edieEnergyTechAwards

This Wednesday, we're bringing together experts from marketing, legal, and climate communications to tackle one timely question: How can organizations communicate climate action with credibility? Between evolving regulations, changing consumer expectations, and the rise of greenhushing, there's no one-size-fits-all approach to climate communications. But there are practical strategies that can help. Join us for Speaking Up on Climate: Marketing in an Era of Greenhushing, featuring: 🌿 John Marshall, Potential Energy Coalition 🌿 James Pollack, Marten Law LLP 🌿 Joanna Ehrenreich, Bread Alone Bakery We'll discuss: • What climate messages resonate with audiences • How to communicate climate action with credibility • How regulations are shaping climate claims • Practical lessons from organizations actively navigating these conversations Whether you're in sustainability, marketing, communications, or leadership, you'll leave with actionable insights you can apply to your own work. 📅 Wednesday, July 29 🕑 2:00 PM ET / 11:00 AM PT 🔗 Register at the link in the comments

Here's an unconventional opinion in the consumer goods industry: making less is a competitive advantage. Most companies that sell products compete on volume: more releases, more colors, more "innovation." Travel, luggage and accessories brand @ LOJEL competes on the opposite. Fewer products, better quality, designed to be repaired instead of replaced. Austin Whitman asked LOJEL's Dipti P. how the company has operationalized that philosophy, and the answer came down to one tool: an internal carbon fee. It turns abstract sustainability goals into concrete financial tradeoffs that their team can actually act on. It has shaped everything from material selection (for example, recycled polycarbonate, recycled linings and trims) to how LOJEL negotiates with long-term suppliers on cleaner production. Those supplier conversations aren't always easy, but transparency, relationship building and a clear business case have created real returns on both sides. Dipti's take on consumers also matches our own: shoppers are actively rewarding brands that can prove their work on climate, not just claim it. Read the full Q&A, link in comments.

Climate action deserves to be part of the conversation. As expectations around climate communications continue to evolve, many organizations are asking the same question: How do we talk about our climate work in a way that's credible, thoughtful, and effective? Join us next week for Speaking Up on Climate: Marketing in an Era of Greenhushing, where we'll hear from John Marshall (Potential Energy Coalition), James Pollack (Marten Law LLP), and Joanna Ehrenreich (Bread Alone Bakery). Together, we'll explore: 🌿 What climate messages resonate with audiences 🌿 How to communicate climate action with credibility 🌿 How evolving regulations are shaping climate claims 🌿 Practical lessons from organizations actively navigating these conversations Whether you're refining an existing strategy or just getting started, you'll leave with practical insights you can apply to your own work. 📅 Wednesday, July 29 🕑 2:00 PM ET / 11:00 AM PT 🌿 What climate messages resonate—and which don't 🌿 How to build climate claims that are credible, defensible, and compelling 🌿 How evolving regulations are shaping sustainability marketing 🌿 Practical lessons from organizations navigating these conversations today Whether you're refining an existing strategy or just beginning your climate communications journey, you'll leave with practical insights you can put to work right away. 📅 Wednesday, July 29 🕑 2:00 PM ET / 11:00 AM PT 🔗 Register here! https://lnkd.in/gApQ6g59

Meet our new AI-powered assistant, Buzz! 🤖🐝 Climate action can be technical. Our mission is to make it simpler for both consumers and companies. Since we first launched The BEE, we've given thousands of people better access to carbon accounting, analysis, and planning tools at low or no cost. Buzz now lends a helping hand at every step of the journey, giving you instant, plain-language answers to your climate action questions. With Buzz, you can: ✅ Understand the key steps of climate action without drowning in jargon ✅ Learn about climate solutions as you work on your reduction plans ✅ Explore what it takes to earn The Climate Label Buzz puts our whole knowledge base at your fingertips - technical guidance, how-to guides, certification standards, all of it. And Buzz is available 24/7 inside The BEE and on our website. Check it out and tell us what you think! As you interact with Buzz, use the quick rating options to tell us what’s helpful and what needs improvement. Climate action isn't just for climate experts. Buzz is here to help. Meet Buzz at the link in the comments!

Credibility has become one of the most valuable assets a brand can have. As expectations around climate transparency continue to evolve, organizations are asking an important question: How do we communicate our climate work in a way that builds trust? Join John Marshall from Potential Energy Coalition, James Pollack from Marten Law LLP, and Joanna Ehrenreich from Bread Alone Bakery for a practical conversation on effective climate communications. We'll explore what consumers respond to, how organizations are approaching climate claims, and what it takes to communicate climate action with confidence. 📅 Wednesday, July 29 🕑 2:00 PM EDT / 11:00 AM PDT Register using the link in the comments.