Our story

The thought that turned to action

The story of Ecologi started one morning in 2019, when our founder Elliot picked up his morning coffee and wondered what would happen if he instead spent that money on addressing the climate crisis? 

As a keen ‘armchair environmentalist’ and self-confessed nerd, his research took him down a few rabbit holes and geek out sessions, as he explored the potential impact of just 10% of the world redirecting their loose change from cappuccino to climate action. 

He soon realised that there are ample climate solutions already available to address climate change and restore nature, and the world’s pocket change is more than enough to fund them. The idea just needed to galvanise support and turn into collective action.

Ecologi began as a family and friend business. Elliot is experienced in product and development, and his wife Lucy is a website designer who is a deft hand with illustration and branding. They were joined by their friend Alex, a talented developer and entrepreneur who had just finished building a subscription product of his own.

Ecologi was born!

Ecologi 1.0

Ecologi started as a subscription service for individuals to take climate action and was founded as a for-profit social enterprise to scale this idea rapidly. In a world of Netflix, Spotify, Headspace and countless other affordable subscriptions, we figured that there must surely be room in the market for something that could literally change the world? 

We decided on the name ‘Ecologi’ in awareness of two great threats to humanity; global warming, and biodiversity loss. These issues are interconnected, and we cannot solve one without the other. Therefore, the projects that we offer give our customers the opportunity to support both climate action and nature restoration in conjunction.

With an ethos based on transparency and putting our planet ahead of profit, we’ve grown a passionate community of over 18,000 businesses and 40,000 members in under five years. Through the support of our community, we’ve funded the planting of over 60 million trees, prevented over 2.5 million tonnes of CO2e from entering our atmosphere through certified carbon avoidance projects and achieved B Corp Certification. 

Our Public Impact Ledger lifts the lid on what goes on behind the scenes here at Ecologi and delves into the evidence and detail of all things climate impact. Check out our Transparency page for evidence of our impact and finance, and meet the teams driving us forward.

The next chapter

We’ve had a great start, but there is still a lot of work to be done, and we can’t do it alone. So we’ve reset and refocused, with a bold new mission to inspire and empower businesses to accelerate global climate action. 

SMEs make up 99% of the UK business population and contribute half of all business-driven emissions in the UK. But according to a 2021 survey by the British Business Bank, only 6% are likely to have measured their carbon footprint in the last five years. Our own research also found that over four in 10 (41%) of SMEs would like their business to have a net-zero strategy, but feel confused about how to get started.

In the years ahead, the team at Ecologi will champion SMEs as green revolutionaries, empowering them on their journey to reduce emissions and take climate action. There are millions of SMEs in the UK and we believe that with the right support, they can help turn the tide on the climate crisis. 

SMEs are powerful enough to make an impact, agile enough to act fast, and unstoppable when working collectively. Just imagine what would happen if every SME rose up and took action as one? 

Check out our Climate Commitments Report

📁 Download the PDF report here

Supporting the revolution

We’ve recently concentrated our efforts on being the ultimate climate companion for SMEs, no matter what stage of the journey to net-zero they’re on. From calculating their carbon footprint, to reducing their emissions, to funding climate projects, to sharing their impact with their community. And we’ve developed a suite of products to support that journey.

Ecologi Zero is our easy-to-use carbon footprinting tool for UK-based SMEs. It’s designed to remove the high-cost, technology and skills barriers to carbon footprinting by connecting seamlessly with Xero accounting software to calculate emissions from existing business data, and requiring no expertise or experience. We’re really proud of it and its potential to be a game changer in enabling SMEs to take the first step on their net-zero journey. 

We’ve also launched our Impact Shop. This pay-as-you-go store for climate impact lets businesses make a purchase for our planet with no strings or subscriptions attached. This allows SMEs to support whatever type of projects mean the most to them, and fund as much impact as they like, whenever suits them. From funding tree planting in specific countries to supporting community-based projects, SMEs can choose from a range of high quality climate solutions and know that they are making a positive impact.

Finally, Climate Action Workforce® allows SMEs to bring their employees along on the journey of climate action. This product operates like a regular subscription, compensating for the approximate carbon footprint per number of employees in your business country of operation, while also funding the planting of trees through our trusted reforestation partners. In doing so, your organisation will visualise their impact in their virtual forest, learn more about the different carbon avoidance projects they support each month, and share their impact online.

For our planet

Our planet. This is what brought us together. It’s why we started Ecologi. It’s the purpose of our community. The reason we take collective action. And when we speak to our community, they often say that they work with us so they can do something positive for our planet. 

As we look ahead to the next chapter of Ecologi, these three small-but-mighty words have become our north star, and the core of our brand. 

Now is the time to act together. Let’s rewrite our future. For our planet.