<aside> <img src="https://www.clipartmax.com/png/full/272-2721395_leave-a-comment-cancel-reply-summary-resume-icon-png.png" alt="https://www.clipartmax.com/png/full/272-2721395_leave-a-comment-cancel-reply-summary-resume-icon-png.png" width="40px" /> TL;DR: In order to fulfill our promise to become Climate Positive, byterocket offsets 1t of CO$_2$ and plants 10 trees per month per employee/freelancer.
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One of the goals in 2022 is for byterocket to become Carbon Neutral and even more importantly: 🌱 Climate Positive 🌱, which goes hand in hand with our engagements in the Climate Collective and Regenerative Finance Foundation. It's obviously not as hard to do this for a remote-only software company that does not produce any physical goods, but I still think it's important to do our best, as it's a collective effort of our society to stay on the right path. I'm also aware, that offsetting is not a silver bullet, as it's always better to prevent unnecessary emissions in the first place instead of offsetting them. I still think that this is way better than doing what most businesses do: nothing.
Starting in January 2022, we will offset 🌳 1 ton of CO$_2$ and plant 10 trees per month per employee 🌳. The average emission per person is at roughly 8 - 10 tons of CO$_2$ per year in Germany. With us offsetting 12 tons of CO$_2$ and additionally planting 120 trees per year for each employee or freelancer, we not only offset your average personal emissions, but also account for anything that your work and our company might emit on top of it. Any business related travels (conferences, meetings, etc.) or purchases (hardware, etc.) will be additionally offset.
In January, we've had 6 people work for byterocket on our audits and development services. Subsequently, 6 tons of CO$_2$ have been offset and 60 trees have been planted. You can follow our progress here: https://ecologi.com/byterocket
Note: Ecologi only works with climate projects that are certified via the Gold Standard or the famous Verra (Verified Carbon Standard) standard. All of their offsetting activities are certified and audited.
The current total amount from our Ecologi dashboard in CO$_2$ offsets and trees planted
January 2022 - 6t of CO2 & 60 trees
February 2022 - 4t of CO2 & 40 trees
March 2022 - 4t of CO2 & 40 trees
April 2022 - 4t* of CO2 & 30 trees
* *Contains 1t of CO2 to offset travels to DevConnect in Amsterdam, Netherlands*