Develop your approach into one with genuine impact, with financial backing and skilled help from volunteers
Investors shop for the biggest return at the lowest risk. Their goal is to ensure revenue from their capital, not to preserve the environment. A project whose first purpose is a livable climate doesn’t interest them. Many founders read investor rejections and disinterest as a verdict on their project, or on themselves, or the validity of developing a climate solution in the first place. It isn’t. There is a fundamental mismatch of values at play.
CarbonZero is a crowdfunding and team-building platform for climate projects. The money, the time and the skills come from many people who want projects like yours to exist, and honour the fact that you took on a project that could benefit us all. The risk of developing these novel projects is distributed among many, so no one bears it alone.
Once your project is approved, your funding and skill requests are made in stages. We will encourage you to develop and optimise your project one step at a time, building on what you learn, reporting your progress to your supporters as it develops. “Mistakes” will be made, and they are welcome. This is how we learn. The faster you make them, the more progress you will make. Investors want you and your project to be as “perfect” from their viewpoint as possible. True innovation, of the kind that we need to address the climate crisis in all its dimensions, can only be developed through trial and error. Our intention is to support the development of as many climate innovations as possible, through collective trial and error.
CarbonZero’s role is to provide this platform and promote each individual climate project on it as widely as possible to generate interest and support. Your project remains your responsibility and under your control: sponsors fund you and volunteers help you with skills you may not have. You will join a community of other founders facing similar challenges, traversing the peaks and valleys of operating a climate startup, on a quest to make our world a better place.
To be eligible, projects need to be established as a legal entity, based in one of the countries that our payment processor supports*. Alternatively, you can apply via a fiscal host: an established organisation, in a country that our payment processor supports, that agrees to take financial responsibility for your project, and submits the application on your behalf. You will also need to complete an application, a brief that describes your project, that might take a few hours to complete. What we are looking for in the application is evidence of a valid climate-oriented project that has public or environmental benefit.
If your project is approved, this brief will be published on your project page so that sponsors can review it.
1. Tell us about your project.
Fill in your name and your email using the Start your application button below. We will send you a link to your application form which you can resume as often as needed.
First, we ask for details about your organisation. Then we ask you to explain your project’s environmental benefit, how it reduces emissions, removes them, fosters energy transition, adapts or responds to climate change and its effects, fosters political action, enables others to act, etc. What is the problem your project is solving, and what is the solution you want to develop. The last question asks if that benefit has the potential to scale, and if so, how will it scale.
Then we ask for a written brief that covers six topics:
2. We confirm your project is genuine.
Our validation process confirms two details: that there is a real organisation behind your project, and that it is a genuine climate-based project. Quality is left up to each project team to develop and demonstrate on their own. If we need clarification, we will get back to you with a request to update your application.
3. Prove who you are, then go live.
Once your application is accepted, you will be invited to create your user account(s) on the CarbonZero platform and will initiate the creation of your payment account under your organisation. Our payment processor will verify your identity and details regarding your organisation.
Then you can proceed to create your project content on the CarbonZero platform, including text, photos and embedded YouTube videos to promote your project. As soon as your payment processor account is live, you can publish your project, and update your content at any time.
4. Request funding and skills
Most projects progress in stages, and sometimes the specific plan for one stage might depend on the outcome from a previous stage. Budgets and skills are easier to define per stage. So once your project is published, you can create funding and skilled volunteer requests for your project. One method used to develop successful projects is to consider what is currently assumed or unknown about your project, and create a developmental stage to economically convert the unknown into a known. Investors do not like unknowns. Successful project developers embrace them, asking themselves what don’t I know, and how can I figure it out in a simple and efficient way. So, you have the opportunity to explain to your potential supporters what unknown or assumption you are exploring with each funding request, if applicable, and why figuring that out is important to the success of your project.
What we ask of you in return. Before publishing your project, we will ask you to sign a Pledge that commits you to using the funds and assistance received from sponsors only to advance your project, and to provide at minimum quarterly updates as to your progress.
* Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom.