Simpli Zero: A way to offset what you can’t reduce
If you’re like me, you’re trying to find ways to reduce your impact and carbon footprint, whilst being able to maintain your quality of life. It’s currently impossible to do this to zero! This is where great initiatives like SimpliZero come in. Through their subscription services they offset the average amount of carbon in your area.
In this post I highlight some features of the service, the tiers of membership, and if it actually spends the money where they say they will. To save 50% on your subscription use my code: TallManTravelsSZ
What is Simpli Zero?
Simply, Simpi Zero is a subscription service which offsets the average person’s carbon footprint, based on where you live. They achieve this by investing the money you pay in a subscription into projects which reduce the future carbon production of the planet, or help capture carbon that is being emitted.
How much does it cost?
There are three tiers of membership within SimpliZero. These are: Be in Balance, Be Positive, and Be a Hero.
The Be in Balance tariff costs £4/month, this will offset the average emissions for someone in your country, and most of you will probably be like me and have a lower than average carbon output. Therefore you’re actually carbon negative… Well done you!!
The Be Positive tariff is £5/month, and is basically the Be in Balance,plus you get 10 trees planted a month for your subscription. This is again based on the average production of carbon for your area. The trees are a great way of reforestation, so long as they’re done with biodiversity in mind and I will expand a bit more on the tree planting activities later.
The Be a Hero tariff is £10/month, with this you get the first two tariff content plus, you get to choose a higher social impact project to work with. These are projects which provide safe drinking water, developing solar cookers, etc. I will expand more on these later also.
Does it actually have an impact?
Now a lot of people, myself included, have been drawn in by social media marketing about how a product or company is “eco” and it ends up being greenwashing*. SimpliZero however, gives you the breakdown of where your money goes. 70% of the subscription goes directly to the projects that will offset emissions. The other 30% goes into running the platforms and growing awareness of the need for offsetting, therefore increasing the overall positive impact of our societies.
*behaviour or activities that make people believe that a company is doing more to protect the environment than it really is.
What are the projects?
SimpliZero has already backed a large number of projects. So far they have been involved in 10 renewable, 7 reforestation and 7 social projects. Some examples of these are:
Harmanlik Wind Power Plant:
“With 50 Megawatts of installed power, the project will generate 166 GigaWatt hours of electricity annually”
https://simplizero.com/projects/harmanlik-wind-power-plant-/
Telangana Solar Power:
“This is a 6 Megawatt solar power project in Kolanupaka, Telangana. The project has demonstrated the viability of grid connected solar farms to support improved air quality, energy security, improved local livelihoods and sustainable renewable energy industry development in the southern region of India.”
https://simplizero.com/projects/telangana-solar-power/
Kariba Forest Protection:
“The forest protection project helps to protect 784,987 hectares from deforestation and land degradation. In addition to supporting regional sustainable development and the wellbeing of local communities.”
https://simplizero.com/projects/kariba-forest-protection/
Toyola Clean Cookstoves:
“This project is efficient cookstoves that require less wood and produce less smoke, alleviating deforestation in the region and enabling healthier livelihoods for community members. “
https://simplizero.com/projects/toyola-clean-cookstoves-/
Clean Drinking Water:
“Hydrologic, a Cambodian social enterprise, provides access to clean, safe drinking water to more than 1 million Cambodian families by locally produced ceramic water purifiers.”
https://simplizero.com/projects/clean-drinking-water/
Find more about the projects here:
https://simplizero.com/explore-project/
Why is it needed currently?
There are a lot of issues with people claiming to try and offset emissions mainly stemming from large corporations using tree planting and “offsetting” as greenwashing. However, I feel for the foreseeable future we need to offset what we produce whilst also reducing our consumption of greenhouse gasses. Countries around the world need to be measured on carbon consumption not carbon production to not displace the problem. Therefore services like this are a wonderful tool and service to help reduce your impact on the world, whilst contributing to building a better tomorrow.
If you’re in the position where you’re able to live a lifestyle of travel and consumption you truly have won the lottery of life. If you’re able to contribute to offsetting your footprint then go to the link to visit SimpliZero https://simplizero.com/home/. You can use my code, it will give you 50% off the cost of the subscription. Code: TallManTravelsSZ .
