Every purchase has an environmental impact. ekko exists to provide shoppers with insights into that impact by sharing the indicative carbon footprint of a purchase at checkout.
Many people also want to go further and support environmental projects that help avoid, reduce or remove emissions, or protect and restore nature. That's why ekko gives shoppers the option to contribute to vetted environmental projects. Projects are selected against internationally recognised standards, including Gold Standard, which certifies that the emissions reductions or removals they deliver are real, measurable and permanent.
Contributing to a project doesn't make a purchase carbon neutral, and it doesn't remove its environmental impact. It's a separate action, one that channels real financial support to vetted projects doing that work.
About the carbon footprint
Shoppers see a figure for the indicative carbon footprint of a purchase, expressed in kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e). It's calculated at the time of the transaction, based on factors including where the payment was made, the sector it was made in, that sector's typical supply chain, and the value of the transaction.
The figure draws on emissions data from EXIOBASE, a global environmental database, and was developed with environmental data science company Nature Positive. It reflects the purchase's supply chain emissions only, not the use or disposal of any product bought.
What the number does not measure
The carbon footprint does not identify the specific products bought, and it is not designed to be a precise measurement of any single purchase. It works at the merchant category level, using the type of business a customer is spending with, for example groceries, travel or clothing, rather than the individual items in a basket.
Why we built it this way
We built the carbon footprint in this way to inform, not to alarm. The aim is to help people see the impact of their spending and give them the option to take positive action, not to make anyone feel guilty.
Small, informed choices add up over time, and understanding an impact is the first step toward changing it.