Ecolytiq calculates carbon footprint to spur on sustainable finance 

By Pedro d’ El Rodrigues

Believe it or not, your personal financial choices impact the environment. If a person suddenly became vegan, how much of a difference would it make on their carbon footprint? That is the mission of the Berlin start-up ecolytiq, which provides a banking assistant tool that calculates carbon footprints. The start-up uses artificial intelligence tech to measure the environmental influence of a person’s spending and offers insights on how to reduce it. The company’s co-founder David Lais talked to IO about the concept of sustainable finance that his business uses on today’s instalment of Start-up of the Day. 

How did you come up with the idea for the start-up?

“A few years ago, I took a sabbatical to travel the world, and that was when I stumbled across this sustainability issue. Sitting at a beach, I saw a lot of trash lying around. I had heard of climate change before but realized it had never really affected me. Then I started thinking about my influence on the environment as an individual. At that time, climate footprint calculators were available, but people still need to understand what they can do to reduce their footprint, and this is how I came up with the idea for the start-up.” 

Which problems did you have to overcome?

“The general public was not worried about climate change before, so initially our start-up was not commercially viable. At the outset, it was a non-profit initiative that relied solely on donations. Four years ago, I participated in an event that showcased sustainability issues, which made me realize that it had become a hot topic. Then we started as a full profit company, and luckily, we got the timing right and managed to attract a lot of interest from industry.” 

“In the beginning, it took a lot of time and conversation to build the product. At a certain point, we were confident about the product and aware that there was interest from the market. So by then, we had a perfect product when sustainability was put on the agenda.” 

Do you think the pandemic had an impact? 

“It definitely changed things, and the pandemic accelerated a lot of processes. It was the first time people worldwide realized that we live on a very fragile planet and things like a pandemic can happen from one day to the next.” 

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How does it work? 

“ecolytiq is a tool, a small part of a banking app. So, every time you make a purchase, we help you understand the CO₂ impact of that purchase and the science behind it. We also show how you can improve by breaking down things into simple measurements.”

How was the process of developing the technology for your business? 

“We looked into the scientific perspective, but it was a complicated process. There were no guidelines or established standardizations, so we contacted scientists for feedback. We developed the ecoAware, a CO₂ impact calculator, and the ecoEngage, which makes sense of those numbers. Then, the ecoAction helps you take courses of action to change that CO₂ impact and make better investments. t the touch of a finger, our tool enables you to understand that impact based on your spending habits and gives you the transparency you need to make a conscious decision.”  

What about privacy? 

“Most of our consumers are not direct consumers. We are a background service within the banking environment, and banks implement our services on top of their existing apps, so that data doesn’t fall into our hands. Most customers support our initiative, but some climate change deniers are against it.”

How is the feedback for your work?

“The majority say that they are becoming more aware of their environmental influence. Some critics say, ‘you don’t know what I am buying, and you don’t take it into consideration.’ We understand those critics, which are partially correct. We need to know what you buy, specifically regional and seasonal products. Still, we leave an option for consumers to provide us with that information so that we can take it into consideration.”

How can you provide more accurate data? 

“We acknowledge that we are not perfect, but we also have a huge obstacle because there is no global infrastructure that allows us to access transparent supply chains. We need producers and companies to share their data and environmental impact of a product. If we have access to that, we can be more precise, and I believe that the right to know what environmental impact a product has are part of my human rights.” 

What are your future goals?

“The future is education and transparency. We think we can help drive behavioral change and empower consumers to take action. We want to personalize this experience to motivate people to take the next step and make conscious decisions.” 

Start-up of the day archives – Innovation Origins

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