Sanchali Pal, Founder and CEO of Commons, discusses building an app to help consumers make climate-friendly purchasing decisions, tracking carbon footprint, utilizing location data, pricing, fundraising, and exploring the market for green energy.
Consumer choices have a significant impact on global emissions, making it crucial to support companies that take responsibility for their emissions and business practices.
Commons app enables users to track and offset the carbon emissions of their purchases, offering guidance to buy more sustainable products and curating a portfolio of offsets aligned with the Oxford Offsetting Principles.
Deep dives
Consumer Choices Influence Global Emissions
Supporting companies that take responsibility for their emissions and business practices is crucial since consumer choices influence over 65% of global emissions.
Creating an App to Help Make Climate-Friendly Purchasing Decisions
Sun Chali Paul, the founder of Commons, developed an app that allows users to track and offset the emissions of their purchases. The app provides guidance to buy more sustainable products.
Importance of Data Gathering for Carbon Footprint Estimation
Commons gathers spend-based data from various sources, such as the US EPA, to estimate carbon footprints. They modify the data based on location and user-level information, providing users with a more accurate estimation of their carbon footprint.
Offsetting Carbon Emissions and Recognizing Sustainable Companies
Commons offers users the option to offset their carbon footprints by purchasing carbon credits. They evaluate and curate a portfolio of offsets aligned with the Oxford Offsetting Principles. The app also distinguishes companies that have taken meaningful steps to address their supply chain emissions.
Today’s episode in our corporate net zero climate series features HBS alumna Sanchali Pal, Founder and CEO of Commons, an app created to help consumers make more climate-friendly purchasing decisions. Sanchali discusses why she chose an entrepreneurial pathway out of busine---ss school and what inspired her to focus on the power of consumers to drive corporate climate action. She also talks about building a startup and raising funds and offers advice for those seeking to work in business and climate change.