2023 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

Everything we do online generates carbon emissions – from sending an email to joining a video meeting to streaming a movie. And even though an individual’s footprint can be quite small, when you add up the 4.66 billion internet users, the collective footprint is huge and is a major driver of climate change. In fact, the internet is a bigger polluter than the airline industry, and by 2025, those emissions are expected to increase by 200%.

While we can educate people about the impact of carbon emissions,
how do we actually create change?

Many people are unaware of the impact of their online activity on the environment. And even if they were, the internet is so crucial to our lives that changing behaviours like browsing, downloading or streaming just isn’t realistic.

One of the most effective tools we have in the fight against carbon emissions is trees, and Tree Canada’s National Greening Program helps to sequester millions of tons of carbon pollution. But people aren’t about to put down their phones and start planting trees. So in order to help people actually take action, Rethink and Apply Digital thought, what if people could continue to live and work the way they do online, and then offset their exact emissions with the click of a mouse?

The result was Offset Mode.

Offset Mode is a free Chrome extension that calculates the emissions from your online activity, then allows you to offset exactly what you use through micro-donations to Tree Canada. The entire user experience happens in real-time.

The tool starts by monitoring a user’s download and upload volume to determine how much electricity they’re consuming. Then, using their location and regional electric grid data provided by carbonfootprint.org and the International Energy Agency, Offset Mode determines both the type of electricity a user is using (hydro, solar, coal, etc.) and the exact carbon emissions that come with it.

To encourage people to download the tool, the team removed barriers like cost and privacy concerns. The app does not track, store or sell any user data. It’s free to install and the cost to neutralize emissions could be as little as a couple cents per day. These micro-donations can be made directly through the app - making fighting
climate change both simple and affordable.

Offset Mode offers a new way to raise awareness about the climate impacts of our online habits. The micro-donations toward Tree Canada may translate to just a few cents or a few dollars a day, depending on where you are, but by paying attention to the issue, we can see how it all adds up.

Since launch, Offset Mode has been downloaded globally in Canada, U.S., Bermuda, China, Norway, Ukraine, Australia, South Africa, England,
Hong Kong and New Zealand.

The app has been featured on Yahoo!, The Globe & Mail, Little Black Book,
Contagious and Benzinga, with a total media reach of more than 1.5 million contributing to the digital tool’s success.

Credits

Chief Creative Officer: Aaron Starkman
Chief Strategy Officer: Sean McDonald
Executive Creative Director: Leia Rogers, Morgan Tierney
Creative Director: Sean O’Connor, Hans Thiessen, Jake Hope
Art Director: Jake Hope, Charmaine Cheng
Writer: Sean O’Connor, Hannah Prystay
Lead Strategist: Darren Yada
Amplification Strategists: Sara Lemmermeyer, Kaitlyn Vian,
Lianne George, Aliz Tennant
Broadcast Producer: Terri Winter
Web Developer: Steve Lam, Ken Malley
Editor: Tyler Erdelac
Production Company: Apply Digital
Lead Developer: Natalija Zdravkovic
Lead Designer: Daniela Valdes
Tech Supervision: Andrea Moretti
Design Supervision: Mauricio Pommella
QA Analyst: Christie Chris
Product Management: Jason Ling
Project Management: Josella Tan
Delivery: Vaibhav Lohia
Account Services: Shirley Lam, Mitch McKamey
Clients: Greg Hotte, Amelia Sproule