FAQs

Got questions? We've got the answers.

square metres protected trees

Contents

  • About Earthly
  • Marketplace
  • Automated Investments
  • Tree Planting
  • Carbon
  • Project Impact
  • Customer Resources
  • Project Partnerships

About Earthly

Where is Earthly based?

Earthly is a fully remote company, which allows us to minimise our overhead costs and provide the maximum value to our customers.

We are registered in London, UK but like our projects, our team members are based around the world, including in Germany, India, Italy, the Netherlands, Rwanda, Spain, UK and USA.

Visit About Us to learn more about our amazing team.

Is Earthly a registered charity?

We are not a charity. We are a limited company and a registered social enterprise.

We are also proud to be in the top 5% scoring B corps around the world which means we have exceptionally high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability.

How much of my money goes to the projects?

80%. The remaining 20% covers costs related:

  • transactions and FX
  • the in-depth assessment of all projects to ensure high impact
  • engagement & enablement tools

To minimise overhead costs and our carbon footprint, Earthly is a fully remote team.

What is the difference between a project and an Earthly bundle?

We created the bundle to allow you to support multiple projects at once and spread your positive impact around the world. However, you can create a DIY bundle by selecting any mix of projects that align with your goals and values. Your support for the different projects can be weighted differently and doesn't necessarily need to be an even division of funds.

How is Earthly sure these projects are working as they should?

This is very important to us. We have developed our own Project Assessment criteria which enables you to compare verified and unverified projects that follow different standards and bodies (i.e. Verra, Plan Vivo, Gold Standard). Earthly's transparent scoring system analyses issues such as risk, additionality and permanence of project solutions - in areas beyond just carbon. We look at projects' past, present and future effects on local communities, biodiversity and ecosystems. Once we are satisfied a project is high-quality, it is added to our marketplace. We constantly monitor and review projects to check they are maintaining our highs standard and will make recommendations - or even remove them - if we observe any compromises.

Marketplace

What can I use the marketplace for?

Earthly’s marketplace offers the flexibility to invest as little or as much in nature-based solutions as often as you’d like. You can make single or recurring purchases to support your sustainability efforts, carbon removal plans, marketing campaigns, reward programs, etc.

Can I support more than one project?

Absolutely, we've created the Earthly bundle to make this easier or you can work with our team to build a bespoke portfolio that aligns with your brand's values.

How can we make a monthly contribution to projects?

Monthly subscriptions can be done on the marketplace in U.S. Dollars. For all other currencies, please contact our team to discuss the project(s) you'd like to support and we will be able to set up a recurring investment on your behalf. The frequency and budget is completely up to you.

What happens after I complete a purchase?

Once you complete a purchase on the Earthly marketplace, you will receive an email inviting you to set a password and create an account. With your account, you will have access to your impact dashboard, the customer hub and project materials.

What support does Earthly provide after we've made a purchase?

Once you have partnered with Earthly, we will continue to support you on your sustainability journey. All Earthly customers will gain access to a personal dashboard to track their investment in nature. You will also have access to our customer hub - full of guidelines and resources which will help your team create powerful and effective communications around your climate action. You will join a community the receives regular updates from our projects and top tips from other customers leading the way in sustainability. We are happy to help support with marketing materials and advice, and have an ever-growing library of resources on our site including webinars, event recordings, blog articles, eBooks and reports.

How should I share our partnership with Earthly?

The Earthly customer hub will be your bible for creating a communication strategy around our partnership that engages customers, stakeholders and employees - and impresses your competitors! We will offer guidance, templates and practical advice on how to avoid greenwashing and use the appropriate terminology.

I can't find a project on your site that fits exactly what I'm looking for

We work continuously on assessing new projects - so we may have something in the pipeline to suit your needs. Use the filters on our projects page to search our projects in detail and/or get in touch with our team, outlining the type of project, co-benefits and scale that you are looking for.

How do I know which project is best?

All Earthly projects pass our rigorous assessment and have a high impact across climate, biodiversity and community support. The marketplace filters allow you to select your preferred option - like ecosystem, geography, etc.

Automated Investments

What does the Earthly API integration include?

The full end to end Earthly integration includes:

  • Setting up multiple investment triggers (creating an account, referring a friend, purchasing a product, paying an invoice… your imagination is the limit!)
  • Offering your customers a choice of projects they would like to support
  • Creating users so that your customers can see their individual impact over time
  • Embedding the outcomes your business and community have achieved by working with Earthly e.g. amount of Carbon removed from the atmosphere
How long does it take to integrate?

The full integration can be completed within 2 weeks. We understand the desire to keep integration efforts to a minimum. Earthly’s API is designed with developers in mind, with clear and clean endpoints and accompanying in-depth documentation.

Some of our customers opt to integrate with a subsection of the API first, which can be done in just a few hours. For example, you can bake investments in nature into a workflow by integrating with the POST assets endpoint. You won’t have to change anything on the UI and all the impact data will be clearly visible on your Earthly dashboard.

Once you and your tech team have gotten confident with the API and it’s value, a full end to end integration can be done as described in the FAQ above. We’ll provide access to a testing environment to try everything out for yourself before deciding on the level of integration that makes the most sense for your company.

Can we integrate manually and achieve mostly the same thing without dev effort?

The Earthly API has more advantages than doing it manually. To name a few:

  • Immediately visualise impact in your own ecosystem
  • Show your customers increasing rewards each time they engage with you. Our customer Caixa Bank has increased engagement by 25% by implementing the API
  • Easy to offer a wide-range of projects that support your users’ goals and values within your own ecosystem. With the Earthly API you can easily integrate and increase your users sense of agency and loyalty to your business
Is the Earthly API secure?

Yes, it is. The Earthly API has authenticated endpoints, you will receive an API key that is unique to your business.

Moreover, the API receives no business sensitive information. It is agnostic to what triggers the investment in nature, all it knows is that you are asking it to plant a tree, protect some rainforest or regenerate a coastline!

Showing our users their impact sounds cool but what about GDPR?

The Earthly API is GDPR compliant by default. Creating users is entirely optional. However, it can be really powerful to show your user what they have done for nature, especially if they can grow their impact by continuing to engage with you. If you choose to create users they are fully tokenised. This means Earthly will have no PII at all - they’re just a hash of random letters and numbers in our database!

How do I get access to my impact profile?

Once you create your account with Earthly you will receive an email that allows you to view your public impact profile. The impact displayed here will grow the more you invest in nature, enabling you to share and track the impact you have made with your stakeholders and end users.

Can I ask my end customers to pay?

Yes, you can allow your customers to choose whether or not to pay to invest in nature. Earthly won’t process or access your users payment information. So all you have to do is charge your users via your existing payment process and then pay us as a part of your standard monthly invoice. Some of our customers will pay for investments in nature at checkout themselves as part of a rewards scheme, and others will do a combination of both. A few customers are even exploring creating an entirely white label marketplace of projects.

Tree Planting

Can tree-planting projects be used for offsetting emissions?

Tree-planting or afforestation projects that are registered for carbon credits can be used for offsetting emissions. But not all tree planting projects may not wish to apply for carbon certification. Currently, most tree planting projects including the ones we support do not have carbon certification, hence they can not be used for offsetting. However, our projects use their internal carbon accounting methodology that will still allow user to get a conservative estimate of the carbon impact your trees are having on the planet.

How do I get started in planting trees or supporting a project?

You can get started instantly via our marketplace - browse our projects then decide how much support you would like to give. To discuss your needs specifically, or to set up a recurring investment in a project, get in touch with our team.

Do you have a corporate tree planting scheme?

Yes, you can contribute via our projects marketplace or contact our sales team for a tailored approach.

Carbon

Aren't offsets just covering up the problem?

While carbon offsets are not a perfect solution and should not be relied on as the sole strategy for decarbonisation, they can be a good stop-gap measure while companies work towards reducing their own emissions. This is especially true for industries that are currently unable to fully decarbonise due to technological limitations or lack of alternatives.

Carbon offsets also serve as an important tool for transitioning towards a low-carbon economy, by incentivising the development of sustainable projects and technologies. In addition, they can help companies to meet emissions reduction targets and comply with regulations, while simultaneously contributing to global emissions reductions.

Of course, it is important to note that carbon offsets should only be used as part of a comprehensive decarbonisation strategy, and not as a way to avoid reducing emissions in the first place.

What is a carbon credit?

A carbon offset is a credit that represents the reduction or removal of one metric ton of carbon dioxide, or its equivalent in other greenhouse gases, from the atmosphere. It is used to compensate for the emissions of carbon dioxide from an activity, such as air travel or driving, by funding projects that reduce or remove greenhouse gases, for example reforestation or renewable energy. The purpose of carbon offsets is to mitigate climate change by promoting the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and helping to meet emissions reduction targets. In order to ensure carbon offsets are creating real and progressive climate impacts, the emissions they claim to reduce must be: additional, real, measurable, have no leakage, permanent and verifiable.

We go deeper into exploring carbon credits and offsetting here if you’re interested in learning more.

What is the difference between carbon avoidance and removal?

Carbon avoidance refers to activities that prevent or reduce the emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, such as avoiding deforestation, promoting use of renewable energy or improving energy efficiency.

Carbon removal, on the other hand, involves capturing and storing carbon dioxide that has already been emitted into the atmosphere, typically through nature-based methods such as afforestation or technological methods such as direct air capture.

Carbon avoidance focuses on reducing future emissions, while carbon removal focuses on removing existing emissions from the atmosphere.

Why do you say both carbon removal and carbon offsetting?

Carbon offsetting and carbon removal are different. Carbon offsetting involves calculating a carbon footprint and then facilitating the removal of an equal amount of carbon, through verified carbon credits. Carbon removal can be done in any quantity - the Science Based Targets Initiative recommend businesses contribute to global carbon reduction goals by removing carbon beyond just their footprint or value chain.

What do the different carbon certifications and standards mean?

There are several different carbon credit certification programs, each with their own criteria and standards for verifying emissions reductions and certifying carbon credits. Some of the major certification programs include the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), the Gold Standard, the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Standards (CCB Standards), and the American Carbon Registry (ACR).

The VCS focuses on greenhouse gas emissions reductions and removals, while the Gold Standard also includes sustainable development and social benefits for local communities. The CCB Standards emphasise biodiversity conservation, community engagement, and sustainable land use, while the ACR primarily verifies emissions reductions in the United States.

The specific criteria and standards for each certification program can vary, but all aim to provide credibility and transparency in carbon credit verification, and to promote environmental and social co-benefits alongside emissions reductions.

Can I remove more carbon than I produce?

Absolutely! The amount of carbon you remove doesn't need to be tied to your exact footprint. The more carbon you want to remove, the better – you will be a true climate champion. You can do this in one big hit, or increase your investments over time.

Do you offer a carbon neutral certification?

No, Earthly are not in a position to verify if a business is carbon neutral.

Do you provide a carbon reduction plan?

To build a fully-comprehensive reduction strategy, we can connect you with industry-specific partners to support you on this.

Project Impact

Why are these considered high-quality projects? How do I know they are genuine and have real impact?

We assess all projects for their impact to ensure all our projects are of the highest standard. To learn more visit the Assessment Framework overview where you can download an ebook and and learn more about how we score each project.

Why do you only offer nature-based solutions?

There are many ways to remove carbon from the atmosphere, but not all solutions have positive impacts on the surrounding nature and local communities.

We want our solutions to address both the climate and biodiversity crises. Nature-based solutions, which include natural climate solutions, provide systems of carbon removal with added co-benefits such as: habitat restoration, endangered species protection, employment and education, food and water security, social justice improvements, clean air and flood protection - the list goes on!

We go into the real science-y stuff here if you’re interested in learning more.

How is project impact assessed?

We assess projects across 106 data points related to climate, biodiversity and people, scoring on key criteria like additionality, leakage, net gain, transparency, etc. We fully compare the impact of projects, such as the species protection and flood alleviation benefits of mangrove planting in Madagascar or livelihood programmes focused on employment, education, health and equality in local villages of Indonesian Borneo.

How do I get updates on project impact?

We keep our project pages updated with the most relevant data on our website and in the customer resource hub. We also send a quarterly newsletter to Earthly customers with recently updates and news.

How do you monitor quality over time?

Our detailed project assessment takes into consideration subsequent monitoring reports from the projects which is incorporated in the project score. This way how the project has performed is already included within its score. Over time, we plan to periodically review new monitoring reports that will help increase or decrease the project score. Any changes to project scores will be communicated in our quarterly newsletters as well our direct communication to project investors.

How does the Earthly project assessment help mitigate investment risk?

Project investment risks might include factors like project failure from non-performance, natural disasters, abrupt policy changes. Our project assessment monitors across all these risks. In addition, we are partnered with third-party validators that conduct rigorous policy analysis and earth observation monitoring with alerts set for projects that allows us to preempt project failure risk and secure your investment long-term.

Customer Resources

What support do I receive as an Earthly customer?

Becoming an Earthly customer provides you with extensive resources to help you understand, accelerate, and communicate your positive environmental and social impact:

  • Your own impact dashboard that you can share to highlight your sustainability journey and progress. You can make the dashboard public and share it with your customers, employees and anyone else you’d like. Here is an example from our customer King, the makers of Candy Crush.
  • A customer resource hub available for your entire company. Here is where you can find all the information, guidelines, templates, project updates and ideas for how you can communicate your positive impact.
Do I get a certificate?

All customers will receive access to the Customer Hub with resources to help communicate their positive impact. This includes a public facing Impact Dashboard and the Earthly badge to demonstrate our partnership and use on your socials and website.

Customers on one of our standard or complete subscription plans, who have purchased verified carbon credits, can also request that the carbon credits are retired in their company name at the registry and receive an Earthly certificate confirming this. This may be dependant on the order volume - please get in touch for further information.

What visuals/videos are available for me to use?

Earthly customers have access to our Customer Hub where you will find images and videos from the projects you have supported.

Can Earthly help with creating social media posts and announcements?

Yes, our team loves to help customers with communicating their positive impact. Our customer resource hub provides advice on wording your social media posts and announcements, as well as videos, images and logos, in the customer hub. You can find great examples of social posts on our social hub. We also offer Office Hours and webinars for our customers.

Where can I find Earthly logos?

Resources such as photos, logos and badges can all be found in the customer hub.

Is there someone on the Marketing team I can speak to?

We're happy to answer your questions or help you prepare marketing/communications material. Please email [email protected] to book a time slot.

Project Partnerships

What kind of projects do you partner with?

Earthly exclusively supports Nature-based Solutions projects that have quantified benefits for carbon, biodiversity and people. However, we recognize that some NbS ecosystems do not have a developed carbon methodology yet (eg., seaweed projects) and thus aim to support such projects under Innovation Projects.

Do you focus on a specific region?

Earthly supports projects all over the world. We aim to have a diverse geographical representation of projects to offer to responsible businesses.

How do you define nature-based solutions?

We follow the IUCN definition for NbS projects which defines NbS as “actions to protect, sustainably manage, and restore natural and modified ecosystems that address societal challenges effectively and adaptively, simultaneously benefiting people and nature.”

Are all your projects available in the marketplace?

Most of our projects are available in our marketplace. We have a limited number of projects only available through our Sales team.

Does Earthly buy credits from projects?

Earthly does not currently purchase or hold credits from projects. We list projects and their credits on our marketplace which are bought by clients. After the credits are sold from our platform, we liaise with projects to retire the credits on their respective registries.

Do project incur a fee to be profiled on the marketplace?

No. We do not charge projects to be profiled on our website. We do however have a 20% fees that we charge to clients which is added on top of the price of the credits.

How can I have a project listed on Earthly’s platform?

Every project goes through a screening process which involves: a pre-assessment, a 1:1 interview with developer and then a full project assessment to generate a score for project. Not all projects pass the pre-assessment stage. We care deeply about project indicators such as additionality, leakage, biodiversity baselining, free and informed consent, benefit sharing and thus chose to only work with projects that can demonstrate true actions on these indicators and more.

Does Earthly work with tree planting projects?

Yes, our project portfolio includes tree planting projects and we are always on the look out for new tree planting partners! We strive to work with tree planting projects that share our vision on quantified benefit for people and biodiversity.

What are Earthly’s minimum standards for projects?

We want to support the best projects with the premium finance that they deserve. All projects have to meet minimum passing criteria on three pillars: carbon, biodiversity and people. To learn more about these criteria, please take a look at our blog article on our holistic approach to project assessment.

How is the price for credits set? Is there a price range for certain type of credits?

Earthly does not set the price for its credits & only shares the price that project developers set for their project. The price for projects is determined by a mix of factors like: size and type of project (avoidance/ restoration), geography and political climate, type of ecosystem, project maintenance and labor costs, market average among others.

Still have question? Contact Earthly support