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Reduce vs Remove
Reduce vs Remove
Oct 18, 2024
Education
Climate change is the defining crisis of our generation
And while there’s no shortage of debate about how best to confront this urgent problem, the solution comes down to two key actions:
Reduce the pollution we’re pumping into our atmosphere - day by day, week by week, year by year - until we bring it as close to zero as possible
Remove the pollution that’s already there - the carbon we’ve been releasing for generations
Let’s be clear: this is not an “either-or” situation. It’s a decisive “and”. We must both reduce and remove.
The good news? Progress is happening on both fronts.
Progress in Emission Reductions
Efforts to reduce emissions are gaining momentum. Across the globe, more companies and nations are committing to ambitious targets, promising to reach carbon neutrality or net-zero by agreed dates. Green energy production is soaring. Wind and solar power are often outpacing coal and gas in national energy supplies. And green transportation? It’s accelerating - electric vehicle sales are climbing steadily in many countries (despite what you may have read in some quarters...)
More businesses are measuring their carbon footprints, pledging to reduce emissions, and offsetting any residual impact to hit net-zero goals.
The momentum for reduction is building.
Where We’re Falling Short: Legacy emissions
But when it comes to carbon removal - dealing with legacy emissions - we’re not there yet.
Yes, forward-thinking companies like Microsoft, Stripe (as part of the Frontier group), and Shopify are leading the charge, helping to jumpstart the carbon removal market. But the truth is we have a long way to go before we’re truly cleaning up the mess we’ve made.
The challenge is scale.
We have the technology. We can remove carbon dioxide through a range of innovative solutions - from reforestation and kelp farming to cutting-edge techniques like Direct Air Capture (DAC) and Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW). The problem is, we’re only scratching the surface.
To put things in perspective: while we’ve managed to pay for about 12 million tonnes (~12 megatons) of carbon removal to date, we need to ramp that up to gigaton levels - multiple billions of tonnes - if we want to make a significant dent in the problem.
And scaling this effort requires one critical ingredient: more money in the market.
This Is Where Glad Comes In
At Glad, we’re here to address that gap and drive the change our atmosphere so desperately needs.
We help businesses that may not have the resources or budgets of tech giants like Microsoft and Shopify, but who still want to be part of the solution. Glad exists for the other 99% - businesses that want to contribute to fixing climate change but don’t have dedicated teams to seek out carbon removal projects or millions of dollars to invest.
We aggregate their contributions, amplifying their impact by combining buying power and channeling it into scalable carbon removal efforts. The result? We help make carbon removal more accessible while helping to scale up the solutions that will clean our atmosphere.
We Make It Easy to Do the Right Thing
It’s already a big ask for businesses to measure their carbon footprint and overhaul their operations to reduce emissions. Expecting them to then invest the time and resources to research, vet, and invest in carbon removal projects on top of that? It’s too much for many.
That’s why Glad is here.
We take that burden off your shoulders. For businesses that want to do the right thing - who want to be part of the solution, help clean up the mess we’ve collectively made, and build a future where they can not only survive but thrive - Glad is your partner.
With us, you make a small change with the potential to create a big impact.