It’s a new way for organizations to create climate action
- Organizations purchase Carbon Challenges powered by the TerraQuest app. Challenges award carbon offsets in exchange for miles recorded while walking, running, and cycling.
- REDD+ (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries) projects generate high-quality carbon offsets.
- The Gunnison-Crested Butte Tourism Association is the first organization to launch its own Carbon Challenge on May 15, 2021. Their CBGTrails Carbon Challenge generated over 18 tonnes of offsets in its first two days. It awards 1 tonne of carbon offsets (e.g., the amount of emissions generated by a 2,000-mile car trip) for every 100 miles of tracks recorded while people hike and bike the area’s world-famous trails.
CRESTED BUTTE, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--#carbonchallenge--Many organizations are striving to take decisive climate action now. However, a big problem is that few effective solutions are readily available, especially if you are a small to mid-sized organization. “That’s part of the reason we created Carbon Challenges,” says Derrick Nehrenberg, CEO of TerraQuest, a startup based in Crested Butte, CO. “The other part is that simply buying carbon offsets doesn’t necessarily win hearts and minds for climate action. What if your organization’s sustainability program offset carbon and got people commuting and moving more under their own power? That’s action in the right direction,” Nehrenberg asserts.
Quality and verifiability are the top focus for organizations vetting carbon offsets. TerraQuest’s Carbon Challenges utilize UPCO2 tokens backed 1:1 by voluntary carbon units produced by high-quality REDD+ carbon emission reduction projects verified by the Verra registry. TerraQuest harnesses the immutability of blockchain transactions to issue carbon offset transaction receipts to participants when organizations reach their goals and “burn” offsets.
TerraQuest’s Carbon Challenges offer additional benefits beyond the value of offsetting carbon. First, helping the planet makes people feel good. Second, Challenges enable organizations to take decisive climate action now. As John Norton, the Executive Director of Gunnison-Crested Butte Tourism, says, “With issues like climate change and sustainability, you either take the lead or try not to lose.”
About TerraQuest
TerraQuest is a software application startup based in Crested Butte, Colorado, whose mission is to create technology that produces climate action and incentivizes humans to move more.
Contacts
Derrick Nehrenberg, PhD, CEO TerraQuest
(719) 221-9125
d@terraquest.com