Growing concern over climate change has prompted significant growth in voluntary markets for carbon offsets. This growth in the voluntary carbon markets represents a valuable new source of potential finance for sustainable development projects. However, only a limited number of development projects capitalize on this new finance source due to high capital costs and a low carbon price that undervalues their offsets. Live Climate solves this problem.

LiveClimate.org is a retail website that links greenhouse gas offset projects in low-income countries, with buyers who value the social and environmental co-benefits of their carbon offsets. The Live Climate retail channel directly connects the offset buyer with the project in a developing country that generated the offset. Vivid descriptions of the community, and people affected by each project and clear descriptions of the social co-benefits inform customers as they select an offset project to buy from. A mashup of maps and project information would allow customers to see where they will make an impact. Customers can get ongoing information about the projects they support through RSS feeds and continuing pictures.

Live Climate’s mission is threefold: 1) Fight climate change by financing verified greenhouse gas abatement projects, 2) Transform the voluntary carbon market to serve the poor by communicating the full social and environmental value of these projects, and 3) Raise the over revenue and share of the carbon market going to small-scale clean development projects.

The voluntary carbon market has come under significant scrutiny in recent years due to lack of transparency. The market continues to be dominated by a handful of large players, however, many new retailers have emerged even with the backlash due to low barriers to entry. These offset retailers all operate according to the same model looking to compete through price and brand name. Live Climate enters the voluntary carbon market with a fundamentally new product and business model. Operating as a non-profit, Live Climate will attract customers looking to maximize the social impact of their carbon offset purchase.

Live Climate is currently in Phase 1: Website Development and Pilot Launch. We plan a full launch of the website in early summer and are looking for help to make the site more interactive, through maps, connecting users, and personalized information.