How Much Are You Contributing to Climate Change?
© Farideh Fotografie
Precisely how do individuals, companies and institutions contribute to climate change? That is the question the climate model developed by Hannah Helmke and Dr. Sebastian Müller (pictured) of right. based on science answers.
Founded in 2016, right. consists of an interdisciplinary team of young experts who determine individual company’s contributions to climate change. Using a hands-on tool and consulting expertise, they help companies find ways to reverse their negative practices and hold the global temperature increase to below 2 degrees Celsius.
right.’s software provides clients an exact number in degrees Celsius that they are contributing to climate change. The software is based on the economic climate impact model X-Degree Compatibility (XDC). The XDC Model draws on climate modeling and macro- and microeconomic data and takes dynamic changes such as of the region and world GDP into account. If the XDC for a company is calculated at 2.7°C, the world’s temperature would increase by that number if every company produced the same amount of emissions per unit of value it creates. XDC analyses support experts who make investment decisions or who develop corporate strategies with a focus on sustainability and climate resilience.
The German provider of financial indices, Solactive, has just recently acquired a minority stake in right. This allows the startup to further accelerate the development of its software, to expand its audience and to strengthen it is ties with the financial industry while remaining an objective and unbiased provider of climate change analyses.
In 2021, the XDC Model’s code will be provided as an open source code and will be publicly accessible to everyone interested in a company’s contribution to climate change. This supports academic research and science, also on a global scale. right. has compiled a publicly accessible report, “#whatif,” which envisions what the world could look like if Germany’s 30 largest publicly-listed companies achieve their individual climate goals.