This Unique Social Startup Helps in Offsetting Carbon Footprint Verdoo, a free online tool, helps consumers fight climate change through online shopping
By John Stanly
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Climate change is undeniably real. Largely caused by human activity, it has resulted in disastrous weather events, threatened the survival of animal species across the globe, and put human lives at risk. That's why it's never been more important for people to do their part to protect the planet. Romanian startup Verdoo is helping consumers do just that.
Verdoo, a free online tool, helps consumers offset the carbon impact of online shopping. Founded in April 2021 by Mircea Giurca, Verdoo is a browser extension that partners with more than 10,000 retailers. For every online purchase a consumer makes with an affiliated Verdoo retailer, a reforestation project receives a portion of the cost. In other words, every time you buy something online, you're helping plant trees, which offsets the environmental impact of online shopping—namely, delivery trucks powered by diesel fuel and waste generated from packaging. As a bonus, Verdoo also connects shoppers with the best deals from its partner retailers.
Giurca was inspired to create Verdoo at the beginning of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, which accelerated online shopping. Giurca's neighbors had ordered so many products online during the first lockdown that when he took out his trash, he didn't have any space to add his own—the dumpster was filled with plastic wrappers, cardboard, and even the very products they had bought in the first place. He needed to find a way to transform online shopping into a CO2-neutral experience.
Giurca says, "The last year has taught us that doing nothing is already an action. We're the first generation that experiences the effects of global warming and the last that can do anything about it. We're pleasantly surprised to see that people, especially the younger generations, are very conscious of the environment. Our mission is to help them buy the things they need in a sustainable manner and at a cheaper price than they would've found otherwise."
The key to achieving success has been great teamwork. "I am proud of a lot of our team accomplishments, but above all for our diversity, resilience and collaboration.
We have managed to make things work with the core team working part time, however if it weren't for the amazing work from our development team in India led by Preetham Chandra and Ovesh Dhanga we wouldn't have been able to be as agile."
