Drawdown Employee Benefit  

Multiplying company-wide carbon reductions by taking them home

What it is // An employee incentive program to reduce emissions.
​Drawdown multiplies company-wide carbon reductions by incentivizing employees to cut their own household emissions. For example, in jurisdictions where the following are applicable, employees can apply to: 

• Replace gas water heaters or furnaces in their home with electric equivalents
• Improve insulation 
• Install solar panels
• Offset the cost of an electric car.

How it works // A software service to manage applications and payments. 

1. Employers offer an annual incentive for each employee to cut household carbon emissions 
2. Employees apply for the incentive to renovate their land or building infrastructure
3. Employers pay a cash benefit for each household upgrade

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Why it exists // To achieve even bigger emissions reductions outside the corporate footprint  
According to Drawdown Labs, to be a leader in 21st century business, "it is no longer enough to do 'less harm' over time; we need businesses to look far beyond reducing their own operational footprint and commit to achieving bigger emissions reductions in the broader world." 

Businesses can achieve bigger reductions outside their footprint in one of two ways: 1) they can invest in large community-based projects; or 2) use the Drawdown Employee Benefit to extend climate action into the homes of their employees. 

Implementing a Drawdown program allows companies to:

• Take practical and immediate action to address the climate crisis
• Help educate their employees about the climate crisis
• Give employees and their families a way to make a difference
• Improve employee loyalty and strengthen the bond with staff (especially younger staff)
• Benefit from the goodwill they will receive from the broader community
• Manage, measure, and celebrate the direct impacts they have made as an organization

In addition to investments directly benefiting employees, eligible options could include supporting a regional clean energy development or even supporting clean energy projects in the Global South.

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The service
survey mock-up

​The survey process works as follows:  

1. Incentive communication
Employees would begin by entering an easy-to-use dashboard providing the parameters of the company’s Drawdown program, including timelines and other variables. They would then be provided with access to ideas and resources for investment. 

2. Application form
An application will then record details of the investment for which they are requesting a subsidy.
The employee can then generate a report that recommends potential changes ranked by impact.

Details include: 

• employee details: name, position/department and demographics
• employee tenure and application cycle to determine subsidy amount 
• characteristics of home and potential for carbon-reducing upgrades 
• request for three quotes for work and renovation (to be uploaded later) 
• a list of well-reviewed contractors are then provided to help generate quotes
• a calculator estimates the amount of carbon they will reduce per investment

3. Approval and payment
Employers use their own dashboard to see and configure the details of their Drawdown program, including subsidy amounts, cash bonus amounts (if any), participation details, timelines, and other variables. Upon employee entry of the information above, they  

• verify the information, approve applications, and record associated payments
• a system to reward and recognize participating employees and departments (eg. a Drawdown award for the greatest emissions reduction contribution)
• a dashboard that aggregates cumulative carbon impacts associated with operating division and company-wide (GHG reductions per employee / over time / year over year)
• A mechanism to connect to carbon trading markets where measurable carbon reduction investments can be sold

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Value proposition
​Differentiation and revenue

Drawdown Employee Benefit is a unique value proposition, and as such can exist alongside a variety of emissions tracking programs. ISO systems and independent software providers coexist and may also offer integration so that the DEB becomes an "extension" which tracks to track the extended emissions reductions.    

In the short term, DEB will be beta tested internally at CAST's corporate office. Following the beta test, the beta test will be extended to other corporate offices before being offered more widely. ​

Revenue
CAST will manage all aspects of delivering the Drawdown software service through a licensing arrangement with the organization managing the program.  

The value proposition includes two revenue streams: 

• subscription revenue
• revenue from data collected about products and services purchased by users

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​For example, contractors and product manufacturer information included in employee applications could be given the opportunity to sponsor content and have their names featured in the list of providers available to users. To begin, the software may also leverage an existing independent review platform that will  display options for users.  

A CAST proposal 
​for Drawdown Labs

We hope to join the "consortium of visionary private sector partners working to go beyond ‘net zero’ to scale climate solutions in the world."
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Creative Applications for Sustainable Technology Inc. (CAST) is a sustainability-focused software firm committed to developing innovative solutions to the complex, interconnected environmental, economic, and social problems facing an increasingly challenged and progressively damaged shared planet.

​CAST features a creative team of experienced problem solvers