What We Do
Our vision
GoZero envisages a world in which we all live safely and in harmony, within Earth's natural life support systems.
Our mission
To end over-consumption and the overshoot of Earth's planetary boundaries, which will result in catastrophic ecological collapse and human suffering. We will do this by strengthening community connection; by promoting the understanding of our ecological predicament; and by supporting place-based, relevant collective responses to the challenges ahead.
Our approach
Individual citizens, community groups, businesses and governments all have a role to play in addressing the multiple crises that humanity faces. The challenges we face are systemic in nature, and require collective approaches. Too much responsibility has been placed on individuals who have limited capacity to effect change on their own. It will take a collective effort to redesign our systems to put the wellbeing of people and the planet at their heart.
GoZero works to generate community buy-in for ransformative change. We are launching community Green Teams to generate donations to co-design community projects, events, capacity-building and systems of accountability.
Enabling community connection and collective decision-making is the essential foundation upon which we hope to build effective collective responses.
GoZero's approach to ending the overshoot of planetary boundaries follows these stages: Reconnect - Reimagine - Reduce - Regenerate - Reward. See a summary below and find out more about our approach here.
Reconnect
Our lives are increasingly disconnected from community and nature. A major root cause of our ecological predicament, is the erroneous belief that we are separate from nature and above all other forms of life. This narrative enables a culture of unsustainable resource use and disregard for other forms of life. However, we know that our economy and wellbeing are rooted in nature.
Disconnection from community also undermines our wellbeing. It disempowers us. We compensate by engaging in overconsumption. Individual efforts to address ecological collapse can feel insignificant, whereas collective efforts feel more meaningful and have greater transformative potential.
We believe that the antidote to the many crises we face is to be found in reconnecting with nature and with our communities. Individual actions on their own will not bring about the scale or speed of change that is required. We require an all-of-society response to avert ecological collapse. This begins by reconnecting our communities. We are therefore launching GoZero Community Teams to identify and empower leadership and support within communities.
Reimagine
Our ecological predicament is an inevitable consequence of the way our extractive, wasteful economy is designed. To avert the worst consequences of ecological breakdown, we must work collectively to reimagine and redesign our systems and economy, placing the wellbeing of people and planet at the centre of what we value.
This means changing what we value. At present, our economic and political system rewards overconsumption rather than regeneration.
Reduce
Reducing consumption is the foundation of any credible climate and ecological actions, and yet most solutions on offer provide new technologies or mechanisms that perpetuate overconsumption and overshoot. We're not going to consume our way out of a crisis created by overconsumption. So much of what we consume is unhealthy and unnecessary.
Market-based climate solutions and technological fixes are structurally incapable of delivering the transformation needed to end overshoot of planetary boundaries. Even the drive to replace all fossil fuel machines with electric versions, while better in terms of emissions, will continue the culture of consumption that threatens other planetary boundaries, such as land use, freshwater use, plastic and other pollution, and biodiversity integrity.
Regenerate
Alongside efforts to change our systems and reduce our ecological impacts, there is need to make large-scale efforts to restore and regenerate nature. The regeneration of Earth's natural systems are key to any successful climate strategy. Restoring the health of our soils has the potential to sequester vast amounts of atmospheric greenhouse gas. Restoring freshwater systems provides climate resilience and protects habitats and biodiversity.
Reward
GoZero helps citizens, organisations and businesses to go beyond measuring their footprints, and track their positive impacts - their ecological handprint. This includes actions to connect with community and groups, take individual actions to reduce ecological damage and collective actions to drive systems change and regenerate nature.
We believe that by setting monthly goals, providing tools to track progress, and giving opportunities for all people to participate in ending overshoot, we will increase the impact of our collective response. Many market-based solutions and technologies, such as solar panels and EVs, are only available to more wealthy persons or larger organisations. Importantly, we reward reduction in consumption, not just consuming new technologies.
Our tracking system also gives value to participation in collective, community actions that are available to all, meaning that anyone can succeed in achieving their monthly impact target. When the target is reached, they unlock donations to sustain our community teams and to nature regeneration projects provided by our supporting businesses.
Our Values
Impact-driven
Creating a sustainable future by championing the reduction of ecological harm and systems change is at the core of what we do. We are driven by our passion to protect and conserve the health of our planet - not just for us, but for the generations to come. We are working to enable all climate actors to become emissions-free and drive down greenhouse gases in our atmosphere and to reduce overshoot of the other planetary boundaries.
Integrity
We will do what is right, even when it is not easy. Our commitment to transparency, accountability and governance, notably in how we measure climate action, is the foundation of trust that we build with our members, businesses and partners. It is our continuous commitment to rigorously scrutinize and reward authentic behaviour that creates positive action and systems change.
Independence
Independence allows us to make decisions that prioritise the needs of our planet and our members. We are data-informed and are not beholden to any political agenda or industry. Our independence allows us to be nimble and proactive to changing circumstances, and to operate guided by ethics, fairness and equality.
Collaboration
Real change starts when we come together. We believe that all actors engaged in creating positive climate action, preventing ecological harm, and systems change towards an economy with people and planet at its heart, are our friends and allies. Creating a secure, sustainable future is only possible by building a community of people and organisations with shared goals and aligned interests, and fostering cooperation and participation among its members. We want you to join us to create this future, together.
About GoZero Points
GoZero's points system measures the positive actions that people, community groups and businesses take to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and wider ecological impacts, including waste, pollution, water and land use, resource extraction and biodiversity loss.
For the People
The GoZero Points system works to generate funds for community Green Teams, so that they can create connection, understanding and responses at the community level. Members with free accounts can earn points by having their QR code scanned when supporting climate actions, community events and efforts to build a healthy economy, centred on people and planet. Members can also earn GoZero Points by making donations to support our Green Teams and by engaging with community activities and household challenges. When they hit 1000 GoZero Points per month, they unlock donations from local businesses to further support Green Teams.
Find out more about how GoZero Points work.
For Organisations
GoZero works to make actions to reduce climate and ecological harm more accessible for organisations and businesses. Existing emissions measurement and certification processes can be overly time-consuming, complex and costly, especially for SMEs.
We are currently running a pilot project with 11 businesses in central Wellington as part of the Race to 2030 to demonstrate how small businesses can make measurable reductions with simple strategies.
Businesses that take action to reduce their environmental impacts generate points in our system, which they can use alongside donations to our Community Teams and nature regeneration projects to reward their customers, clients and employees.