Edinburgh start-up helping to fight climate change signs up Standard Life Aberdeen

An Edinburgh-based eco start-up that is helping to fight climate change has launched a crowdfund and unveiled Standard Life Aberdeen as its latest sign up.

Edinburgh-based eco start-up Pawprint has launched a crowdfund and unveiled Standard Life Aberdeen as its latest sign up for a new business app.

Pawprint, founded by entrepreneur and Lingo24 founder Christian Arno, is seeking £400,000 via Crowdcube to be used to scale up its business offering.

The fledgling firm has also seen financial giant Standard Life Aberdeen join Scots brewery and pub chain BrewDog as one of the first businesses to use “Pawprint for Business” to engage their employees on sustainability.

The company brings technology, behavioural science and carbon data together in an “easy to use” platform. It is looking to empower people to “measure, understand and reduce their carbon footprints at home, at work and beyond”.

The firm’s “pioneers” programme aims to attract the most eco conscious businesses as early adopters of Pawprint for Business. The latest crowdfund will help finance the ongoing development of the new business product.

Pawprint has, to date, raised in excess of £1 million from angel investors, including early backers of Tesla, Amazon and Spotify, and a successful 300 per cent overfunded crowdfund in May.

The free Pawprint consumer product, launched earlier this year, has attracted some 2,500 registrations and has 4,000 unique monthly visitors.

Arno, founder and chief executive, said: “We couldn’t be more excited to have Standard Life Aberdeen come onboard and having an investment company of their size and stature sign up to use Pawprint for Business in the same week that we launch our crowdfund feels like a good omen.

“Our first two Pawprint for Business users Standard Life Aberdeen and BrewDog are very different businesses but one thing they have in common is that they are both committed to taking the lead on tackling climate change and recognise the value in engaging their employees on sustainability.”

Standard Life Aberdeen noted that while the emissions from offices and business travel have reduced amid the pandemic, the majority of people are now working from home and creating emissions from increased energy use there.

It has estimated that its employees’ carbon emissions from working at home could represent up to 60 per cent of its overall 2020 carbon footprint.

As a Pawprint pioneer, the firm will initially target a representative sample of 500 colleagues from around the world to use the new business app.

The group employs some 6,000 people worldwide in more than 50 locations. It already has operational targets in place to reduce emissions from energy use by 50 per cent by 2030.

Sandy MacDonald, global head of sustainability at Standard Life Aberdeen, said: “Everyone at Standard Life Aberdeen is really excited to be teaming up with Pawprint to become one of their first pioneers.

“The Pawprint app will not only enable our people to understand and tackle their own carbon footprint, but also allow us to better understand the impact on emissions of our employees working from home. We will then be able to offset this as part of our carbon neutral commitment and further work with our people to reduce it.”

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