Youth Incorporated Magazine

Our planet Earth is currently embroiled in multiple natural calamities like floods and forest fires which are all deadly consequences of climate change. Carbon emissions are at an all-time high largely due to negligent human actions. This is the prime cause of climate change. As a result, it is the collective responsibility of governments, organisations and individuals across the globe to take informed and responsible climate action to secure the future of ours as well as the upcoming generations. Unlike a few years back, people are now becoming more aware of the adverse impact climate change is capable of having on our lives. This is convincing them to make active and climate-positive choices in their day to day lives. However, there yet remains a gap between intent and action as climate action is not accessible. This is where climate tech companies like Climes step in. 

Climes is one of the few climate tech companies in India that enables carbon mitigation in a single click. It provides carbon neutralisation services to online businesses at checkout to generate consumer demand for carbon credits. Climes was co-founded by Anirudh Gupta and Siddhanth Jayaram. 

Anirudh Gupta is based in Delhi and is a graduate of UC Berkeley, California. He worked at Airbus Defence and Space before co-founding Climes. Anirudh first started becoming climate-curious in 2016, while looking for ways to adopt sustainable practices into his life. Anirudh professionally transitioned into climate action in 2020. He co-founded The Sustainability Mafia – a foundation that helps connect sustainable leaders and entrepreneurs across India to accelerate the wide-scale adoption of sustainable habits and solutions. His “aha” moment was when he realised the key to widespread climate action was to enable individuals to make ‘small enough to do, big enough to matter’ choices. 

Siddhanth Jayaram is based in Bangalore and has been closely following the climate crisis for over a decade. With a background in investing and a degree in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University, Indiana, Sidhhanth has taken a unique route into the climate-tech industry.

Both Anirudh and Siddhant crossed each other’s paths in professional spaces. Their connection led to the Climes project gaining traction. Siddhanth was interested in climate finance and Anirudh was interested in carbon removal. Together they built a thesis that addressed a key market limitation. They kickstarted the project with a $4,000 grant and piloted Climes in November 2021.

Today, such is the success of Climes that it has brought together 60,000+ people to neutralise their carbon emissions using Climes services. As a result, 625,000+ kgs of CO2 emissions have been reduced from Earth’s atmosphere. Marquee brands like MakeMyTrip, Zingbus, and Smartivity have partnered with Climes to offer their customers the opportunity to neutralise their footprints. 

Recently, Climes also partnered with Tamarind Chutney a homegrown fashion brand to neutralise carbon emissions within the fashion industry. The fashion industry is often at the forefront of allegations regarding unsustainable and polluting practices. Climes partnered with Tamarind Chutney because they understand what the consumer of today wants, they acknowledge what the planet needs and they represent what the future of business will be. 

While many brands have started taking steps to reduce their carbon footprints, partnering with Climes is a game-changer for multiple reasons. For one, it encourages brands to be transparent with customers about the carbon footprint of their products and services. Rather than hiding from the truth, forward-thinking brands are choosing to be upfront about emissions. Furthermore, Climes encourages brands to adopt sustainable practices that will reduce the emissions of their products – it pushes them to “cut what they can”. As a part of their future plan, Climes is aiming to reach 100+ brand integrations by helping every partnered company to neutralise their unavoidable carbon emissions. 

Besides, individuals today too, are wisely choosing their brands based on how environment and climate-friendly they are. This has pushed companies to practice sustainability. Brands that don’t have a climate-positive and genuinely sustainable mandate are losing customers. Climate consciousness is the new creditworthiness. Customers in India are becoming more climate-conscious, and are willing to pay slightly more for sustainable choices and sustainable alternatives. Climes is thus also helping individuals to make climate-positive choices by offering their services. By providing consumers with the option to support high-quality carbon removal solutions through everyday consumption, this climate tech company is bridging the gap between intent and action among consumers. Climes sees a future where its plug-and-play tech stack enables the average consumer to take small individual actions that can drive planet-saving solutions at a global scale.

It is the initiatives and efforts of companies like Climes, who take climate-positive actions, which are helping individuals, companies, and governments to work towards bringing down carbon emissions responsible for heating up our planet.