As a co-founder of Climate Reform, Rutinel described a strategy to reduce the carbon intensity of institutional food purchasing by encouraging schools, hospitals, and other organizations to replace carbon-intensive foods with more plant-based options and generating carbon credits from those changes.

“We’re trying to transition towards a more sustainable food system.”

“Maybe instead of having carbon intensive beef, maybe they’ll have a lot more plant based options.”

“Maybe they can advocate for awesome policies at the legislative level.”

Transcript:

So good morning, Michael Scanlon here with Climate Con here at Tonsantine, a beautiful coffee shop in the Santa Fe Arts District. I don't know if you can see the traffic whizzing by outside the window. I encourage everyone to come down here sometime and check out Tones and team. We're down here today as part of Tech Alley Denver, and we're lucky enough to have with us as our guest, Manny Rutinel. Manny is with Climate Reform.

Manny, take a minute to tell us about Climate Reform and the great work you guys are doing to the climate.

Sure. Well, first off, thanks so much Michael for having me here. I really appreciate you and all the work that you're doing for Climate Con and also for the environment in general. A lot of respect and appreciation for you.

So yeah, so I'm currently one of the founders of Climate Reform and the basics behind what Climate Reform is trying to do is help us transition towards a more sustainable food system. And the way that we do that is through a platform where we allow individuals and corporations to offset their emissions by funding climate action in the food system, primarily through helping institutions like schools and hospitals transition from carbon-intensive foods towards more sustainable plant-based options, and really subsidizing and providing the technical guidance for that process.

Awesome.

So you're trying to create a financial compliance instrument, a financial instrument that's compliant through other legal means. As someone who's been a financial advisor and worked with 401Ks and stuff, I know what that means for the average viewer. We'll just say that for pension funds and for other huge amounts of cash, they can only put that money into certain instruments that are compliant. What challenges are you guys facing to get over that hump and get it to where it's defined?

Yeah. So basically what we're creating is the first carbon credit that is related to sustainable food procurement.

So just to back up there, what is a carbon credit?

A carbon offset credit represents one ton of emission reductions. So to be able to meet our carbon goals as an economy, as individuals, as corporations, we have to first reduce our own emissions. But then in that process of reducing our own emissions, there are potentially faster ways to reduce our emissions in the moment, like currently, like right now.

And the way that individuals and corporations, governments can do that is by funding projects somewhere in the economy that reduce emissions. And when there is a reduction in emissions by, let's say, one ton, you can generate one carbon credit so long as you verify that there is an emission reduction there, so long as you're conservative with your accounting processes so that you're not overcounting or double counting those emission reductions.

So long as the actual funding itself and the actions behind that funding are what lead to the emission reductions, it's what's called an additionality principle around carbon offset production. So once you do that, once you verify that carbon offset reduction, you're able to say, OK, this is a carbon credit, and you're able to take that carbon credit and sell it to individuals or corporations that have personal or corporate goals around their emissions.

Yeah, you do such a great job explaining your carbon credit. Thank you. That's all an area of one of the solutions of the climate crisis that a lot of people don't fully understand. And unfortunately there's been some mistakes made along the way on that market.

So when you think about Simicon, we're action oriented. We're always looking to have action plans going in and so that we could ask the attendees for their input and their advice as we prep the audience for January 23rd in Denver, Colorado. Can you think of anything that you might ask our audience? You know, is it writing a letter to Congress or is it demanding that JP Morgan Chase buy more of these types of credits? Is there anything in particular you can think of that would help spur this necessity market?

Yeah. So there's a couple things that Climate Con can do to make sure that it's doing its part for the environment.

So first off, they have Con. Con will have people coming in from all over, not just the city, but the state, maybe the country. And so those folks have choices to make on their transportation. Let's say they're coming in from a local Denver neighborhood. Maybe they can take the bus, or maybe they can carpool alongside their friends and neighbors who are also coming to Climate Con.

At the actual Climate Con conference, there will be perhaps food options available for folks. So what Climate Con as an institutional force can do is say we'll have climate-friendly foods for folks to choose from.

So maybe instead of having some carbon-intensive beef, maybe they'll have a lot more plant-based options and a wide variety of delicious, nutritious plant-based options available for folks to choose from.

Yeah. As far as what the individual Climate Con participants can do to make sure that something like Climate Reform can go on to the next level, well, first off, they can sign up for our wait list before our platform goes live in the coming weeks or months. And so they can go to ClimateReform.com, put in their email and name in there.

And then when our platform goes live, they'll be able to be the first people to go through our carbon calculator so that they can find out what their carbon emissions are. And then after that, they can do a monthly subscription to be able to offset their emissions through our carbon credits.

So that's one thing they can do. On the other side, let's say they're part of a corporation that has a carbon commitment. That individual can go to their corporation and say, hey, I understand you have a carbon commitment and you're reducing your own emissions, but you can also purchase carbon credits from Climate Reform and purchase some really solid, conservative carbon credits that have tons of co-benefits and that could also help us.

So those are some things on the individual and at the corporate level that the participants of Climate Con can do.

That's excellent. Manny, I'm sharing your screen right now. Hopefully that's recording. Hopefully you can see that.

I love what you guys are doing in this regard.

Yeah, I think you nailed it on the head at the end when you said one of the asks we're going to have to make the audience is we need places that are smaller than the JP Morgan Chases of the world and the World Banks of the world that can only invest, you know, and I understand why pension funds can only invest in financially compliant instruments. We need investment funds and others that are willing to go out on the edge a little bit. Take a little risk, not in the sense that this is necessarily risky, but in the sense that this is a little bit unproven and in that sense of people perceive it as risky.

But I think what you're doing is fantastic. I think this can easily be quantified as a great benefit.

So let me ask you if someone did want to buy a carbon credit today to help make food more efficient in our systems? Take 30 seconds to tell them what that would look like, like what their money, how their money would impact the world in a better way, and then show me where on the site we would send it.

Sure. Yeah. So let's say you're an individual. Let's say you care about your carbon emissions. And by the nature of your existence, you know, you have to go to work on a car. You have to eat food. You have to, you know, run your AC because Denver's heat is unbearable. And we're every day and we're reaching heights never before seen. And so you have to stay alive.

Yeah, you do.

So we all have carbon emissions associated with what we do. Now, there's tons of things you can do. You can try to reduce your own emissions. Maybe you put up some solar panels. Maybe you advocate for awesome policies at the legislative level.

The other thing you can do is funding projects that reduce emissions somewhere else. So that's where the carbon credits come in.

So you go into website, you go through our carbon calculator, you find out what are your personal emissions and after you go through your personal emissions, we'll set up a page for you to be able to offset your emissions on a monthly basis.

So for about the cost of a latte from Starbucks each week, you can potentially offset all of your emissions.

So what does that look like?

So we get that money, we take that money, and then we go to institutions like schools or hospitals and we say, hey, right now you're purchasing some really carbon-intensive foods. Why don't you reduce your carbon intensity on your food procurement?

And we will generate carbon credits with those emission differences.

So right now, if you're baseline, you're currently polluting, you know, 100 tons. And then you switch to some sustainable foods and now you're polluting 80 tons. So from that 100 to 80 tons, now we're generating 20 tons. We take those 20 tons and we sell them off to our individual subscribers or corporate purchasers.

And we also have a few other carbon credit options as part of our portfolio. So we've got restoring ecosystems. So when you go from really carbon-intensive foods towards more sustainable options, you reduce the amount of land that you need to be able to produce that food.

To feed those people, so we fund projects in those regions that restore those ecosystems.

So it's about, it's a portfolio carbon credit opportunities where we take the funding provided by individuals or corporations to fund these projects. And so these individuals can say they're carbon neutral and these projects get some incentives to be able to make those carbon reductions happen.

That's amazing. I really love what you're doing there. We are going to make people buy some at the conference.

I had a vision while talking to you just now. We're going to tell people how much money are you prepared to spend that day? And we're going to have a sum coming in. We're going to know what people have already said they're going to spend.

You'll be one of the many startups we highlight. Betty, your company is exactly the kind of thing we're trying to highlight with Climate Con. We want to promote startups and others that are trying to innovate in this space. And I'm really trying to emphasize the people, we don't want to wait till January. We don't want to wait until 2025. I see goals for 2050. I'm like, you got to be kidding me. Net zero by 2050. Like we need to be net zero by 2023.

So I appreciate what you're doing. You're making it easy for people.

I'm going to share that screen again and make sure we're on the right spot.

Can you see that right there? The one, calculate your footprint, fund projects, people would just click the get started button right here, huh?

That's right. And that'll take you right now. It'll take you to our wait list, but we're imminently going to launch our platform. By the time Climate Con rolls around, we'll definitely have the platform up.

That's awesome. So then the last question for you before I get to the last question, is there anything we can do today to help you get that platform launched?

At this stage we're working on making sure that our carbon calculator is as well tuned as possible.

OK. And so that's a matter of having our, we've got a really awesome team, two other co-founders besides me that are working on this. And one of our chief technology officers is just a computer wiz. You know, he graduated from MIT with computer science and he's just doing incredible work in the background to make sure that individuals have a really great platform to be able to seamlessly go from calculating their emissions to offsetting their emissions.

So that's what we're working on right now and hopefully that'll be done in the next few weeks.

I've met a few people. I've introduced you to one, but I met a guy this week. I'll make sure I introduce you to. He's with Guides, GuideStar, Guidehouse. It's a Fortune 500 company that has started doing carbon accounting and their sustainability business is growing big. I'll connect you with him.

So one last thing we want to close with. Manny's big news. Manny has decided to seek higher office and become a public servant in the Colorado State Legislature. He's in my congressional, my Colorado State House seat, House District 32.

Manny, take 30 seconds to tell us how your launch went.

Thank you, Michael.

For folks who don't know about Colorado House District 32, that is Commerce City, Colorado. It's a wonderful district full of diverse folks with incredible stories and loving families.

But the unfortunate thing is that it is an environmental justice community. It is a community that is highly polluted, whether it be because of the corporations that surround it or the highways that surround it.

And so what a lot of my campaign is trying to do is make sure that these corporations are held accountable and that the working-class families within Commerce City and throughout the state feel like they're well represented and fought for at the Capitol so that their economic interests are front and center and that they don't have to choose between healthcare decisions and putting a roof over their heads.

So that's what the campaign is about. It's about holding corporations accountable and uplifting working-class families so that everyone has an opportunity [at] success.

And you and I had talked and I had encouraged you to get out there and raise money, that it's all about having a big launch and being able to put a number down to impress people. Are you comfortable sharing with us how much money you've raised today?

Yeah, Michael. So you were basically the first person where you're like, no, you have to hit that call time and you have to make those calls to raise that money because that's what a campaign needs.

And you're right. And honestly, I was floored by the support from friends, family, advocates.

So what I'll say is that in the first day, in the first 24 hours, we were able to raise over $50,000.

So cute. I can't tell you if I can. It's unbelievable. I love it. I love it, $50,000.

I'll be honest, when we said something about, I think I can raise 20 grand right away and I thought, well, if you can, that'll be great. And 15 door raised 50 grand. That's huge. That's huge.

You should take away all opposition there and you should be able to lock down the House District 32 Democratic Party nomination. And that seat is so blue. You'll be a Rep for eight years. You're going to do a great job down at the legislation, right?

I said don't get big headed yet.

Practically sewed it up. It'll allow you to focus on Climate Reform because as much good as you can do at the legislature, I really believe your life's legacy and your life's impact can be biggest through Climate Reform and so hopefully this podcast will help some.

Hopefully Climate Con can elevate your company and let me know what else we can do for you. Any last thoughts before I sign off for this podcast?

I guess I just want to thank you again, Michael, for all the work that you do in this space. I think you understand these issues extremely well and I'm really grateful that somebody like you is dedicating their time to it. So that's what I'll say. Just thank you. I appreciate you.

January 23rd here in Denver, Colorado. Go to climatecon.world to learn more. Leave your email address in there if you want to get updates.

And Manny, I really appreciate all you did there. Thanks so much everyone and that's it, have a great day.