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snowy forest Our master plan to solving the climate crisis is to fix broken incentives by making earth-positive actions the default. Becoming a member is a decision to opt-in to this new incentive design and choose a better world.

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Broken Incentives cause systemic problems

Carbon Markets are a powerful financing vehicle to addressing the climate crisis, yet they fall short in a few ways. For example, carbon markets:
  • Drive symptom management rather than treating root causes —> there is not enough of a feedback loop for causal treatment.
  • Result in carbon reductionism —> it is difficult to measure complexity of whole ecosystem health.
  • Max out at neutrality —> offsets are designed to “undo an emission”; to solve the problem, we need to go beyond neutrality.
  • Create “race to the bottom” mechanics —> offset buyers look for the cheapest carbon credits (regardless of quality), giving they give the impression carbon is a commodity and all credits are fungible.

Systemic Problems caused by Broken Incentives

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Spirals builds beyond carbon markets

Spirals integrates climate impact into the backbone of our economy, enabling a regenerative future. We are working on a new economy built on the rails of good, building an ecosystem that rewards positive externalities by aligning economic and ecological incentives.

Spirals Incentive Design Principles

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Shifting Focus From Symptoms to Causes

Climate action can broadly be broken down into two categories: symptom management and causal change. Most of what we’re used to identifying and associating with climate change are symptoms — droughts, floods, crop failures, wildfires, habitat loss, extreme temperatures and increased greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. On the other hand, causes are more nuanced, harder to pin-down and more complex to address. Extractive economics, lack of education, loss of connection to the natural world, a poorly built human environment and destructive agricultural practices are all contributing causes to the negative symptoms we associate with climate change. As we go through this necessary paradigm shift towards systems that are better suited to support human civilization, it will undoubtedly be necessary to address these acute symptoms we are experiencing. But just like with any illness, symptom management without a conscious effort to remedy the root cause(s) of said illness is just a temporary solution. So what does a more permanent solution look like? Can we “solve” climate change? To seriously answer those questions we need to take a holistic look at observed patterns of our planets climate. Read the full blog post to learn more about our Climate Impact philosophy.