Frequently
Asked Questions

Count Us In is a community of people protecting what they love from climate change before it is too late.

Why is Extreme E involved in Count Us In and why has it launched this challenge to fans?

As a series dedicated to using sport to shine a spotlight on climate change and its devastating effects around the world, Extreme E is proud to be joining forces with Count Us In.

The goal of the Extreme E Count Us In Challenge is to motivate Extreme E’s global fanbase and ecosystem to make small but impactful solutions to minimise their carbon footprints, which when combined can create huge global impact.

Extreme E was built out of a desire to use sport to raise awareness of the devastating impact of climate change, and share the message that we all need to act, now to make a difference. Through the Extreme E Count Us In Challenge, fans can act on this awareness, and pledge to take up to sixteen different steps which lowers their impact, all whilst directly assisting their favourite team in the process as added incentive.

In this competition, no sporting gain is at stake for teams, but arguably a bigger prize, the honour of saving the largest carbon footprint, and the Extreme E Sustainability Award. Surely the proudest prize for our planet. And in this race, it is up to the fans to perform.


Why does Count Us In matter?

In the next 10 years we must halve the world’s greenhouse gas emissions if we stand any chance of preventing the worst impacts of climate change. Pollution, extreme weather and rising sea levels are already threatening communities and economies around the world. Threatening our health and the health of our planet.

It is easy to feel daunted by this challenge, but together, we are building the largest and most ambitious citizen-led effort to act and protect the people and places we love, before it’s too late.

The Count Us In platform gives an easy and simple way for anyone to take high-impact, achievable steps to reduce their carbon pollution and persuade others to do the same.

What we all do counts. Our collective actions won’t just make a significant impact in reducing carbon pollution – but have the power of challenging leaders to act boldly to deliver global systems change.

How is Count Us In related to Countdown?

Countdown (powered by TED and Future Stewards) helped incubate and initiate Count Us In, with other founding organizations. Count Us In is the call to action for citizens everywhere, that will underpin Countdown’s campaign to activate a mass audience and empower others to do the same.

Count Us In is a movement that goes beyond a single name, brand, or organizational objective. Countdown is helping develop and drive forward Count Us In, providing a small team to support the campaign development.

Who can take part?

Everyone can take part! Count Us In is building the largest and most ambitious citizen-led effort to avert the impacts of climate change.

Individuals: Simply sign up on count-us-in.org , choose the step(s) that’s right for you and keep it up! You can track your progress and raise your ambition through your Count Us In profile, and see the collective impact of your actions through the Count Us In aggregator.

Organizations: Your organization or company can help Count Us In become the largest citizen climate action mobilization, by joining as a partner, and promoting Count Us In among your supporters, followers, members, staff and customers. We can also help create your own whitelabelled or customized platform, linked to our aggregator.

We welcome sister initiatives and organizations with climate action platforms to join our community, and link up to our aggregator – to add up to something even bigger. Please contact us at contact@count-us-in.org for more information on partnerships, our platform and partner platforms.

How were the 16 Steps chosen?

Working with experts from the UN Environment Programme and other partners, Count Us In has developed 16 steps that we believe are the most meaningful actions people can take on climate change, based on 3 criteria:

IMPACT: Actions that drive a major reduction in carbon emissions

INFLUENCE: Actions that make politicians and businesses pay attention

INVOLVEMENT: A set of actions that offer everyone the ability to get involved

How are the carbon savings calculated for each action?

The Count Us In platform uses a range of data sources to calculate the carbon impact of each step. Aside from the step-specific sources and assumptions which are documented in the references section of each step page, there are a few other consistent assumptions:

  • All our calculations are made using carbon dioxide equivalent as a metric.
  • When taking a step, users commit to achieving a step within two months. For habitual actions (such as cycling to work), the potential carbon savings are given for the two month period; for one-off actions (such as installing solar panels) they are given for a year.
  • Users are asked to confirm how they did after two months, and whether they plan to continue. At this time, we update their potential carbon savings to show confirmed annual carbon savings.
  • While we plan to progressively internationalize, the data on the Count Us In platform is currently based on UK emissions factors and national averages, specifically:
    • Emission factor of 0.31598 kgCO2 per kWh of grid electricity (Defra conversion factors 2019) is used.
    • A fuel price conversion factor of 0.1839 £/kWh of electricity (BEIS 2019) was used.
    • The average household has 2.4 occupants.
  • Our partner platforms including UN ActNow and Giki Zero also use robust data sources and methodologies for estimating footprints and reductions.
  • The voice actions have no direct calculable carbon saving, but in the backend we have given them a negligible saving of 1 kg CO2e to allow the commitments to be saved in our database (it only accepts values greater than 0kg CO2e).

What is the Count Us In aggregator?

The Count Us In aggregator is a cornerstone of Count Us In. It adds up every step taken, showing the difference we can all make by acting together. From launch, the aggregator will report on three key data points: the (1) carbon impact of the steps taken; (2) the number of individuals taking steps; (3) and number of steps taken.

The Count Us In aggregator creates, for the first time, an ecosystem of partner climate action platforms, combining and synthesizing their data to show the collective impact of citizen climate action worldwide – adding weight to our effort to drive policy makers, businesses and other actors to take bold action on systems change.

Data on the impact of citizens’ climate action in the Aggregator begins from January 2020, with data sourced from additional partners as they’ve joined this effort.

Count Us In will continue to develop and gather more granular impact data through its Aggregator, and to make insights accessible through public data visualisation tools.

How have you estimated the carbon pollution impacts of 1 billion people?

Working with the United Nations Environment Programme and other partners, Accenture, our platform partners Do Nation, GikiZero and United Nations’ ActNow, we have developed a data model to aggregate the impact of individual climate actions and to allow our partner platforms (such as UN ActNow) to feed into the Count Us In aggregator. The data sets in our aggregator will be expanded, developed and improved over time as more platforms sign up and as we get more detailed data.

A recent Oxfam report ‘Confronting Carbon Inequality’ estimated that “the richest 10% of the world’s population (c.630 million people) were responsible for 52% of the cumulative carbon emissions [from 1990-2015]”. While another recent report, ‘1.5 Degree Lifestyles’ , highlighted that the emissions directly related to lifestyles of individuals is estimated at 65-72%. The product of this data, leads us to conclude that if 1 billion take practical actions in their own lives, it could reduce overall global emissions by 20%.

Count Us In provides a practical way for us all to understand how we can play our part in tackling what can otherwise feel like an overwhelming challenge. Our 16 steps, derived from experts and research at the United Nations Environment Programme and other partners, factor in impact, influence and involvement to help people achieve this goal.

What makes Count Us In unique in the climate campaign ecosystem?

Count Us In builds and complements on the successful work the climate movement has done in driving global action in recent years.

We want to encourage people to take practical steps that when aggregated won’t just make a significant impact in reducing carbon pollution, but challenge leaders to act boldly to deliver global systems change.

This movement is based on the assumption that we need to engage and inspire the non-activist middle if we are to accelerate change. This “middle” group of 1 billion people not only has a significant carbon footprint, but is greatly influential with political and business leaders.

Based on in-depth research and insight, we know we need to meet people where they are at in their own lives, if we are to inspire them to act. This means reaching people with messages that resonate with their lives and concerns – and through organizations and individuals they trust and listen to, change-making communities they are part of, and messages that connect with and inspire them.

By acting, 1 billion people will create market demand, incentivising and rewarding business change. At the same time, they will create political pressure and a space for leaders to act more boldly on systems change. This virtuous cycle of change could be a powerful catalyst and a complement to existing campaigns.

Who funds this initiative?

Count Us In is a non-for-profit initiative, funded by philanthropic donations and set up by partners through pro-bono work.

Why are you targeting 1 billion people and how do you expect to reach them?

To avoid the worst effects of climate change we need bold and dramatic systems change. Much of this will be driven by governments and businesses, but citizens also have a key role to play.

We will need to engage communities beyond existing activists if we are to win the battle to avert the worst effects of climate change. Our aim is to reach out to and engage the non-activist middle class, and inspire them to become more involved. This group has the biggest carbon footprint and huge influence with politicians and business. What they do, say and buy will not only directly reduce carbon pollution but will drive wider systems change – by shaping market demand, incentivising business to move quicker, and challenging political leaders to prioritize bolder action.

While we focus on the non-activist middle, our collective endeavour will benefit everyone by saving the planet – but especially the most vulnerable populations who are already being or will be most affected by climate change.

To inspire and engage a billion people we will need to meet them where they’re at, through organizations and individuals they trust and listen to, change-making communities they are part of, and messages that connect with and inspire them. This might be through their sports team, their employer or an individual cultural leader they respect.

We make it easy and rewarding for people everywhere to take practical actions via the Count Us In platform and our 16 steps. Count Us In helps people decide on big steps that really make a difference and that are good for them too – reducing their carbon emissions and persuading others to do the same.

What’s more, we aggregate these individual actions to show they count and leverage the scale of the movement to influence systems change.

Who leads Count Us In?

Count Us In has been initiated by a diverse group of organizations committed to incubating a global community that goes beyond a single name, brand or organizational objective.

Convened by Countdown (powered by TED and Future Stewards), Count Us In has been developed with partners, including:

Accenture, Bridging Ventures, Brunswick Group, COP 26 High Level Champion Team, Countdown, Do Nation, Fenton, Fjord, Giki, Global Citizen, Global Optimism, Leaders’ Quest, One Home, Restless Development, Something More Near, SYSTEMIQ, TEDxGlasgow, UN Environment Programme, UN Act Now, Wonderlab, Yuvaa.

Leaders’ Quest Foundation UK (UK registered charity 1104192) has legal and fiduciary responsibility for Count Us In, including budgets, managing income and expenditure, reporting to donors, and overseeing contracts with suppliers. Its Trustees’ biographies can be found here.

What is Count Us In’s selection criteria to partner with organizations?

If we come together – as individuals, governments and businesses – we can still protect the people and places we love, before it’s too late.

All organizations involved in Count Us In are committed to making a significant impact in reducing carbon pollution and driving systems change.

We are bringing together an unusual coalition of organizations and partners, united by how we work together. Partners of Count Us In have to meet our four essential criteria:

  1. Be credible in their climate change action.
    Be a leader in your sector, and mobilize your ecosystem to address climate change. Global corporate partners must have made a Net Zero commitment. If feasible, we encourage SME, sports organization, university, city, faith organization, and other partners to map out a pathway to join the Race to Zero campaign.
  2. Commit to meaningful action as part of Count Us In.
    This will be different for each Partner based on their organization and ecosystem, and we will work out with each Partner what that means to them, and how best to leverage their contribution to the campaign for launch and beyond in phases.
  3. Be visible as part of Count Us In.
    Put your organization’s name and brand on the CUI website and communications, and share your participation in CUI with your audience*.
  4. Uphold the Values and Principles of CUI.
    This will be different for each Partner based on their organization and ecosystem, and we will work out with each Partner what that means to them, and how best to leverage their contribution to the campaign for launch and beyond in phases.

To find out more about how to become a Count Us In partner, get in touch with us on contact@count-us-in.org.

*Use of the Count Us In logo does not imply an endorsement by Count Us In or any of its Steering Committee Members or Partners, of the user, its goods, services or activities, or the content of its website or linked sites or the accuracy of the information, opinions or statements provided therein.

Why does Count Us In call citizens to act on climate change, when the biggest emitters are companies and states?

Governments and business must act more boldly. We know less than 200 companies and powerful governments account for a huge part of global emissions. But what citizens do will directly influence business and political leaders.

We buy from those companies and vote for those politicians. We can all do our part to make a direct difference. By taking some of Count Us In’s 16 steps, individuals can reduce their own carbon pollution and signal to markets and businesses the choices they care about. By acting, we can also pressure those in positions of power to act more boldly. Taking steps together signals to political and business leaders that voters and consumers care, creating a cycle of positive change.

How are the carbon savings calculated for each country?

Currently, we’re not gathering country-specific data on carbon savings, but we aim to build this capacity into the Count Us In aggregator in the future.

How do you know people are taking the steps they commit to?

Upon pledging to an action, Count Us In shares the potential impact of individual pledges and shares with users tips on how to take the steps, making it easier to adopt these lifestyle shifts.

All pledges are to try the chosen steps for two months, a time-limited period which is short enough to not be too intimidating, but long enough to form habits that last. Users can keep track of their commitment, and raise their ambition through the Count Us In profile. If they don’t, Count Us In assumes that they didn’t complete the steps they pledged to.

How is Count Us In user data used?

Count Us In has commissioned Do Nation to develop and manage the platform. When you sign up to take a step you are sharing your data with Do Nation and Leaders’ Quest Foundation on behalf of Count Us In. As joint data controllers, they will manage your data according to their privacy policies and terms and conditions.

We'll use this information about you to, among other things, contact you to answer any questions you may have, measure the impact of your pledged steps, and to send you handy reminders, tips, and confirmation emails about your pledges.

If you decide you no longer want to receive any of this information, you can just let us know by emailing support@count-us-in.org with the subject line “Delete my account”. Unless you state otherwise, we'll leave your pledges on the site but anonymize them by removing all your personal data.

When you record your step, you may be given the option to share your data with the owner(s) of the Count Us In page where you recorded your step, so that they can contact you in relation to your step and their related climate change programmes. Only if you opt in will this be shared with them.

We’ll input aggregated data from the Count Us In platform and other partner platforms into our aggregator, developed by Count Us In partner Accenture and with support from our platform partners. This won’t include any of your personal data.

We will never share your contact details with other third parties without your explicit permission.

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Get in touch:

For partnerships and general enquiries: contact@count-us-in.org
For technical assistance: support@count-us-in.org