Commons selected for Fortune’s Impact 20 List

Every year, Fortune recognizes a select list of businesses with missions focused on tackling key social and environmental issues. 

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This year, Commons is honored to be a part of Fortune's Impact 20. We’re excited to be alongside other mission-driven businesses like GoodLeap, Newlight Technologies, re.green.

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Commons was selected for the scale of our potential impact, time frame for making an impact, likelihood of continued success, and degree of leadership in our category. 

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Changing climate through collective action

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No single individual caused the climate crisis, but together, we can drive the solution. 

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The Commons app empowers tens of thousands of people to make a difference by giving them the tools to track their carbon footprint and lower it through their everyday purchases.

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Our spending influences 65% of global emissions. When we buy less and buy better, we can live more sustainably. 

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In 2022, folks in the Commons community reduced their carbon footprint by an average of 20% and saved $200 per month. Some individual climate actions were substantial, like investing in solar panels or switching to an electric car, but most were gradual improvements, like eating less meat, flying less, or switching to sustainable brands. 

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If every American reduced their footprint at the same rate, we’d reduce global emissions by 1 billion tons. That’s equivalent to taking two-thirds of cars off the road for a year.

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The collective power of sustainable spending

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The UN estimates that 40-70% of emissions reduced by 2050 can come from changing lifestyles and behaviors. Both are inextricably linked to our spending.

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Choices like the foods we eat, the miles we travel, and the electricity we use have a significant impact on global emissions when we make sustainable shifts together. By understanding the emissions of our lifestyle choices we can track the improvements to our carbon footprints over time. 

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A look back at 2023 and our plans for the future

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2023 was our biggest year yet at Commons. We rebranded and relaunched the entire product, doubled our team, and enhanced and expanded the app with several notable features: 

• Relaunched as Commons: As our community has grown, so have our ambitions. We realized we need a brand that better encompasses the potential and impact of our community.
• Sustainable brands directory: The directory features hundreds of brands — from clothing to tech — to help you choose the most sustainable option for your next purchase. 
• Rewards for sustainable living: By choosing more sustainable purchases like public transit, thrift stores, and Climate Neutral certified brands, users earn monthly rewards, which they can redeem for cash, donations, or offsets.
• Enhanced footprint tracking: We made huge improvements to the footprint tracking tool with more charts and transaction-level information. Keep an eye out for even more exciting improvements this month. 
• A new Explore tab: The Explore tab creates a single point of access to dozens of articles, hundreds of sustainable brands, various climate actions, and offsets all in one place, making it easier than ever to find the right kind of actionable guidance you need when you need it. 

In addition to improvements to the app, Commons announced the addition of Colin Kaepernick to its Climate Neutral certification, became a member of 1% for the Planet, and added Colin Kaepernick to the team. We also significantly grew our Instagram community, sharing emissions data, climate news, and tips for sustainable living.

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Our 2024 roadmap includes big plans to offer more perks for living sustainably and releasing more tools to empower and bolster the climate community (online and off).