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Company News & Updates General Product News

Introducing the New Hazel

Let’s Make Climate Change Fun Again!

Did you know that the amount of carbon in the atmosphere today is more than it’s been in approximately 3,000,000 years? Or that we’re losing approximately 1.2 trillion tonnes of ice from the north and south poles a year–which, to put in perspective, is roughly the same weight as every human-made thing on the planet?

Thankfully, society is starting to respond to the climate crisis: From the Inflation Reduction Act in the US to other federal efforts around the world to initiatives in the corporate sector, change is happening. That’s fantastic news!

But we have a long way to go, and we’ve got a short window in which to turn things around before the future gets really bleak. That’s why we’re here to help empower you to make a difference! Finally, you can take action–no matter who you are or what life looks like for you right now.

We’re launching Hazel, a mobile app that makes it possible for you to combat climate change — and it’s as easy as playing a game. No credit card required.

Join us in solving climate change.

The solution is literally just a tap away.

A little climate change context…

How do we solve the climate crisis? Decarbonization gets all the attention today–and rightfully so. Step one to averting a full-blown climate disaster is to move off of carbon-based fuels (think: oil/gasoline, coal & natural gas) as quickly as possible.

Lots of people are working on this, and the great news is that society is making quick progress–from the explosion of solar-powered electricity generation to electric vehicles to changes in how things like concrete are made, we are making progress.

But (and there’s always a “but”), decarbonization alone isn’t the solution.

Even if we fully stopped emitting all carbon pollution today–a huge if–we still have too much carbon in the atmosphere. And unlike other types of pollution, carbon doesn’t clean itself up in a few months or even a few years. It’s not like in the movies, where the hero stops the evil corporation from polluting the river and then the problem is solved and at the end of the movie the river is pristine again. Even if we stop polluting today, we’ll still have too much carbon pollution in the atmosphere, wreaking havoc on our climate.

As of the start of 2023, we have approximately 418 parts-per-million (ppm) of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere globally.

What’s that mean?

The last time the Earth was at carbon levels above 400ppm was over 3,000,000 years ago. At that time, giant camels lived in a forested arctic and ocean levels were 30 feet higher (well above modern New York, Houston and Seattle). Not a world that we’d recognize today.

If we’re to avoid an unrecognizable future, the challenge is clear — we need to remove carbon from the atmosphere, and do it at massive scale.

That’s the challenge. How do we tackle it?

Let’s Talk Carbon Removal

Removing atmospheric carbon at scales that will have a global impact is a massive challenge. It’s estimated that we need to remove approximately 10 gigatonnes annually, which is an amount of carbon that’s roughly equivalent to ⅓ of the mass of Mount Everest. And we need to do it annually.

We have a long way to go (and a short time to get there)….

The good news is that we have many of the technologies we need to remove carbon–from simple approaches (planting trees or kelp, which remove carbon naturally) to industrial direct air capture & other technologies that pull carbon from the air, the pieces are there.

What we lack is scale–doing enough of it fast enough. And what scale requires is funding. Whether it’s a tree planting project or a new carbon-removal factory, we need to pay for it to build it.

And that’s the current problem–while money is flowing into carbon removal from corporations and governments, the industry needs more. Lots more, if we’re to scale fast enough to reach that 10 gigatonnes goal.

That’s where you and I come in.

Consumers to the Rescue!

The money that you and I spend is insignificant, compared to what governments or businesses can spend. But, consumer spending in total is massively powerful. In the US alone, consumer spending is more than $14 trillion–global consumer spending is five times that. If only 0.01% of that spending went to funding carbon removal — say each of us spent $0.06 a month to remove carbon from the atmosphere — that would be a whopping $1.4B spent on carbon removal.

This would match the amount of current spending–effectively doubling the amount of carbon we’re removing overnight.

If we all worked together, we could solve the carbon challenge tomorrow.

But wait…

But (again, always a “but”), here’s the catch.

Who wants to spend anything on carbon removal–even 6 cents–when it’s a lot more fun to spend it on a Netflix subscription? Or on something new from Amazon? Or on, literally, anything else?

Unless you’re just extremely altruistic–and thankfully, some of you are–this isn’t a purchase that makes any sense. Think about it — that six cents is money out of your pocket, which you could spend on something else. But, unlike buying something else, the benefit of your purchase–the removal of carbon & the increased chance we have a planet to live on in the future–is literally shared with 8 billion other people on the planet (and all future generations!).

100% of the cost for 1/8000000000 of the benefit?

No thanks, I’m good.

(Or maybe you literally can’t afford to spend a couple of dollars on grassroots efforts removing carbon. You care and want to help, but times are tight and you don’t have the funds. You’re just surviving. We see you too.)

This is where Hazel comes in…

We need consumer spending to help meet our carbon challenge and avoid the worst impacts of the climate crisis. But consumers are rational and won’t spend on a product that they don’t directly benefit from.

So what do you do?

At Hazel, we decided to flip the script. What if, instead of trying to guilt you into funding carbon removal, focusing on a sense of responsibility or preying on your climate anxiety, we made funding carbon removal fun? Having fun directly benefits me–whether the rest of the planet benefits or not is irrelevant if I’m personally having fun.

Blinding insight:

People tend to like doing things that are fun.

Sometimes, they’ll even pay for fun. $200 billion was spent globally on video games in 2022.

People will spend a lot on games.

So we built a game.

How Hazel saves the world.

Hazel unlocks consumer spending for carbon removal. This funding we then use to fund project partners who are removing carbon from the atmosphere–from tree planting to regenerative farming to ocean work to engineered solutions. We want to fund everything that has a demonstrable impact because we need all solutions to meet the scale needed to solve the carbon challenge.

Consumers fund carbon removal in Hazel in three ways:

  1. First, by directly purchasing carbon removal. Through our “Impacts” screen, you can select the level of funding that you want to provide and take direct action to remove carbon. When you do, you earn Hazelcoins, which are a digital currency that you can use in our experience to unlock new rewards in our game experience. Just like purchasing currency in your favorite mobile game, Hazelcoins make your experience more fun. But unlike buying coins or gems in other games, your Hazelcoin purchase in Hazel fights climate change. How cool is that?
  2. Second, by watching and interacting with our ads, you unlock revenue for Hazel that funds further carbon removal work. Because we spend a portion of our ad revenue on carbon removal, every ad you watch helps save the planet! (In addition to unlocking other bonuses in the game). You’re now saving the planet without spending anything.
  3. Finally, we’ll be launching a web3 integration into Hazel shortly. This is just a fancy way of saying “when you earn a Hazel asset–like a Critter, or egg–you’ll actually own that item.” Like anything you own, you can give it to others or sell it to others. If you do decide to sell any of your Hazel items, a portion of that sale also funds carbon removal!

Obviously the way to have the biggest impact on carbon removal is through directly funding removal in Hazel. But even if you never spend a dime, just by actively using Hazel, you’re fighting climate change!

But… I don’t wanna.

Is tapping a few buttons every day too much to save the planet? Maybe you’re just too busy to spend a minute playing a game to save your future.

If that’s the case, we’re sorry. We can’t help you.

But, if you’re one of the millions of people worried about the future of the planet, and you’re willing to lift a finger to help save the future, we designed Hazel for you.

Welcome to the solution.

Enter the Hazelverse and learn more about the project here.

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Company News & Updates General

Hazel Will Present at TechCrunch Disrupt 2022!

Come find us at TCD!

We’re excited to announce that the Hazel team is presenting our startup at TechCrunch Disrupt next month! Out of thousands of applicants, we were one of a handful chosen to present, and we couldn’t be more excited about the opportunity!

TechCrunch Disrupt has been the launching pad for such tech titans as Dropbox, Mint and Fitbit — and we’re excited to follow in their footsteps!

Want to learn more? Visit the TechCrunch site here.

Planning on attending? We’ll be:

  • Answering questions
  • Meeting with potential partners & investors
  • And more!

Wanna schedule a time to meet? DM us!

Stop by and say hi!

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Company News & Updates General

Hazel 💚 Filecoin

Exciting news!

Hazel was just chosen by the Filecoin Foundation for a grant to explore integrating the Filecoin platform into Hazel!

We’re excited about this cool opportunity and can’t wait to start investigating different ways to incorporate Filecoin into Hazel. From transparent impact reporting to public carbon accounting, we think there’s a lot of ways that Hazel & Filecoin can work together. Filecoin has made a major commitment to environmental sustainability through their Filecoin Green work, and we’re excited to work with them on our climate-change impact work.

What exactly is the integration going to look like — and what good can we do together? That’s what we’re going to figure out. Stay tuned!

Is there something that you’d like to see us investigate? DM us and let us know!

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Company News & Updates General

New Project Alert: Create a Forest In Uruguay

Looking across the future forest.

Take a look at Hazel’s first afforestation project!

Afforestation is a specific way to combat climate change–at its most simple, it’s planting a new forest in a place where trees hadn’t previously grown. This project in Uruguay, however, is so much more than that–and that’s why we’re so excited to add it into the Hazel portfolio!

This project is taking 52,000+ acres of degraded grazing land and turning it into a valuable forest resource for the local community. The land has been used for cattle grazing for generations, and in the past few decades, it has been over-grazed and damaged. Too many cattle have depleted the soils, caused increased erosion, damaged the soil quality and harmed the local watershed.

This project will reverse that damage by creating a lush, productive forest–expanding the local forest ecosystem, repairing the damage caused by grazing and improving local water and soil qualities, all while permanently capturing millions of tonnes of carbon in the process!

The forest will be a mix of pines and hardwoods, managed according to the sustainable forest management best practices as set forth by the Forest Stewardship Council. Critically, this new forest will be an economic asset to the local community–providing new jobs and opportunities in forestry for the people living in the area and giving them an incentive to protect and enhance the new ecosystem.

In total, the project is expected to capture more than 7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, while expanding local biodiversity, creating new economic opportunities and expanding educational opportunities in the local area. Given the size of the project, this project will also serve as a model for other, similar projects in the area–helping demonstrate how enhanced sustainability can be economically advantageous to the community too.

Afforestation, when done in a way that is sustainable and in concert with the economic interests of the local community, can be a significant component in society’s broader fight against climate change. We’re very excited to have the opportunity to work with this project–with your help, we can make it a success!

Bringing a new forest to depleted cattle lands.
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Company News & Updates General

Come Join Us In the Hazelverse!

The World Needs a Climate-Focused Web3 Solution

I’m excited to announce our newest project: The Hazelverse!

We’ve been working on this project since late last year, but now I get to reveal publicly some additional details around it. The Hazelverse is our climate-focused segment of the metaverse. In time, it will be an open-world explorer experience, where you’ll work with the local animals who live in the Hazelverse to fight a cabal of evil scientists who are intent on bringing climate change from our world to the digital world. 

Our first step in this exciting journey is happening now. We’re completing the prototype for a casual, mobile clicker game that will be your first introduction into the Hazelverse world. It’s a web3 experience, meaning that as you earn and unlock specific awards in the game, those digital assets will be NFTs that you’ll own. What this means is that, unlike mobile games we all play now, you’ll own the digital assets that you win and will be able to trade, sell and buy them among other players–and they’ll be fully usable in our future experiences (and potential other metaverse experiences as well!) 

To see samples of our artwork, gameplay demos and other up-to-the-minute information about the Hazelverse, follow us on Twitter. We’ll be running contests, giveaways, and making other announcements in the coming weeks on our Twitter feed, and you don’t want to miss out!

Critically, we’re building our experience on a next-generation, climate-friendly blockchain to avoid the negative impacts of other web3 projects. More on that below. 

But that still leaves a critical question: Why are we doing a web3 project at all? 

We’re launching our work on the Hazelverse for three main reasons:

1/

First, our team strongly believes that crypto needs to be climate-friendly as early as possible, and we hope that we can demonstrate the demand for climate-friendly projects. Web3 shouldn’t be all about sketchy financial schemes, mutant animals and shadowy transactions–we think the technology can be used for the good of society and the planet. We hope to demonstrate one way to be climate positive, and by doing so, we hope to inspire future rounds of new projects and products that incorporate climate impact into their product from the start.

2/

Second, we knew we wanted to create a collection-based experience as part of our product. One of the core challenges that prevents consumers from funding carbon-removal work is the sense that you ‘don’t get anything’ from your purchase–and historically, this has been true! Other than feeling good about helping the climate, you don’t normally get anything in return for your purchase. 

We knew that we wanted to change this by enabling users to build collections of digital goods from their purchases–and by incorporating web3 into our project, we’re able to dial this collection experience up to 11 out of 10. 

Now, when you earn a digital good through Hazel for your efforts, what you’re earning is actually an NFT – you own it outright. You can collect it, use it in our experience, or sell it – it’s yours to do with as you please. We think this just amplifies the fun of filling out your collection and playing with our experience. 

3/

Finally, we’re launching a web3 project because we wanted to appeal to the masses of users. As a consumer-focused business, we knew that if we were going to have an impact on a challenge as huge as climate change we needed millions of users–or more.. And while there certainly are altruistic users who are funding carbon removal through Hazel today, we know there’s a lot more users out there who are motivated by the desire to play a game, or be entertained, or by greed—and that’s OK! We’re intentionally building a solution that enables anyone–even if you don’t even believe in climate change–to have a positive impact on the climate by using our app. 

Best of all, you can have a climate impact *without ever spending a penny on our app*. Web3 technology lets us create a totally free experience for our users that has a climate impact. So whether you get hooked on our product and accelerate your experience by funding carbon removal or never pay anything and just play, you’ll have a positive climate impact through our platform either way! 

Our core model is: Play – Earn – Impact. We’ll be launching our platform into beta in a few months. Follow us and learn how you can be one of the first to make a climate impact with us!

Get involved in our project!

Follow us on Twitter.

Learn more about the Hazelverse here

An Aside About Climate + Crypto:

“Wait,” I hear from a lot of people, “I read somewhere that Bitcoin uses more electricity than the entire country of Argentina/Switzerland/Brazil/Korea (the country changes each time). Isn’t a crypto project the *worst* thing you can do for the climate?”

Thing is, they’re exactly right. 

First generation crypto (Bitcoin and Ethereum) are horrendously inefficient–by design–and use tremendous amounts of electricity. Since that electricity isn’t all coming from renewable sources, that makes their carbon footprints horrific–they’re helping cause climate change. Anyone who builds on top of these platforms is doing tremendous harm to the planet – and deserves the public ridicule they receive – if they’re doing it in the name of a supposedly climate-friendly endeavor

But that’s first-generation crypto. 

First generation anything is typically pretty bad and inefficient–look how bad solar panels were initially. That’s why we’re not using either of the first generation crypto technologies. We haven’t officially announced which chain we’ll be using yet, but it will be one with an electrical use that’s in-line (or ideally, better) than current web2 technologies

So if you’re comfortable doing a Google search, or scrolling Instagram, you should be 100% comfortable with the climate impact from our solution. 

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Company News & Updates General

New Project Alert: Kenya Tree Planting

Newly planted tree seedlings in Kenya.

Just in time for Earth Week:

We’re excited to announce our latest forestry project–planting millions of new trees in Central and Southern Kenya!

Tree planting is a classic approach to removing carbon from the atmosphere–one that we’re happy to include in our portfolio of projects. The process couldn’t be more simple: As trees grow, they absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, turn the carbon into wood, then respire oxygen.

Tree planting has to be done correctly though–successful tree plantings need on-going care and maintenance to ensure that the trees grow to maturity. Critically, planting also has to be done with the support of the local community to protect the newly planted forests for the long-haul. The impact of the trees is undone if they die before reaching their full size, or if someone cuts them down.

That’s why we’re so excited to offer this project, run by The International Small Group and Tree Planting Program (TIST). TIST works with local smallhold farmers to teach them about the economic value of trees and how to care for them correctly. By ensuring that trees are an economic benefit to the local community, TIST creates an environment where trees are valued, protected and cared for as a critical local asset–in addition to being of benefit to the planet! We think this is a great approach to reforestation projects, and we’re excited to support their work in Kenya through Hazel!

Currently, more than 94,000 farmers in Kenya are working with TIST–an incredible local base of support! These farmers form 13,800 Small Groups, which work together to oversee and support their mutual planting efforts.

The results have already been impressive! Already this project is responsible for almost 13,000,000 new tress–and have planted recently more than 5,600,000 seedlings. Each of these trees, at maturity, will capture multiple tonnes of carbon, directly removing the carbon from the atmosphere that causes climate change. It’s a huge impact!

In addition to the impact on climate change and the economic benefit, the trees being planted have a significant impact on the local environment–from helping prevent erosion and runoff during the rainy seasons to improving the soil quality by generating leaf litter (and in some cases, directly fixing nitrogen into the soil).

By supporting this project with Hazel, you’ll enable this project to:

  • Sequester more than 2,800 tonnes of carbon annually
  • Capture atmospheric carbon in newly planted forests
  • Provide an economic opportunity for local farmers (through fruit, nut and other resource harvesting)
  • Improve local soil quality and biodiversity

Reforestation (replanting trees where they once grew) and afforestation (growing new trees in new locations) are significant nature-based solutions for climate change. We’ve been looking for a project that met our standards for impact while also having an impact on the local community, and we found it in this project.

We’re excited to add this project to our portfolio of projects in Hazel–we hope it’s one of your favorites too!

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General Promotions, Challenges & Events

Don’t Miss the 2022 Hazel Earth Week Challenge!

We’re exactly one week out from Earth Day, April 22, 2022! As a company devoted to combating climate change, there’s obviously few holidays on the calendar bigger than Earth Day for us–and this year, we want to celebrate by doing something really cool!

First, what’s bigger than just a day? Making it a week! So this year, we’re celebrating Earth Week!

And to celebrate Earth Week, we’re launching a special promotion & challenge for our users:

Hazel 2022 Earth Week Promotion

First, anyone who makes a purchase in Hazel this week–any purchase, supporting any project, at any amount–automatically will be emailed a unique reward code.

What’s the code do? We’ll get to that.

Second, the user who makes the largest purchase during Earth Week will be named “Official Earth Week 2022 Big Kahuna” and get a second unique code.

What’s that code do? We’ll get to that too.

What’s the code do?

OK, let’s get to that.

Your unique, one-of-a-kind code–whether just as an Earth Week participant or as the Big Kahuna–will enable you to receive a unique, one-of-a-kind digital asset in the upcoming Hazelverse web3 experience. This unique asset will be a way for you to customize your experience and show off that you were active in the Hazelverse from Day Zero.

The only way to get this asset from us will be to have a redemption code. If you don’t buy next week, you’ll miss out on ever earning this asset.

Would it have been cool to have the very first page on Facebook, or the email address “bob@gmail.com” (assuming your name is Bob)? You bet it would have been. This is your chance to be on board from prelaunch of something that’s going to be even cooler.

Wait, it’s a digital… what?

If you’re following us on Twitter, you’ll know some of our plans for the Hazelverse. In this new experience, you’ll be given an island of land in the Hazelverse that you need to protect from climate change.

The digital asset you’ll get for participating in our Earth Week promotion will be something that you can add to your island to customize it. And you’ll be one of a handful of users who have the customization–or, if you’re the Kahuna, the only one.

How to Join In:

Want in on the fun? It’s easy to join!

  • If you haven’t already, download Hazel for iOS here or Hazel for Android here.
  • Open Hazel & signup for an account (or just sign in)
  • Tap “Impact” and select the type of climate impact you want to make
    • Want to eliminate the negative climate impact of your driving? Pick “Supplemental” and a vehicle size under “Gasoline Usage”
    • Want to eliminate the negative climate impact of a recent flight? Pick “Supplemental” and a flight time under “Air Travel”
    • Just want to capture the amount of carbon emissions that is typical for most people each month? Select “Baseline” and then your impact level

That’s it! We’ll email you your unique code shortly after your purchase!

Best of all, like any Hazel purchase, not only are you funding critical carbon removal efforts but you’re also earning Hazelcoins and status on your dashboard–check out your “Me” tab to see!

How Do I Know If I’ve Reached Ultimate Kahuna-ness?

(Or if I’ve gotten bumped from my perch?)

When we email you your code, we’ll tell you if you’re currently in the lead or not. All week we’ll be publishing leaderboards to LinkedIn and Instagram (using buyers’ initials to respect privacy) so you can track where you stand. Make sure to follow to see where you stand!

(And of course, you can always just email us and ask)

Don’t let this opportunity for Kahuna-immortality slip by!

Special Atlanta Green Market Festival Information

We’re excited to partner with the Atlanta Green Market Festival on 4/23 to be their preferred carbon removal partner. If you’re going to the market, you’re someone who values environmental action, and we know you’ll want to help do your part to help the climate.

All users who make a climate impact through Hazel during the festival will get an Earth Week code for their participation. In addition, we’ll be aggregating the amount of impact all festival goers make on 4/23 and reporting out through the festival’s organizers to all attendees.

Let’s make this year’s Green Market Festival not only fun & educational, but a positive impact on the climate!

We’re excited about Earth Week, and we hope you are too! Download Hazel. Follow us on social media. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated. And let’s make a huge impact during Earth Week this year!

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Company News & Updates General

New Project Alert! 2,500 Acres in Central Vermont

Looking out across the Middlebury Forest Tract.

We’re excited to announce our latest forestry project: 2,500 Acres in Middlebury, Vermont! This is the first domestic US project that we’ve worked with, and we couldn’t be more excited–in addition to being a critical mixed hardwood habitat, it’s also an opportunity to support the environmental efforts of Middlebury College, one of the nation’s oldest liberal arts institutions, as they go carbon neutral across their entire campus.

This project is a mix of reforestation and improved forestry management–it’s a mix of planting new trees, protecting the existing trees, and protecting the entire forest from diseases and invasive species. If you’re looking for a unique way to support carbon removal, higher education, and protect a classic New England ecosystem, this is it!

We learned about this project initially through its association with Middlebury College. The college has owned–and, since the 1920s commercially harvested lumber from–this forest (in fact, many of the buildings on campus are built with timber from this forest tract). When the school committed to going carbon neutral in 2016, the forest became an integral part of the plan–by prohibiting commercial logging, the school could ensure additional carbon capture through the forest’s growth each year. Plus, by reforesting sections that had previously been harvested, newly planted trees could capture additional carbon–above and beyond what the carbon needs of the school are.

Each year, Middlebury College retains and retires the rights to some of the carbon that the tract has captured to meet their Net Zero goals. The forest captures more carbon than the school produces, however, and these additional tonnes of carbon are what we’re able to purchase through this partnership–directly supporting the on-going health of the forest and its natural work of removing carbon from the air.

We also like this project because, unlike some reforestation projects in other parts of the world, the legal system in the US ensures that the conservation commitments that the school signed to protect the forest are iron-clad, and issues of on-going maintenance and monitoring of the forest are greatly reduced.

Plus: It’s fun to support a project in our own backyard! (Relatively speaking, of course….)

By supporting this project with Hazel, you’ll enable this project to:

  • Sequester more than 19,000 tonnes of carbon annually
  • Increase the sequestration potential of this forest by adopting techniques that increase the biodiversity of the forest
  • Provide an educational resource for students, faculty and the local community
  • Provide recreational opportunities for the local community
  • Create habitat for local fox, coyotes, moose, fisher cats, turkey and black bear
  • Protect freshwater river sources for the surrounding watershed, including the East Middlebury River

Reforestation–planting new forests that were once harvested–is a significant method for removing carbon from the atmosphere. We’re excited to add this forestry project into the mix and work with you to support it!

Categories
Company News & Updates General

Hazel Price Updates

You know we’ve focused since our inception on providing the highest quality carbon removal offsets, while maximizing the impact you as a user get for every dollar spent on our platform.

Unfortunately, to maintain the same high-quality carbon removal offsets we’ve provided in the past, we’re being forced to pay much higher prices than we were just months ago–in some cases, the costs of the carbon removal offsets we buy have gone up by as much as 50%!

As a result of our higher costs, you’ll see higher prices in Hazel starting today. We anticipate this being the only price increase we’ll need to do for 2022, but that will depend on how the market for the rest of the year evolves.

If you’re on a subscription with us:

Hazel provides the option to select “Monthly Purchase” at checkout to make your purchase a monthly subscription. If you’re on a subscription plan like this, we will not be raising your prices. You made a commitment to support climate action through Hazel, and we want to honor your commitment–even though it means we’ll be losing money on it. (Note that any new subscriptions will be at the new pricing).

Additional details about this change:

First, we didn’t want to deviate from the high-quality carbon removal offsets we’ve been offering. One of the things that makes Hazel unique is that, unlike many sources, we’re 100% focused on supporting projects that remove carbon from the atmosphere. Many carbon offset projects are focused on avoidance–effectively “pay me or I’ll pollute”–and these types of offsets are much cheaper.

While we think there’s a role for those projects, with Hazel we wanted to focus instead on selling offsets that come from actual capture and removal of carbon from the atmosphere, whether by:

  • Conservation Efforts: Where the preserved ecosystems sequester additional carbon every year;
  • Reforestation: Where newly planted trees capture and store carbon;
  • Regenerative Farming: Where a change in farming practices results in fields that capture and store additional carbon;
  • Technology & Other: Where engineered or other cutting-edge approaches are used to capture carbon.

These projects are in the most demand, however, and are uniformly raising prices, which impacts our business.

In the future, this may mean that our project mix, for users who pick “Support All Projects” in Hazel, may change. Although prices are rising everywhere, not all projects are rising at the same rate or by the same amount. There may be an opportunity to mix lower-priced removal projects with higher priced ones so that the average price remains low–while still supporting multiple projects. Right now, users who pick “Support All Projects” in Hazel get an equal amount of all of our projects–changing this mix may enable us to support pricier solutions in the future. (Obviously if you pick a specific project to support, 100% of your support goes to that project). Stay tuned!

We’re also going to be aggressively shopping for new projects that provide the same level of impact & reporting we require, but at a more competitive price. If you run or know of a project you’d like to see in Hazel, let us know!

In future weeks, we may introduce new Impact product options in Hazel at lower price points. While these will also represent a smaller amount of carbon captured, we want to provide an option for users that cannot afford to fund a larger impact on the climate.

We’ll also be raising the amount of Hazel Coins you receive to reflect our new prices. Why does that matter? It doesn’t… yet. But trust me, you’re going to want as many Hazel Coins as you can get in your account in a few weeks…

Finally…

I know we probably could have raised prices and not said anything, and our new prices would have gone largely unnoticed. That would have been a jerky move though, and we’re committed to being better people, and a better business, than that. We wanted to be as transparent with you as possible because that’s the right thing to do. We know higher prices aren’t something anyone wants to hear, but we hope you’ll understand our need to change our prices. –Ed

Categories
Company News & Updates

Join the Hazel 2022 Impact Challenge

It’s (finally) 2022! And with the new year comes everyone’s favorite: New Year’s Resolutions!

This January, in addition to pledging to go to the gym or to eat better, why not make a resolution for the climate?

If you’re resolving to make an impact on climate change, join our Hazel 2022 Impact Challenge!

From today until the end of January, for every user who contributes to a Hazel project at the 150% Impact Level, not only will you be supporting atmospheric carbon removal, but:

I’ll post a photo of myself to our social media channels hugging a tree!

🌲 🌴 🌳  Yes, a tree. 🌲 🌴 🌳

This tree needs a hug.

It might be an oak.


Maybe an elm.


Maybe a sequoia?

(OK, probably not a sequoia…)

The only way to find out: Make an impact with Hazel.
We’ll begin 2022 with a stream of tree love–help us start the new year right!

BONUS:
Since we know you’re competitive, we’re adding a wrinkle:
Fund a project at 150% AND get your friends to fund at 150% too.

The user who gets the most friends to sign up and fund at 150% gets their impact doubled AND gets to add a hidden message in the upcoming Hazelverse experience (yes: a launch Easter Egg of your own!)

How to Get Started:

1. Open Hazel

2. Go to “Impact”

3. Under “Baseline” choose “150% Impact Level”

4. Check out

That’s it!
Look for your tree hugging photos within 24 hours of checking out!