Drawdown Labs

Drawdown Labs is Project Drawdown’s private sector testing ground for accelerating the scaling of climate solutions quickly, safely, and equitably. Leveraging the organization's world-class research and analysis—and the cross-industry capabilities of participating businesses and funders—Drawdown Labs experiments with collaborative ways to address climate change at unprecedented scale, and offers the world a more expansive vision for private sector climate leadership.

Drawdown Labs provides its partners with the tools, forums, and expertise to more effectively work across sectors and zero-in on leverage points for ambitious climate action, offering the world powerful—and attainable—ways of addressing the climate crisis.

We face the consequences of a warming climate today—in order to achieve drawdown, the private sector cannot make long-term commitments without also using their influence to affect near-term changes. To be a leader in the 21st century, doing “less harm” no longer makes the grade. Drawdown Labs partners model how to level-up climate action as engaged, intentional parts of the solution: helping the world achieve drawdown, quickly and safely, and with equity at the heart of the transition. 

Learn more about Drawdown Labs in its inaugural press release (October 2020), and this spring 2021 update about its full slate of private sector partners.

Company criteria
Drawdown Labs works with private sector partners that meet particular benchmarks aligned with the science, ambitious goal setting, and advocacy practices required to meet the climate crisis at scale. Our partners:

• have science-based, independently-verified greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets including scopes 1, 2, and 3 aligned with 1.5C;

• are committed to driving climate solutions within and outside business operations to accelerate decarbonization of the global economy;

• have the ambition to go beyond being “Paris compliant” to proactively help the world achieve drawdown, quickly, safely, and equitably—and lead shifts that align their broader industry with this goal; and

• are not engaged in lobbying against climate change or climate science.

Labs superpowers
Drawdown Labs partners bring unique perspectives, skills, stakeholders, and audiences to the consortium—celebrate their best-in-class climate focus, below.

Allbirds is a sustainable footwear and apparel company focused on using natural materials to transform both their products and the ecosystems from which these materials are sourced. Allbirds brings to Drawdown Labs the understanding that what we measure, we can reduce, using the power of life cycle analysis to understand how its business can drive emissions reductions.

Aspiration, Drawdown Labs’ first-ever financial services partner, enables customers to keep their deposits out of fossil fuels, automatically plant trees with their card purchases, and track business and personal Planet & People impact scores as they shop. Aspiration shows that people can use their spending and saving to achieve meaningful climate impact at scale.

Copia is a champion of Project Drawdown’s first climate solution: reducing food waste. By improving technology and logistics, Copia is helping businesses redistribute high-quality excess food to feed people in need, showing the private sector that addressing both the climate crisis and social inequities can be integral to a business model. 

General Mills, a global manufacturer of branded consumer foods, has the reach to create large-scale impact in the food and agriculture industry beyond its own operational footprint. As a Drawdown Labs partner, General Mills brings with it its holistic focus on regenerative agriculture that strengthens both ecosystems and communities.  

Google has the scale, reach, and resources to go big on sustainability. They don’t stop at making their own business and operations carbon-free—they’re also focused on greening the electrical grid and sharing their technology and funding with others. Google is enabling its one billion users to act on climate change by integrating new sustainability features directly into their products.   

Grove Collaborative both curates and creates non-toxic, cruelty-free, and sustainable household essentials. Grove sets a high standard for these goods, with the belief that household and personal care products should do good for human and environmental health, and that they should always be easy for customers to access.

IDEO is a global design company and an early partner in crafting the Drawdown Labs structure. With an emphasis on forward-thinking and human-centered program design, IDEO brings a foundation of innovation and creativity to Project Drawdown's work with the private sector.

Impossible Foods is driving the transition away from beef, making plant-based meats to end the greenhouse gas emissions and land degradation associated with industrial meat production. Impossible Foods embodies the Drawdown Solution of shifting to plant-rich diets, helping consumers make a simple switch to more sustainable food options.  

Intuit is a financial software company looking beyond its own operations to create a positive impact on global climate, largely by looping small businesses into the climate change solution conversation. As a business with wide reach and millions of users, Intuit is innovating on climate with its employees, customers, and communities.

Lime deploys shared scooters and other vehicles to provide equal and affordable mobility. With their focus on reducing the use of personal automobiles for short distance travel, Lime is helping the world achieve drawdown by prompting cities to rethink micromobility and providing individuals with simple, fun alternatives to cars.  

LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network focused on creating economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce. This means providing its members with the tools, resources, and community needed for this transition by spotlighting green economic trends, connecting green job seekers and employers, providing sustainability skills training, and partnering with environmental innovators.

Netflix is a streaming entertainment service that showcases inclusive stories on climate solutions to hundreds of millions of viewers around the world. Sitting at the intersection of technology and entertainment, Netflix shows how sustainability can be implemented beyond operational footprints through creative, memorable storytelling.

R&DE Stanford Dining is a leading university partner on many aspects of complex global food systems—from equitable supply chains, climate-smart dining, and regenerative agriculture, to reducing food waste and shifting diets towards plant-forward options. Stanford Dining demonstrates that sustainable, ethical, and healthy food systems can be deployed at scale, while simultaneously inspiring the next generation to improve how Earth’s precious resources are managed.

Trane Technologies is an industrial manufacturer creating efficient indoor environments and climate-controlled transportation solutions. Trane’s goal is to reduce their customers’ carbon footprint by one gigaton of Carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) by 2030, applying climate solutions in the industry, buildings, and electricity sectors beyond their own operations.

Unity is the world’s leading platform for creating and operating real-time 3D (RT3D) content. Beyond greening their own operational footprint, Unity is helping decarbonize the gaming industry as a whole and utilizing new technology to drive climate action in the real world.