The Converging World is a Bristol based charity that understands the need to reduce CO2 wherever and however it is cheapest to do so. The charity came up with the big idea to use both donations and private investment to install renewable energy in India, where the impact of CO2 avoided is almost double of what it is in the UK. The surplus income from the sale of power would then be used to support both poverty allevation and ecological restoration.
Since 2016 ecolibrium has been supporting The Converging World (through its subsidiary CWRE Ltd) by investing over £45,000 of our members’ travel balancing donations – these assisted with the development of a 8.4MW wind farm in Tamil Nadu, South India. This project has now generated 82,400MW of clean green power to the India grid, avoiding over 79,000 tCO2 the equivalent of driving over 178 million miles in an average car! (as of Feb 2021)
The Converging World shares ecolibrium’s belief that, in order to avoid catastrophic global climate change, avoiding CO2 is not enough, so they also engage with ecological restoration partners in India. Ecological Restoration offers an effective and affordable solution to many of our planet’s biggest problems: Reforestation in the tropics is one of the most effective solutions for removing CO2 from the atmosphere as trees growing in the tropics grow faster and sequester more CO2 than in cooler climates. In addition the associated environmental and social benefits of the Converging Worlds partner’s projects allow them to support the universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by working towards the sustainable development goals.
In 2017, artist Joss Stone worked with ecolibrium to balance the travel carbon emissions from the first half of her ‘Total World Tour’, through which she aimed to play in every country in the world. Joss’ donation supported The Converging World’s ecological restoration partner in the South of India. The partner established a women’s cooperative that collects seeds, germinates them and sells them back to the organisation, who guarantees to buy a minimum amount of trees every year, supplying the project with a range of 200 different indigenous species. The women in the cooperative are then funded for up to two years to plant and look after the saplings – leading to a high sapling survival rate of 90%. Once the forest is established, the women also collect the produce for healing remedies which are sold to generate an income for the local women and empower them within their communities. In order to balance the unavoidable emissions from the first half of her world tour Joss Stone donated to support the planting of 3,000 saplings, each of which will absorb over a tonne of CO2 over their lifetime while also creating sustainable livelihoods for the local communities.
Find out more about our project partners HERE.