Engagement in Action: Verger Neutralizes its Carbon Footprint with Climate Vault
Verger is proud to announce they have offset their corporate office and employees’ personal carbon footprints. This achievement is possible through Verger’s continued partnership with Climate Vault, an award-winning non-profit whose unique, two-pronged approach 1) uses government-regulated markets to immediately and verifiably reduce CO2 emissions and 2) supports innovation in carbon removal technologies designed to eliminate historical pollution.
Verger first partnered with Climate Vault in 2020 as part of its broader ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) commitment, acting as one of the earliest supporters of the non-profit. Climate Vault used the donation to purchase permits on government-regulated compliance markets and “vault” them – preventing polluters from using them in the future.
The first donation was designed to offset Verger’s annual corporate office emissions. Verger recently renewed and expanded the partnership with an ongoing donation. This time, Verger went beyond offsetting the annual corporate office footprint by expanding the offset to cover all Verger employees’ personal carbon footprints as well.
“We are proud to partner with Climate Vault in our shared goal of reducing global carbon emissions,” said Jim Dunn of Verger. “A focus on ESG impact is part of our firm’s culture and we are committed to supporting like-minded organizations that tackle tough ESG issues with innovative solutions to create immediate, lasting impact.”
As part of its unique approach, Climate Vault takes offsetting a step further. The non-profit leverages the value of vaulted permits to provide grants, spurring innovation in carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies and helping to make the technologies viable and cost effective. Climate Vault’s Technology Experts Chamber has released its carbon removal Request For Proposal (RFP) and is currently reviewing potential enterprises deploying effective CDR innovations.
Verger identified the Climate Vault opportunity with the help of their ESG Task Force, which launched in October 2020. The independent advisory group was created to convene industry experts and guide Verger in establishing a long-term, proactive approach to managing ESG issues responsibly. “Our initial work focused on Verger as a business, and we saw an opportunity to establish carbon neutrality quickly, instead of setting a typical long-term goal,” said Verger Advisory Board member and ESG Task Force Chair, Angelo Calvello. “We admire Climate Vault’s innovative and transparent approach and hope to find similarly exciting opportunities as we continue to provide counsel on ESG efforts related to Verger’s firmwide policies, business practices, and investment activity.”
“We are thrilled to have Verger as a supporter of Climate Vault,” said Prof. Michael Greenstone, Co-founder of Climate Vault and Milton Friedman Distinguished Service Professor in Economics at the University of Chicago. “Thanks to organizations like Verger, we’ve reduced more than 730,000 metric tons of CO2 to date and look forward to making an even larger impact in the years to come.”
To learn more about Climate Vault’s mission and how your organization can get involved, please visit www.ClimateVault.org.