VIDEO: Measuring Our Impact

The process of defining an impact measurement system for Tomorrow’s Air helped our team grapple with how to measure the tons carbon dioxide our collective cleans up and the impact of the education we provide to travelers and travel companies, supporting a much-needed transformation in travel. 

We wrote in September, 2021 about defining our impact measurement system; in this post we’re proud to walk you through it. 

In this short video Christina Beckmann of Tomorrow’s Air interviews Pumla Maswanganyi and Thaksheel Alleck who led the effort with the generous support of Ann Becker. In it they share their distinctive perspectives based on their past experiences and their home bases - South Africa and Mauritius.

A few conversation highlights:

• Both Pumla and Thaksheel share that one of the most challenging aspects of the work was performing the deep dive into Tomorrow’s Air mission to see how its stated goals align with the specific targets contained in each of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. 
• In a portion of the discussion focused on the collective impact of individual actions, Thaksheel, as a college freshman aged 20, shares how his work with Tomorrow’s Air dovetailed with campus initiatives focused on sustainability and climate action. 
• At 16:20 Pumla ruminates on the importance of individuals in helping bring about policy level and organizational transformation. She observes that while policies are necessary to enact broad changes in society, engaging individuals can help bring this about faster, remarking, “There is so much power to set of individuals that join together believing in a mission -  as that has the power to transform systems in much bigger ways.” ‍

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What we’ll need to do in order to reach our vision of fresh air, and a stable climate for everyone. To achieve this lofty goal we figure we’ll need to not only clean up a lot of CO2, we’ll have to first inspire and engage a broad community of people who care.

Our specific goals are:

1. Grow the community of travelers knowledgeable about climate conscious travel 
2. Grow the community of travelers who take positive action for climate when they travel (reducing emissions where they can as well as helping clean up CO2 emissions) 
3. Expand travel business participation in effective climate education and mitigation efforts
4. Channel funding to pioneering carbon clean up and storage solutions
   

Specific indicators we’ll track

Taking those goals to the practical level, we discussed a set of indicators and actually how to track them, as shown in the table below.

Here’s the rundown of how our collective furthers the goals of the UNSDGs:

‍SDG 13 Climate Action: Our ongoing communications efforts provide practical education, raising awareness along with personal and institutional capacity about climate change adaptation, mitigation and reduction 
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SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth: As we expand the community of travelers supporting carbon removal frontier technologies, these solutions will become more efficient and affordable, supporting the goal of improving global resource efficiency, and decoupling economic growth from environmental degradation. By emphasizing the need to integrate carbon removal in travel, we help promote sustainable tourism that creates jobs and promotes local culture and products.
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SDG 12 Responsible Consumption and Production Explanation: Our ongoing communications efforts provide travelers with relevant information and awareness for sustainable development and lifestyles in harmony with nature. 
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SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities Explanation: By expanding the community of travel businesses participating in effective climate education and mitigation we support this goal’s aim to provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems for all.  

Now the real work begins. Look for regular updates on the progress of this exciting community.