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Corporate Social Responsibility

Changing the World, One Idea at a Time

Dear Wazoku Community,

Our world continues to live in the long shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic. As I write this, we are once again facing an uncertain end to 2021, as questions circle around the new Omicron variant. Wazoku represents a global community, and we are profoundly aware that the impact across the world is not even and is highly complex. As we come towards the close of 2021 and look ahead to 2022, I hope that across our amazing community that you and your loved ones are healthy and safe.

A number of hugely important themes have come to the fore in 2021. The COP26 event focused the world's attention on climate change, it is critical that we continue the momentum built up in the run up to COP26 into decisive action now and into the immediate future. I will not comment here on the outputs of the meeting itself, but will state that change and impact will be best driven by collective action, collaboration, and innovation from a hyper-local to a supra-global scale. I will also add, that despite the many challenges we face as a planet, as a species, and as communities, I remain optimistic and hopeful about the future ahead.

Wazoku will play a key role in helping to shape that future. Our purpose is to 'Change the World, One Idea at a Time'™. We live by this purpose. Over the past 12 months we have worked tirelessly towards our own objectives focused on UN SDG #4 (Quality Education), #8 (Decent Work & Economic Growth), #9 (Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure), #10 (Reduced Inequalities) and #13 (Climate Action) and will continue our work and focus across these areas into 2022 and beyond. Examples from the past 12 months are:

  • Carbon Neutral recertification (Nov 2021)
  • Wazoku as a signatory to Tech Zero
  • Ran Great Places to Work survey for the first time (recognised #50 in the GPW rankings for medium sized firms)
  • Committed focus on global education to increase the access for our services to a truly global crowd
  • Increased crowd reach to over 150 countries and committed to invest in this further. Awarded $605,250 in innovation awards to solvers in 25 countries (1st Dec 2020 - 30th Nov 2021 inclusive)
  • Supported a range of industry, NGO and Government partners in advancing their activities and ESG goals
  • Supported our partners through financial support including Anthony Nolan; The Giving Trees; Cooking With Gas; For Peat's Sake; Animal Kingdom; Breath of Fresh Air; For The Birds
Simon Hill, CEO and Founder, Wazoku
Simon Hill
CEO and founder, Wazoku

How we are supporting the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Everyday we work to supporting our customers on achieving their SDGs. But for the past 12 months these are the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that we have focused on within our organization.

Quality education Decent work and economic growth Industry, innovation and infrastructure Reduced inequalities Climate action

About Sustainable Development Goals

The SDGs are the world's shared plan to end extreme poverty, reduce inequality, and protect the planet by 2030.

Adopted by 193 countries in 2015, the SDGs emerged from the most inclusive and comprehensive negotiations in UN history and have inspired people from across sectors, geographies, and cultures. Achieving the goals by 2030 will require heroic and imaginative effort, determination to learn about what works, and agility to adapt to new information and changing trends.

The UN Foundation focuses on ideas and initiatives that generate larger impact, advance the SDG imperative to "leave no one behind," and are backed by evidence, practical commitments, and action.

Individuals, innovations, and actions are helping the planet realize the potential and promise of the SDGs. United Nations Foundation

Our Charity Partners

  • We seek to make a positive social impact through our charity partners
  • We select a charity partner every 1-2 years, using our own platform to crowdsource potential charity partners from ideas across the business, typically these are charities who have some personal connection to one or more of the team
  • In the past we have partnered with MS Society, The Princes Trust and our current Charity partner is the Anthony Nolan Foundation
  • For our latest challenge to raise money and awareness Wazoku employees aim to go the circumference of the earth which is around 24,000 miles to raise over £5,000

Anthony Nolan Foundation (Britain)

Every day, Anthony Nolan match incredible individuals willing to donate their blood stem cells or bone marrow to people with blood cancer and blood disorders who desperately need lifesaving transplants.

It all began in 1974. With her three-year-old son Anthony in urgent need of a bone marrow transplant, Shirley Nolan set up the world's first register to match donors with people in desperate need.

Now, the charity helps three people each day find that lifesaving match. There are over 800,00 people on their UK register. You can join it here.

The Giving Trees (Kenya and Uganda )

This project helps small communities plant trees to create a nature-based carbon removal system that helps train leaders and pull families out of poverty.

"This project includes a robust GPS-based monitoring system to independently track the trees and report project progress online. This level of ‘absolute transparency' into field operations ensures TIST is a project Cool Effect can confidently stand behind.

The sale of carbon credits provides income and funding to address a variety of challenges faced by the local community including agricultural and nutritional deficiencies, HIV/AIDS, clean cooking, and fuel availbility. The project distributes 70% of the profits to the local farmers and raises the standard of living for this rural population while combating climate change."

Learn more about The Giving Trees

Cooking With Gas (China)

This project builds biogas digesters for families that capture methane emissions from waste and convert it to renewable energy.

"The project exclusively targets low-income rural households in China's Sichuan province, who are unable to participate in an ongoing public biogas promotion program without additional financial and technical support. These families exist on an average daily per capita income of slightly higher than one US dollar. The carbon revenues from this project supplement an existing government subsidy for digesters and allow participation for low-income rural households. A robust maintenance program with this project ensures long-term use and functionality of the digesters.

Dealing with waste of any kind is a stinky proposition that is unhealthy for the planet. This project has solved the financial and technical issues necessary to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and provide co-benefits including improved health, sanitation, economic savings, and better crops."

Learn more about Cooking with Gas

For Peat's Sake (Indonesia)

The largest carbon project in the world protects 157,000 hectares of land that is sustainably managed as a home to local communities and endangered animals.

"The project development team takes a data-driven approach to project monitoring including remote sensing imagery, reported baseline values, and on-the-ground measurements. This increases Cool Effect's confidence and certainty in the emission reductions.

In addition to climate change mitigation, this project provides community and biodiversity benefits. 50% of the households within the project zone live below the national poverty line. The agreements between the project and communities ensure that benefits will be distributed and shared. Last, this project is verified and certified "Gold Level for 3 years for Climate, Community, and Biodiversity" by the Climate Community & Biodiversity (CCB) Standard"

Learn more about For Peat's Sake

Animal Kingdom (Kenya)

This project protects 420,000 hectares of native grasslands for wildlife and indigenous people.

"We are supporting this project because it restores 420,000-hectares of forests and grasslands in a more cost-effective manner. Through planting trees in a new forest plantation, this project is an excellent example of climate change mitigation and adaptation occurring simultaneously, helping nature, wildlife, and the vulnerable Masai population.

Revenue from the carbon offset sales is re-invested in community projects per the community members' choice. Funds also go for training local capacity-building efforts are already showing results as the communities become more resilient to the impacts of climate change. The project earned CCB gold accreditation for its community benefits, which we are excited to continue to monitor."

Learn more about Animal Kingdom

Breath of Fresh Air (Honduras)

This project constructs cookstoves in rural homes that provide clean air and health benefits to the families.

"The stove passes routine testing by standard Kitchen Performance Tests, and the wood savings are verified. Support and interest in the stove in rural communities in Honduras are overwhelming to the point where it requires no marketing, the growing participation is from word of mouth.

After families get a cookstove, they receive three follow-up visits to ensure the stove was installed and working correctly. This project uses Salesforce CRM to collect usage and maintenance data to identify and solve issues quickly. As a nonprofit, 100% of the proceeds from carbon sales are applied to stove production in Honduras without administrative or operating costs for the staff supporting the project from the United States."

Learn more about Breath of Fresh Air

For the Birds (South Carolina )

This project maintains a remarkable ecosystem of old-growth forests and natural habitats.

"We appreciate this old-growth forest. The carbon absorption rate of a tree accelerates as it ages. This means that forests comprised of tall, old trees - are some of the planet's biggest carbon storehouses. This project combines carbon benefits with virgin forest preservation, watershed protection, and educational opportunities for tourism and the local communities."

Learn more about For the Birds

Learn more about our Great place to Work awards

Our Journey to Net Zero

Our journey to net zero

Our 2022 target top 10 emissions categories

The following are our most emitting carbon categories. We have created a custom set of mitigation strategies tailored to this list - by implementing these and reducing relevant activity where possible, our footprint will be significantly reduced.

  1. Purchased G&S - Business Services
  2. Work from Home
  3. Purchased G&S - Software Services
  4. Electricity Usage
  5. Purchased Goods & Services - Servers
  6. Employee Commuting
  7. Business Travel - Road Transportation
  8. Purchased G&S - Office Supplies & Equipment
  9. Purchased G&S - Maintenance & Cleaning
  10. Business Travel - Flights