Our Impact Report is a compact monthly update that keeps you up to date on our progress. This is where you’ll find all the latest facts and figures about our projects in September, from customer deposits to rainforest conservation and offsetting CO₂ down to new impact investments. So let’s get started – we have a lot to report!
Your money is our capital for change
Your money is our capital. Unlike at many other conventional banks, it is not invested in the arms industry, factory farming or coal-fired power plants. So the more money we take away from these banks, the better. Money, after all, needs to be part of the solution, not the problem.
The more money that is paid into our accounts, the more good we can do.
In the month of September
Our joint contribution to protecting the climate
Every time you use your Tomorrow card in a store, a small fee is paid to us by the retailer. But instead of pocketing the money for ourselves like other banks do, we are investing it in a forest protection project in Brazil. The more often you pay using your Tomorrow card, the more square metres of rainforest are protected.
The Amazon is the world’s largest, intact rainforest and the climate protection contribution is helping to preserve it. The money is being donated to a forest protection project in Portel, Brazil and the area we are protecting is growing every month.
Offset your carbon footprint with Zero
With Zero, our premium account, you can offset as much CO₂ as the average German emits in a year: around 11 tonnes. The more of our users who switch to Zero, the more CO₂ will be offset. Together we can make a significant change.
We are currently funding three climate protection projects for the CO₂ compensation. Read more about how that works here.
Tomorrow and the Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015 the United Nations defined a set of global goals for sustainable development: the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Tomorrow is committed to these SDGs. In each of our Impact Reports we will pick out one of the goals and explain in more detail how we are contributing to fulfilling it.
We ensure that our climate protection projects are not only for the good of the climate, but also the people in the Global South. Like with the biogas plants in Vietnam as part of Zero. Because many people there still cook with wood or charcoal, which is usually sourced by women. The clean biogas plants reduce the time the women have to spend organising these resources because the biogas they generate can be used in gas cookers for cleaning water and cooking. This gives the women more time to spend on other things, such as work and educational opportunities. Plus, it also reduces the risk of violence against women because it means they are less likely to have to travel to remote places on their own to source wood or charcoal.
Another project we are supporting with Zero is the drilling and maintaining of boreholes in Uganda. This gives people access to clean drinking water without having to boil it down. The consumption of contaminated drinking water is one of the leading causes of death in Sub-Saharan Africa. And the smoke that develops when water is boiled can also lead to respiratory diseases, especially among women and children.
Also geared towards the SDGs is the social bond in the Netherlands, which we have been investing part of our customer deposits in since September. It provides help to single parents and their children. For families without an income (or a double income), affordable rents can provide security on many levels. They enable people to afford a place to live on their own and move away from unaffordable, insecure or unsuitable housing. The entire social bond is currently enabling 260,000 single parents (of whom 85% are mothers) with at least one child to afford decent and affordable housing.
What else?
Every month we try to increase our positive impact further with new projects and initiatives – but also by giving talks, participating in demos or simply by taking a stand. Here’s a current overview:
We are now a B Corp, have doubled our impact investments, donated to a good cause and are now launching our crowdinvesting
So much happened in September. The first good news: Tomorrow is now a B Corp! This makes us part of a global association that doesn’t promote growth over values and that works together to ensure that this ethos becomes the new status quo. Find out more about our rating and the process here.
And we have almost nearly doubled our impact investments. Because in addition to the new social bond that is contributing to the SDGs, in which 6 million euros of customer deposits are being invested, we are investing another 3.6 million euros in an additional green bond. This means that our impact investments now amount to around €20 million. Find out more here.
And last month we also ran a fundraising campaign that was very close to our hearts. For this, we joined forces with the Amadeu Antonio Foundation, which is committed to preventing right-wing extremism, racism and antisemitism. Around 500 of you got involved and in next to no time we notched up an impressive total of around 6,800 euros. Thanks so much – you’re all amazing!
We also organised another Zebra Meet-Up, where we spoke to Lisa Jasper from Folkdays and Sebastian Klein from Neue Narrative about new ways of doing business and working. Once again, we left the session with so much food for thought – and we hope you did too.
And last but not least: we are just about to launch our crowdinvesting campaign, which you can all get involved in. Find out everything you need to know here.
As you can see, September was a fantastic month! Here’s to more of the same in October…