Ailuna for X: An app that helps in developing healthy habits to adopt sustainable ways of living
Ailuna, a sustainability training app, helps develop good habits for us and the planet. After launching the app in over 50 countries, Ailuna is now developing Ailuna for X to spread positivity and create a sustainable future. Lars Ronning, Founder of Ailuna, talks in detail about the app.
Today, a lot of people think of sustainability as only an environmental-related issue. How can Ailuna help to overcome the confusion?
Since sustainability is about waste as well as climate change / global warming. But it’s absolutely true that there is quite a bit of confusion around this matter. For example, in a recent survey, 59% of respondents thought that recycling as much as possible has the greatest CO2 impact whereas it’s actually only #7 in the top 10. The most important improvements an individual can make are around transportation, diet and home energy efficiency / energy sources. Or taking things to an extreme, having one fewer child!
Where Ailuna can help is creating dares ranked by actual CO2 impact vs. plastic waste impact, for example. Our users will then know which habit changes will have the most climate impact. We are working on implementing such a ranking system.
Additionally in our blog (https://ailuna.com/blog) we are publishing educational / informational content addressing a wide range of sustainability topics, from holistic living (from wild swimming and “Friluftsliv” (Nordic outdoor philosophy)) to adopting a minimalistic lifestyle to actual climate change topics.
What are the metrics to measure sustainability, and what are the challenges of going green?
Again, sustainability is around reducing one’s CO2 footprint as well as reducing waste in any shape and form, from plastic to energy. In the western world the average individual annual carbon footprint is around 14 tonnes. In order to meet IPCC & UN’s climate goals, on average they will need to brought down by at least 50% over the next 10 years. That can’t be done without making lifestyle changes – and some sacrifices – since we can’t expect technological developments to solve the problem for us.
At Ailuna we are deliberately not yet calculating dare impact in CO2 since for most people that’s a very abstract measure. What does 1 kilo of CO2 equate to? Therefore, in our dares, we are measuring impact in “everyday metrics” = units people can understand, such as number of bottles reduced, cups, kilos/pounds of waste, miles/kilometres travelled. However, we will soon introduce actual CO2 impact measurements, since that’s a requirement for our version of Ailuna aimed at businesses, education, government and charities. Also, as citizens become more educated around CO2 (and Ailuna will play a role there, bridging the gap between everyday metrics and CO2.
The challenges around going green are around consuming less, consuming smarter and much more consciously. There can also be challenges around cost since some of the more sustainable products still cost more than less sustainable ones, but costs are coming down. It’s about reducing and reusing, vs. recycling.
According to you, what are the most significant reasons businesses aren't more sustainable?
Sustainability starts at the top and requires embracing and promoting change. If management doesn’t see sustainability as a strategic imperative, it becomes very difficult – maybe even impossible – to drive sustainability within the business. Only so much can be done at grassroot level. But eventually, employees will leave employers that are not taking responsibility seriously. And so will their customers. With Ailuna for X, organisations of all categories and sizes will be able to engage their employees, students, citizens and donors around sustainability. But again, the buck stops at the top.
How can Ailuna help businesses to adopt a sustainable model?
A business will be able to come to us with their carbon footprint reduction targets, which it needs to hit on an annual basis over the next 5-10 years. Some of those targets will be employee and employee behaviour related and that’s where Ailuna comes in and can show which initiatives the business can take in order to make the workforce more sustainable, year by year, by embarking on a journey around Ailuna’s dares. This could be around transportation/commuting, food choice in the company’s cafeteria, food waste, water and electricity waste. Ailuna can help with developing the journey for the company, via a combination of Ailuna’s off-the-shelf dares as well as dares developed specifically for the client.
Through the team and group functionality which we are building at the moment, employees will be able to take dares together, as teams, as well as compete between one another and between teams.
Via Ailuna’s enterprise dashboards, the business will be able to track and visualise impact, which can be used towards its shareholders, internally and in external marketing. Consumers are increasingly voting with their feet and prefer buying from sustainable companies.
Where can readers know more about Ailuna for X, and what are the benefits for the investors?
Ailuna for X is a new initiative which we will start rolling out with pilot customers in the latter part of calendar 2021. We have yet to release public product information around Ailuna for X, but at a high level the investor video on https://ailuna.com/invest or https://crowdcube.com/ailuna would be good places to start. Organisations that are interested in hearing more should contact us and will then be receiving more detailed information around our offering.
The benefits for investors are that sustainability is something every individual, every company, every organisation will have to take seriously in order to address the climate and waste crisis we are facing. According to the UN, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) represent a $12T market opportunity, of which employee/student/citizen/donor engagement plays a significant role. Ailuna is perfectly positioned to benefit from this market opportunity. From a revenue generation point, the majority of its revenues near-to-medium term will come from our business solutions, where there is a need and desire for businesses to roll out sustainability solutions internally. Longer term, once critical mass has been established on the consumer side, Ailuna will be generating revenues from advertising, facilitating product & services transaction sales as well as premium app version subscription sales.
Sustainability is a megatrend which will result in significant value increases for successful companies in the sector. Ailuna intends to become one of those and aims to deliver very healthy returns for investors in the business at the point of exit, which could be a trade sale or an IPO.
