Commons - Sustainable Spending

Commons App

About this app

** App of the Day, 2022 **
** TIME100 Most Influential Companies, 2022 **
** Woman of Color Founder and CEO **

Every purchase has a carbon footprint, and our spending is our most accessible way to combat climate change. The footprint of our daily purchases impacts 65% of global emissions. By spending sustainably, we can demand a low-carbon future for planet Earth.
With Commons, discover the environmental impact of your purchases and find easy ways to make eco-friendly choices.

1. CASH BACK FOR SUSTAINABLE PURCHASES: Every day we have opportunities to spend more sustainably. When we choose to take public transit, eat a plant-based meal, or shop secondhand, we’re making sustainable spending choices.

With Commons, you can get cash back rewards for sustainable purchases through January 2024.

2. DISCOVER SUSTAINABLE BRANDS: Find sustainable swaps for every kind of purchase. Spend sustainably by switching to brands that are reducing our global emissions.

Use Commons to browse hundreds of brands that are supporting low-carbon business models or responsibly offsetting their emissions.
Discover brands like Vuori, Thrive Market, Athletic Greens, Cotopaxi, Goodr, Blueland, peak Design, Pela, and Wildfang.

Find eco-friendly options for clothing, shoes & accessories, baby and kids, groceries, dining, beauty, wellness, sports & outdoors, home, pets, travel, utilities, thrifting, and more.

3. SAVE MONEY: From laundry to groceries, Commons gives you personalized, practical guides for eco-friendly living. Learn ways to live more sustainably and save money.

Try our guides on eco-friendly laundry, sustainable flying, greening your bank, secondhand furniture, composting, eating local, and more.

4. LOWER YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT: With a personalized footprint tracker, see the emissions of each purchase and track your progress over time. To give you the most accurate carbon footprint, Commons calculates the emissions of each transaction based on your carbon profile and what you purchased.

Get personalized tips and insights to lower your footprint and watch it shrink over time.

5. OFFSET YOUR EMISSIONS: Offsets are a way to compensate for our unavoidable emissions.
When you offset your emissions with Commons, you invest in a vetted, diverse portfolio of climate solutions that are lowering global emissions, supporting local communities, and restoring ecosystems.

Our portfolio includes:

- Charm industrial: Turns inedible crop reside into carbon-rich bio-oil, then stores it safely underground
- Running Tide: Removes carbon by growing kelp and permanently storing it on the ocean floor.
- Pachama: Verifies and monitors forestry carbon offset projects using satellite imagery and machine learning.
- Grassroots Carbon: Working with ranchers to apply regenerative farming practices that help the soil absorb more carbon.
- Nori: A soil carbon credit marketplace that works with farmers to quantify and verify transparent, blockchain-based carbon removals.

WE’D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU: DM us on Instagram @the.commons.earth or email us at [e-mail]

Ratings and reviews

Seems like an intuitive and progressive way to measure personal changes and impacts made on CO2 emissions. The only downside I've experienced so far is that the app seems tailored to US citizens. It would be nice to see some Canadian businesses (if any) included in the choices users like myself will make with purchasing. Some of these businesses do not ship to Canada which is disappointing. There has to be alternatives, I would give this app 5 stars if provided.

I really like the way the app works/looks and the idea behind it, the only thing I'm sort of sad about is that I can't connect my card to the app because Plaid cant connect to my bank right now. Not the app or the creators fault, but there is only a very small portion of the app I can actually use now.

THEY ARE SELLING YOUR DATA. Expect to start receiving promotional spam emails. UPDATE: Stop lying. You are selling data, the email that I have never used for anything else but your app, suddenly started receiving spammy promotion emails from some online store.

What's new

COLLECTIVE CHALLENGES: Be part of something bigger. Every month, Commons is launching a new Collective Challenge to encourage and quantify our sustainable choices, together. 

In May, join our challenge to boost the circular economy by shopping secondhand! Help us reach our goal — and earn rewards — by supporting thousands of secondhand stores, including your local thrift shops. Plus, earn bonus rewards when we hit our community goal.