The document describes an app that calculates the ecological footprint and human rights footprint of products and services. It would allow consumers to compare footprints of substitute products to encourage more sustainable choices. The app revenue would come from credit card companies, participating retailers and producers, and consumer purchase data sales. It addresses concerns about companies falsifying data through auditing. The app aims to provide transparency around sustainability and human rights to help consumers and influence companies to improve.

1. Ecological and Human Rights
Footprint Calculator App
Measuring GHGs, water, waste, air
pollution and land use of products and
services (per unit). Measuring the
Human rights footprint of the same.

2. About myself
• Graduated B Comm 1999 (finance) from UBC, level 3 Canadian Certified General
Accountant
• Certified Tennis Canada Instructor, Certified Personal Trainer (American Council on
Exercise), TEFL Certified English Instructor
• Tech Industry: Worked as a Project Manager at Tecmo Koei and localized Rome
Total War for the Japanese market. Assistant Producer at EA Japan and localized
Tiger Woods Golf, Need for Speed for the Japanese market. Interpreter for SAP
consultant on an ERP implementation project at Bosch Japan. Accepted to the
Founder Institute semester in Silicon Valley in 2015 based on this idea.
• Fluent in English and Japanese with some proficiency in Korean.

3. The story
• Climate Change risks are increasing for firms in most, if not
all, industries
• Input costs are rising and companies that adapt to new
circumstances most effectively and efficiently improve their
competitiveness
• The app allows consumers to compare the ecological
footprint of substitute and complementary products
encouraging producers to continue innovation in
sustainability or die.
• The app covers every product on the market starting with
groceries since animal food products have the heaviest toll
on the environment (beef, pork, chicken, milk, etc)

4. Other Footprint Calculators: Vague!
• http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/e
nvironment/freshwater/change-the-
course/water-footprint-calculator/
http://footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GF
N/page/calculators/
http://footprint.wwf.org.uk/questionnaires/sh
ow/1/1/1

5. Why will the app be successful?
• Consumers want it because it gives them a warm
feeling that they are doing good without too
much effort.
• It’s easy to use. A one-time registration and
download of the app on their device.
• Retailers and service-providers want it because it
consumer purchase data is made available to
them (app collects data) and they can improve
their business strategy based on it (better
product mix, switch suppliers, improve
production process/supply chain/etc)

6. Example
• Nike Rafa tennis shirt vs. Uniqlo Nishikori shirt
• Import Tesla vs. domestic fuel cell or
importhybrid vehicle
• SKU’s (barcode) can be used when available
from various databases
• When SKU not available, GUI will have input
boxes where names can be inputted and
matched against database of food products

7. How the App works
• A bar code reader using the camera will display
footprint info on the device and allow simultaneous
comparisons of multiple products and highlight any
“best-in-category” products (and where it is available).
• Customers can have their “Club Card” scanned at the
cashier and their purchases uploaded to their account
in the cloud where daily tallies are kept and can be
accessed anytime.
• The display will be simple to understand with graphical
representation and a numerical score such as used in
the Nike Making App.

8. Nike Making App Display
http://nikemakers.com/how-making-works

9. User can select which GUI
The footprint could be divided among product
categories, ie. Food, transport, toiletries, clothing,
ADL (activities of daily living), recreation,
entertainment, etc
• User clicks a category to see subdivisions down to
exact purchases.
• Can compare with others to see where they can
cut down.
• “Best-in-class” products highlighted for each
purchase as well as links and maps to retailers
(and maybe coupons).

10. Why do Producers want it?
• Producers and service providers want it
because consumer tastes and trends can be
derived from data (complementary purchases)
and marketing efforts can be built on it.
Producers can also differentiate products,
from competitors.

11. What’s in it for the companies?
• Companies can gain consumer confidence in
their products being greener than their
competitors (both producers and retailers).

12. Positive Signs and Trends
• Companies like Puma, Kraft, Adidas, Nike and
Toyota (among others) are increasing efforts
to improve transparency in their sustainability
reporting.

13. Third Parties
• Sustainable Apparel Coalition’s Higg Index is in
widespread use
• Nike Making app helps suppliers make choices
with a lighter ecological footprint
• Puma has calculated the ecological footprint
savings of their biodegradable incycle t-shirt
and shoes vs. conventional shirt and shoes
(per unit basis)

14. Where is the revenue coming from?
• Credit card companies that tie into our
business.
• Participating retailers and producers pay a
percentage, ie. 0.5% to put products on the
app.
• Consumer purchase data sold to advertisers
and producers (with consent at time of sign up
to have ads target to them)

15. Example 2

16. Why pay more?
• One hypothesis is that consumers may be
skeptical of Puma’s claims if the product costs
less. We expect to pay more for products
deemed “green”.
• Standardizing would reduce or eliminate
consumers’ doubt allowing producers to pass
on savings to consumers. Lower prices usually
lead to higher sales. A win-win situation.

17. Puma T-shirt Comparison

18. Nike Considered Design Website
http://www.nikebiz.com/responsibility/Pages/CalculatorPage.aspx

19. GWP per pair of shoes (Global Warming Potential)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652612006300

20. Toyota Water Usage per Vehicle
http://www.toyota.com/usa/environmentreport2014/water.html#water-conservation

21. Toyota GHG per Mile Driven
http://www.toyota.com/usa/environmentreport2014/carbon.html

22. How can it be simplified for
consumers?
• Tie in with credit card companies or debit card
providers so all purchases made can be
automatically uploaded to a consumer
account and consumers can check their
ecological footprint at a time convenient for
them on their smartphone, tablet or PC.

23. An SNS element
• Devise a leaderboard or Facebook/SNS tie-in
that lets consumers share their scores and
purchases (can select what to share to ensure
privacy). Consumers can also share the
promotional coupons or offers they receive
from producers and retailers.

24. But won’t companies lie?
• Auditing of a random sample of goods and
services should be able to detect falsification
of data
• This work can be performed in partnership
with a Big 4 Accounting Firm that have
established practices in sustainability
reporting compliance

25. Sources
• http://www.amazon.co.uk/Time-Eat-Dog-
Sustainable-Living/dp/0500287902
(shows per unit of product carbon footprint
data)

26. Part II: The Human Rights Footprint
Calculator
• Higgs Index Social and Labor indicators
• http://www.apparelcoalition.org/index-
faqs/general-higg-index-questions/are-social-
indicators-included-in-the-higg-index.html
• Covers companies registered in the Higgs
Index, ie. Nike, Adidas, Uniqlo, Puma, etc

27. Other Human Rights Factors
• Look at workforce diversity (race, gender) at
every level of management.
• Why bother? Discrimination costs society
access to Human Resources that are left
untapped and like-minded people cannot
always create products and services that serve
the entirety of society as effectively and
efficiently as possible, ie. Misallocation of
valuable resources.

28. What I hope to find…
• Programmers for mobile and web
• Mentors