Brazil's first carbon neutral speaker, Thiago Akira

What would lead a speaker to pursue a Carbon Neutral seal for their talks? Sustainability and knowledge have everything to do with it! Even more so with Tourism, which is the main theme of Thiago Akira’s talks.

“It happened in a very random way, when a friend from Portugal, Rayanne, asked me whether I had ever thought about offsetting my carbon footprint given all the trips I made to speak during 2022.” Yes, there were more than 20 events, and it is incredible how I had never thought about how much those trips would impact the world. When she brought me that reflection, I went straight away to research the options of companies that could do that offsetting for me.

I know that for the planet’s Sustainability it is not enough just to offset, that it is necessary to reduce and to substitute with options that generate less impact or zero impact. But it is not always possible, and for those cases I do believe it is worth offsetting.

I had already seen this relationship in the B2B universe, where companies and events could offset the CO2 emissions of their actions with specialized companies. And to my surprise, there are also companies working directly with the end consumer. On top of that, I found projects from OTAs and airlines seeking to bring this option to the end consumer.

So I went after the options, finding many abroad, but I wanted a company that was 100% Brazilian and would ideally be a Startup, to have a disruptive and niche character. And I put on my agenda a plan to call national carbon offsetting companies the following Monday. To my surprise, I received a message from Eduardo Filgueira, of Compensei. He was looking for my consultancy to work on his project. It was destiny, for sure!

From this our partnership was born, where I became an ambassador of the Compensei brand so I could have a partner to offset my entire carbon footprint during my trips to give talks, run workshops and courses, and serve my clients. I give them my flights, layovers, type of accommodation, and number of overnight stays, and that is it, simple as that. I pay the invoice and travel with a clearer conscience!

But it was not enough for me to just have the solution, I wanted it to be the best and most serious on the market! And it was in my conversations with Eduardo that I understood the whole value proposition and business vision of Compensei. They seek to favor local companies that carry out carbon offsetting work close to the regions where the client lives or has a business. If none exists in the region, there would be two options: connecting with a company from their list, or seeking out interested parties or potential companies that would like to operate in this market near the client. If they do not have the expertise, Compensei trains them and develops that company’s potential to become another partner. That is having vision and potential to generate new business.

So if you are interested, visit Compensei on their website or Instagram, get to know their proposal, and see how your company or event can earn the Carbon Neutral seal.