Shift is launching a sustainability platform to inspire people to take next steps in having better, healthier and more sustainable lifestyles.
Measures such as solar panels and waste separation are not enough to achieve the Paris Climate Goals. That is why the Shift Platform emphasizes the importance of psychological insights to also influence lifestyle choices around food, consumption, travel and energy use to be more sustainable.
Over the past two years, Shift has developed a programme that encourages people to make sustainable changes, resulting in an average CO₂ reduction of 25% per participant. Now Shift is looking to extend the success of this programme with a sustainability platform that will be offered through Dutch municipalities.
This platform creates a personal psychological profile of users, based on their carbon footprint and answers to a set of customized questions. Users can access sessions with experts for advice on sustainable and plant-based eating, circularity, home energy use, waste reduction, travel and other relevant topics. In addition, the platform offers personalised content and links to sustainable initiatives and events.
With the platform, Shift motivates Dutch people to adapt their lifestyle to be more in line with Paris Climate Goals.
Don Ritzen, CEO of Shift: "The world is full of inspiring people, and it is time to make them more visible. Under the slogan "Step into change", Shift will show not only well-known faces, but also other examples of ordinary Dutch people and how they have taken steps towards sustainable change."
Ludolf Stavenga, Fund Manager of the Innovation Fund North Holland: "We are excited to fund Shift; the Shift team has developed an effective programme to reduce its carbon footprint. Now, it will be tested at scale."
The Innovatiefonds Noord-Holland is an initiative of the Province of Noord-Holland, University of Amsterdam, Vrije Universiteit, Hogeschool van Amsterdam, Amsterdam UMC and Sanquin.
The Fund supports entrepreneurs in the province of North Holland to finance innovation in the Proof-of-Concept phase by providing convertible loans. The Innovatiefonds Noord-Holland manages two funds: a fund for innovative start-ups, supported by the RVO, and a fund for academic start-ups, supported by ERDF. https://www.innovatiefondsnoordholland.nl/
Don Ritzen, CEO of Shift:
don@shift.world, tel: +31 65 469 7517
Wessel van der Woude, Investment Manager at Innovatiefonds Noord-Holland: wessel.van.der.woude@innovatiefondsnoordholland.nl, tel: +31 20 246 0000
About Shift
Shift is a social, steward-owned enterprise founded by entrepreneur Don Ritzen. Ritzen believes that behavioural change is one of the biggest challenges when it comes to climate change and that it is overlooked because of the controversy. That is why he set out to find an approach that could inspire millions.
Shift is one of only 80 Dutch companies to have passed the accreditation process of the Social Enterprise Code, which means impact comes first.
Before starting Shift, Ritzen co-founded Amsterdam-based accelerator Rockstart, which has offices in Bogota, Copenhagen and Amsterdam. Since its founding in 2010, Rockstart has invested in more than 350 early-stage startups, including many impact-oriented companies such as Peerby, Sympower and Hubs. Today, the Rockstart companies combined are worth EUR 1.7 billion.