How is Localazy contributing to the fight against climate change?

In 2023, the climate emergency is more real than ever before. Sea temperatures are rising to unknown levels, and extreme weather events are becoming more and more frequent all over the world. Reducing emissions is becoming critical: 2023 has been a record year for global warming, with average temperatures surpassing the 2ºC pre-industrial limit during the month of November.

As COP28 kicked off, the global conversation has been brimming with ideas, proposals, and reticencies, too. And while international activism and strong policies are needed to tackle this issue, every little bit of work we can do as individuals and businesses counts greatly in this fight. 💪

Localazy is committed to doing its part. Since we started out in 2019, we have always been dedicated to building a sustainable business, and we have used our influence to partner with and support like-minded initiatives in the localization arena and beyond. At our core, we are a green company; this is our pledge.

🌱 Why is it important? 🔗

Our stance is clear: climate change is real, and we want to do something about it. There is ample evidence of the impact that human activity is having on our ecosystems, with some key figures like the rising sea levels, climbing percentage of greenhouse emissions, and global heat records supporting it.

In the never-ending public battle between skeptics and alarmists, Localazy advocates for a healthy discourse that pushes changemakers to resolve the real, tangible, and undeniable issues connected to climate change and other relevant topics. But - what does localization have to do with this at all?

"Many of us have kids, and we don't want to leave them a dark legacy in the form of a plundered planet."
- Václav Hodek, CEO of Localazy

"Being aware of a problem is the first step to fixing it," says our CEO, Václav Hodek. "We do not believe that localization is a solution for the climate change emergency, but people understanding what our planet is going through is crucial for the cause. That's why we are trying to help remove language barriers and make more people care about our shared future."

"Many of us have kids, and we don't want to leave them a dark legacy in the form of a plundered planet," he continues. "Money can move things ahead, and if businesses that hold the money do not care enough, who can? Are businesses responsible for taking care? Well, probably not. But leaders are here to lead, and if environmental issues require the support of leaders, then here we are."

🫴 What are we doing about it? 🔗

At Localazy, we believe every effort counts in the fight against climate change. Personal pledges can be very powerful (about half of our team is vegetarian), but a lot can be done within organizations, whether they're big or small. In the last three years, we've planted some seeds in what we expect will become fertile soil for a more sustainable startup environment. Let's go over some.

It starts with our servers 🔗

Have you ever wondered where we store all our data? Localazy owns a series of low-carbon servers in Scaleway's DC5 data center, an impressive sustainable facility powered by renewable energy and located in France. Thanks to their optimized cooling and water-efficient systems and their ultra-high-density modular configuration, we can store and manage our cloud data in a scalable way while knowing we're not wasting precious resources and that our daily operations run on the most sustainable IT infrastructure available.

Our development philosophy 🔗

Localazy was built by developers who understand the impact sustainability practices can have in the software industry (and the other way around). We focus on doing what we can through little improvements in our own software development practices, as small steps are also valuable to reach a bigger goal.

Even though we are a small player in the scope of a huge industry, we decided to start somewhere. We frequently try to optimize bundle size, web speed, and downloaded resources to save the computational resources of our servers and clients. Our CI pipelines are also optimized so we don't run unnecessary processes when building and deploying code. This shows in our carbon footprint, which stays quite low: only 0.20g of CO2 is produced every time someone visits our site.

A remote culture that reduces emissions 🔗

When we talk about cultivating a remote culture, we really mean it. 🙏 The whole Localazy team, comprised of 13 people, is fully remote! Our operation center is in the innovative city of Brno (where we recently attended the #VelvetInnovation conference focused on sustainability).

We meet periodically to brainstorm, code, and connect, sure - but our daily work is mainly done remotely 👨‍💻, with us communicating through Slack, Fibery, and Around in constant adherence to an Agile mentality.

How does this exactly affect the planet? 🤔 Well - it means less commuting and a mindful use of resources, which creates an easier work-life balance. On top of that, it keeps many of us closer to nature and local life, as a good chunk of our team works in smaller cities and towns, keeping these precious economies alive.

The whole Localazy team, comprised of 13 people, is fully remote. Working remotely means we commute less, have an easier work-life balance and can keep contributing to local economies.

We take the same approach with our ✍️ network of collaborators, comprised of translators, localization managers, and copywriters, who are spread all over the world and are able to share their unique experiences and expertise from the five continents. Ultimately, having experts localize from and to their native languages and contributing to preserving their cultural traits makes a great difference.

Committed to Net-positive 🔗

1+1=11 is possible when synergies are used to create meaningful partnerships. If done right, you can get multiplier effects! As an i18n platform and language services provider, Localazy is a multiplying factor for many changemakers.

Among the business operations with partners, we push our own 🌿ESG initiatives, aligned with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) promoted by the UN.

In this arena, we're trying to make an impact by:

• 🤝 Creating a network effect through shared language libraries, such as our Climate Strings Project powered by our ShareTM tool.
• 💰 Supporting nonprofits with generous deals and donations.
• 📖 Promoting literacy in economic sustainability, linguistic diversity, and other SDGs with an environmental impact with the help of experts in these fields.

💧What are we planning for the future? 🔗

Many more things can be done to support climate awareness and reduce our environmental footprint. But by far, we believe we can create the most impact by developing our product further. This will lead to support for the agendas of innovative startups, researchers, and organizations that need to tackle localization. The Shared Climate Strings translation memory we want ready for use in 80 world languages is part of such an initiative, and it won't be the only of its kind.

Sustainability is in our DNA. A collaborative culture is part of our core values as well. As our CEO says, "We want to grow as a business, but money is not the primary motivation. Our fundamental motivation is to help our users. Helping on sound topics, such as climate change, is thus just something deeply ingrained in our company culture. It's the extra mile we can take to support those who care."

🪢 Got a green business? Let's talk 🔗

As a company committed to sustainability, we put our money where our mouth is. It is common practice for us to offer discounts, custom prices, and extended free trials for green businesses with a big purpose. Plus, we frequently let clients with a green thumb try some premium or new features for free.

We are industry agnostic: Localazy welcomes all businesses who care about SDG. It doesn't matter if you are into clean water or quality education. We want to lend a hand to all of these causes.

We are commited to sustainability practices. The proof of the pudding is that we put our money where our mouth is. It is common practice for us to offer discounts, custom prices, and extended free trials for industry-agnostic green initiatives. We also let clients with a green thumb try some features for free

Here's a breakdown of a few brands we are currently (and proudly) supporting:

• 🚜 AgroCares, a sustainable Dutch farming solution focused on closing the world food gap.
• ☀️ Swiss Solar Solutions, a cutting-edge solar module manufacturer.
• 💸 Donar Online, a Latin American crowd-funding platform that assists over 4,500 organizations with their fundraising for great causes.
• 🐄 No Meat Today, a handy app developed by French entrepreneur Arnaud Joubay that helps you reduce your meat intake through habit tracking.
• 🌊 Plastic Bank, a Canadian environmental organization that collects and repurposes plastic waste from the oceans with the help of innovative tracking technology and an international volunteer network.
• 🔌 OnePole, a Norwegian company specializing in charging station modules for electric vehicles.
• 🥕 Agdata, a data system for agricultural management from the Czech Republic.

Other companies from diverse industries, like bike-sharing startups and waste management businesses, already trust us. Still, we're looking to support these types of projects further, whether they are community-driven or for-profit.

Do you check these boxes? Then we'll be happy to prepare a special deal for you so you can further your cause easily. 🙌 We're willing to put Localazy at the service of great causes. Count with us in your journey to make a difference.