Interview with Dashboard.Earth: Turning Local Climate Action into Investable Impact
Climate adaptation is no longer a future concern, it’s a present-day necessity. Yet, despite this urgency, funding and scaling local climate solutions remains a major challenge. .
This is where Dashboard.Earth comes in. We talked with the team to explore how their platform is building the financial plumbing for local climate action, transforming individual behaviors into Verified Climate Outcomes (VCOs) that can be funded by governments, corporations, and philanthropies. By creating economic incentives for community-led adaptation, Dashboard.Earth is making grassroots resilience both measurable, and investable.
Q: Tell us a little about Dashboard.Earth & the work you do
At Dashboard.Earth, we’re building the financial plumbing to enable individuals to do local climate adaptation. Our platform connects people who want to take action with the incentives needed to make it happen. We do this by aggregating individual climate actions- like capturing rainwater, reducing energy use, or planting urban forests-and transforming them into Verified Climate Outcomes (VCOs) that organizations can purchase.
The climate movement has traditionally focused on high-level policy and corporate commitments, but adaptation happens on the ground, in communities, at the individual level. Our approach is unique because we incentivize participation by ensuring that individuals can financially benefit from climate-positive behaviors. There is financial value in every climate positive action, we align climate adaptation with economic opportunity.
Earth is hiring. The challenge isn’t just about reducing emissions—it’s about making climate adaptation financially viable for everyone.
Q: What’s the story behind Dashboard.Earth? Who are the people behind it & how did the company get started?
Dashboard.Earth started with a simple but profound realization: the solutions, the money and will needed for climate adaptation already exist - we just haven’t connected the dots yet.
Dashboard.Earth’s CEO & Co-founder, Gayatri Roshan, brings 20 years of experience working in multiple aspects of ecology and environment across non-profit and for-profit sectors. Gayatri’s background is in storytelling and systems change. She grew up with parents who were nomadic filmmakers, witnessing environmental and social challenges firsthand. Later, as a documentary filmmaker, Gayatri explored the intersection of climate action, local communities, and systemic change. But storytelling alone wasn’t enough - we also needed an economic model that could pay people to restore ecosystems and build resilience.
So we built Dashboard.Earth. Our team comes from a mix of backgrounds - sustainable agriculture, environmental communications, digital product design and executive leadership. We’re aligned by a shared belief that individual actions, when aggregated and verified, have immense value—value that governments, corporations, and philanthropies are willing to pay for.
Tell us more about the need to encourage climate adaptation initiatives and action at the individual level. Why add a financial value to climate initiatives and action?
Climate adaptation has only recently taken center stage in global climate conversations like COP. We talk a lot about emissions reductions - but what about the fact that climate change is already here? Cities are flooding, extreme heat is killing people, and water security is at risk.
And yet, most funding and incentives flow to top-down infrastructure projects, not to the millions of individuals who could be taking action right now—if they had financial support. Project Drawdown estimates that 20 high-impact household actions could deliver 30% of the total emissions reductions needed in the U.S. - but those actions remain largely unfunded.
That’s why we put a price on adaptation. Money moves the world, and when you make climate adaptation a source of financial value - not just an ethical obligation- you unlock a much larger wave of participation. And the return on investment is undeniable -according to the Standard Charter, every dollar invested in climate adaptation generates 12 times its value in economic benefits.
There is tremendous financial value in every climate positive action, and that’s why we align climate adaptation with economic opportunity. The way we see it: if you can get a rebate to install solar panels, why shouldn’t you get be incentivized to capture rainwater, reduce urban heat, or restore local biodiversity?
We’re bridging that gap.
Q: What are Verified Climate Outcomes? (VCOs) What’s the methodology behind this approach & where did it come from?
Verified Climate Outcomes (VCOs) are the aggregated impacts of local climate actions. Think of them as a new kind of securitized environmental asset - a way to track, aggregate, and fund decentralized climate solutions.
The methodology behind VCOs is rooted in regional resilience metrics - water savings, carbon sequestration, waste diversion, urban cooling, and other measurable impacts. Unlike traditional carbon offsets, which focus on abstract global reductions, VCOs are hyperlocal and multi-benefit.
We developed this approach based on the failure of existing carbon markets to serve local adaptation needs. Instead of focusing on a single metric (CO₂), we account for the full ecosystem impact of climate actions—and make those impacts fundable.
What are the key barriers to encouraging local climate adaptation initiatives? How could Dashboard.Earth’s innovative approach help to overcome these barriers?
There are three big barriers to scaling local climate adaptation:
Lack of funding – Most adaptation solutions exist, but they don’t have a clear revenue model.
Fragmentation – Actions happen in silos, making it hard to measure collective impact.
Low incentives for individuals – People care, but without clear incentives, engagement stays low.
Dashboard.Earth solves all three. We make adaptation fundable by turning climate actions into VCOs that corporations, governments, and philanthropies can buy. We aggregate individual efforts, so that a city can see the combined impact of thousands of local actions. We incentivize participation, so individuals have the motivation they need to act.
In short: we make climate adaptation a value-generating act, not just an existential imperative.
Q: Could you share a favorite success story?
One standout success has been our partnership with LA Waterkeeper (LAWK) and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) to incentivize Angelenos to reduce water use at home. We encouraged thousands of residents to shorten their showers and install low-flow fixtures, directly supporting LA’s goal of achieving water independence - a critical priority as the city faces worsening drought and wildfire risk.
Los Angeles, often misconceived as a desert, actually has a Mediterranean climate with sufficient rainfall to meet its needs if managed effectively. The city has set an ambitious goal to achieve 80% water independence by 2045. Our initiative with LAWK and LADWP is a pivotal step toward this target.
In 2024 alone, Dashboard.Earth users completed over 64,000 climate actions. Focusing on water conservation, these efforts led to 3.9 million gallons saved - an impact that, if sustained annually, could represent up to 39 million gallons conserved.
This initiative reinforced what we’ve always believed: when you make climate action easy, rewarding, and hyperlocal, people show up. Individual actions- aggregated at scale - become a powerful force for resilience.
And on a personal level, one of the most rewarding parts of our job is hearing from our users - people who tell us that using the app makes them feel less overwhelmed, less anxious, more empowered. Climate action doesn’t have to feel like a burden. When people see their impact, they feel part of something bigger - and that changes everything.
Where does Dashboard.Earth sit within the broader category of nature tech?
We’re at the intersection of climate adaptation, behavioral engagement, and nature-based solutions. While much of nature tech focuses on tracking and modeling ecosystems, we are focussed on activating individuals and communities to implement local solutions at scale.
The evolution of nature tech directly supports our work because better data, monitoring, and verification enable more precise, effective adaptation strategies. But tech alone isn’t enough. We need tools that translate insights into real-world action.
That’s where we come in. By making climate adaptation accessible, trackable, and rewarding, we bridge the gap between awareness and action. As nature tech grows, we see a future where people aren’t just passive data points in climate models—they’re active participants in building resilience.
How do you currently see the direction of travel in terms of the area you operate in? Is awareness of challenges and solutions growing?
COP16 confirmed that adaptation is no longer niche - it’s central to the global climate and biodiversity agenda. The focus has shifted from why to how- how to scale solutions, how to integrate them into business and policy, and how to measure impact effectively.
At Dashboard.Earth, we see this as validation of our approach: local adaptation must be actionable, measurable, and connected to real-world benefits. The challenge now is implementation. Many companies are reporting on nature-related risks without fully understanding their role in biodiversity or resilience.
One thing we’ve found disappointing was the lack of focus on water and its profound role in addressing the climate crisis. Water is the foundation of ecosystem restoration, climate resilience, and community adaptation, yet it often remains sidelined in global policy discussions. Without integrating water cycle restoration into the nature tech conversation, we’re missing a critical piece of the puzzle.
Stronger frameworks and clearer metrics will help - but real impact will come from equipping people and communities with the tools to act. That’s where we see nature tech evolving: from tracking the problem to driving solutions on the ground.
What led you to the Nature Tech Collective?
The Nature Tech Collective is building the connective tissue for this emerging space. For us, it’s an opportunity to share insights, collaborate, and help define the financial mechanisms that will fund urban climate adaptation at scale.
We’re here because we believe nature tech isn’t just about measurement, it’s about action. And we’re building the tools to make that action accessible, scalable, and meaningful.
And finally, how can others support the work you do & what kind of support would be of most use to your organization’s goals right now?
We’re scaling. We’ve proven the model in LA, and now we’re expanding to new cities.
First, we'’d say fund local adaptation. If you’re an investor, corporation, or foundation, you can help us pay people for climate action.
Or partner with us. If you’re a city or NGO, we can help you track, verify, and fund decentralized solutions.
And last, get on board. If you’re an individual, download the app, take action, and start earning rewards.
The future of climate adaptation is local, and it’s fundable. Let’s build it together.
