Tackling Our Carbon Footprint With The Carbon Copy Challenge

As a social impact hub, Temasek Shophouse is always looking for new ways to engage the public on community and environmental issues. This time round, they wanted to raise awareness about carbon footprint and the actions we can take.

We got the brief in early 2020 at the beginning stages of the Covid-19 outbreak, which ruled out the staging of physical events and activations. So we turned instead to the channels which everyone was still tuned to, and even more so during the lockdown: Instagram and Facebook.

Borrowing a practice from the time of the typewriter, we coined our social media movement the #CarbonCopyChallenge. Instead of duplicating typed sheets, we wanted people to duplicate the eco actions of their friends and the influencers they follow.

Carbon Copy This!

To kickstart the movement, we released four Carbon Offset Starter Packs illustrating small steps we can take to reduce our carbon footprint when it comes to food, fashion, home and lifestyle choices.

Participants who take action are urged to tag three friends, challenging them to ‘carbon copy’ the same act and repeat the same instructions — thereby continuing the chain and growing the movement.

Creating A Chain Re-Action

At the end of the 5-week campaign, the #CarbonCopyChallenge reached more than 230,000 people. We even had participants from countries like Hong Kong, Taiwan, and as far away as the States.

Thanks to everyone who took part — from sustainability champions to folks from all walks of life and even organisations — our social media movement became a public movement in truth. Happily, Temasek Shophouse also saw a 27% increase in followers, with the engagement rate doubling too.