''Listen to your gut feeling and analyse disturbing feelings well. And don't do it alone.''
Ruth is the Founder of ForTomorrow - A Non-Profit Climate Protection Company From Berlin, With A Mission To Make Europe Climate Positive Before 2040. She has taken the challenge to answer our 20 Truth Questions, For us to gain some insight, And learn the Truth about the people behind the venture.
My TRUTH Story:
1. INTRODUCE YOURSELF IN THE THIRD PERSON TO A CROWD OF 10,000+ PEOPLE? Ruth von Heusinger is a graduate physicist, Founder of a climate protection startup called ForTomorrow, And an impact investor from Berlin.
Since her childhood, Ruth has been interested in environmental topics. She studies physics at the Technical University of Berlin, the Université Pierre et Marie Curie and the Ecole normale supérieure in Paris to better understand the mechanics of global warming. Instead of going into research, she started a traineeship at the Norwegian company Statkraft; The largest producer of renewable energy in Europe. Among other fields, she works there in the European Emission for Trading.
Statkraft is a for profit-oriented company and Ruth wants to work for a company where non-profit status ensures that all profits go to climate protection. For this reason, Ruth switched to a non-profit organization called atmosfair, which offers carbon offsetting via climate protection measures in the global south. What she misses there is an effective offset method that has an impact here in Europe, where much of the world's carbon emissions are emitted.
Finally, in December 2019, she founded ForTomorrow, where she both combines an effective concept for effective carbon offsets in Europe and a non-profit business model.
2. WHAT IS YOUR DEFINITION OF A TRUTH FOUNDER? Humanity is facing a multitude of serious challenges. The climate crisis, famines, biodiversity crisis and many more. My goal as a Truth Founder is to use new solutions and technologies to overcome these obstacles and improve life on Earth for all living beings.
3. WHAT EVENT OR EVENTS HAPPENED TO YOU THAT INSPIRED YOU TO BECOME A FOUNDER?
In sixth grade, A teacher explained to us the climate crisis for the first time. It immediately triggered something in me. When I came home, I immediately wanted our central gas heating in our house to be turned off. Because as a child it was natural for me to want to stop anything that destroyed our livelihood.
4. WHAT IS YOUR MORNING ROUTINE & RITUAL? Every morning i do my yoga morning greeting. After my children go to school, I try to have some quite time to plan and reflect. I drink green tea while doing this. It helps me to relax and find peace even in stressful times.
5. WHAT MANTRA,QUOTE,LINE OR PHRASE DO YOU SAY OFTEN TO INSPIRE AND MOTIVATE YOURSELF? I value the Prime Directive, which my coach told me: "Regardless of what we discover, we understand and truly believe that everyone did the best job they could, given what they knew at the time, their skills and abilities, the resources available, and the situation at hand.”
6. WHY DO YOU THINK PEOPLE SHOULD CARE ABOUT YOUR VENTURE? We give companies, organizations and individuals the opportunity to do something that would otherwise never be possible: Directly making the european economy more sustainable. By buying up emission rights from the EU Emissions Trading Scheme and cancelling them, these rights can no longer be used by the major carbon emitters in the EU. This lowers the EU's CO₂ emissions and helps regenerative technologies to become established. Everyone can join us in driving forward the energy transition in Europe.
7. WHY DO YOU THINK YOU ARE THE ONE TO MAKE YOUR VENTURE A SUCCESS?
My physics background gives me valuable insight into the mechanisms of climate change, and my previous experiences in organizations helps me to understand the industry very well. And I know what I don’t know. Finding the right people for the job and building a strong network is essential for our success. I’m very happy to build ForTomorrow with a team and in a way that will also thrive without me!
8. WHAT DOES SUCCESS LOOK LIKE FOR YOUR VENTURE? ( START WITH: IMAGINE A WORLD... WHAT IF... WE WILL BE... )
Imagine a world where you walk through lush green forests, a world where clean air flows into your lungs as you stroll through the inner city. Imagine people who have unlimited access to clean drinking water and can enjoy healthy food. Imagine people being able to live in peace in their homes without fear of losing them because they are no longer habitable. Imagine people with equal rights living happily while humanity stays within the planetary boundaries.
That's what we're committed to at ForTomorrow. We are accelerating energy transition and working to make Europe climate neutral as quickly as possible.
9. ANSWER THESE AS MANY TIMES AS YOU LIKE - I BELIEVE... I DON'T BELIEVE... I don't believe that our corporates will remain economically successful if we put profits above everything else.
I believe we need to put sustainability at the core of our economic activities.
I don't believe that one person alone will solve the climate crisis.
I believe that we will overcome this task together.
I don't think there is one invention that will solve all environmental problems.
I think we need a variety of smart ideas.
I don't think we should spend our time anymore just talking and arguing about who has the best solution for the future.
I think we need to act now, and every small step is an important step.
I don't think we can eliminate the world's humanitarian crises by being stuck at odds with each other.
I am sure we need empathy, mutual understanding and open communication to build a better future together.
10. WHAT'S ONE DECISION YOU MADE AS A FOUNDER THAT COMPLETELY CHANGED THE COURSE OF YOUR JOURNEY? Before ForTomorrow was incorporated we had a waitlist online. Already then I got contacted by VCs that were interested in investing. Investment capital ForTomorrow could have grown much faster, but I stuck to my original plan to found ForTomorrow as a non-profit and I have never regretted my decision since.
11. WHAT DO YOU REGARD AS YOUR GREATEST SUCCESS PERSONALLY & AS A FOUNDER? My greatest success personally is that I grew personally.
As a founder my greatest success is that almost 1,500 people and organisations are accelerating climate action in Europe with us. It’s amazing to build something that meets people's needs.
12. WHAT DO YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT YOURSELF AND WHY? What I like most is my ability to put myself in others' shoes and see the world from their point of view. I think that's something we need more of in the world.
13. WHAT'S ONE THING YOU CAN IMPROVE ABOUT YOURSELF, AND WHY DO YOU THINK YOU HAVE NOT DONE IT BY NOW?
I can be even more careful not to follow negative feelings. Sometimes it is difficult for me to assess my limits well and to make sure that they are respected. When they are crossed, it leads to destructive anger. I used to take too little time to work on this because I prioritised achieving concrete measurable results.
14. WHAT'S THE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE YOU'VE EVER RECEIVED OR GIVEN, OR BOTH?
Listen to your gut feeling and analyse disturbing feelings well. And don't do it alone, but find a good coach.
15. ON A SCALE FROM 1 TO 10 - 10 BEING THE BEST. HOW WELL DO YOU THINK YOU AND YOUR TRUTH STORY IS CLEARLY UNDERSTOOD BY YOUR COMMUNITY? ( WHY NOT 10? ) I would give us an 8. Everyone who hears our ForTomorrow founding story understands it pretty well. Usually we do not put our founding story in the focus of our communication but concentrate on our services.
16. WHO DO YOU MOST ADMIRE AND WHY? My children. They surprise me every day. I can learn so much from them and understand the big picture much better through them. And they are the greatest happiness in my life.
17. DESCRIBE YOUR VENTURE - ELEVATOR PITCH STYLE?
We are ForTomorrow, a non-profit climate protection company from Berlin. With us, you as a private person or company can reliably offset CO₂ that you cannot avoid today. We offset this CO₂ by our own two-sided approach in Europe and Germany. Firstly, to prevent the emission of even more CO₂, we buy up EU emission rights and cancel them. This means that industry has to limit its CO₂ emissions as a result. At the same time, we are planting climate-resistant mixed forests in Germany to remove CO₂ from the air. This way everyone can accelerate Europe's transition to be climate positive. We are a small and efficient team and our goal is to offer the most effective CO₂ offset in Europe.
18. WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT MISSION STATEMENT OR MESSAGE + MARKET FIT FOR YOUR VENTURE?
Our mission is to make Europe climate positive before 2040. To achieve this, we want to reduce the individual annual CO₂ footprint of all Europeans to less than one ton. Through effective climate protection in Europe, we enable companies and private individuals to live CO₂-positive already today and to drive forward the energy transition.
19. WHAT DO YOU LIKE TO DO TO UNWIND AFTER A LONG WORK DAY?
Swimming, dancing, playing the violin or piano and cuddling with my family.
20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU TREATED YOURSELF TO AND WHAT DID YOU CELEBRATE? This year, for the first time since I founded the company, I went on a proper holiday for over 2 weeks without working. I went to Norway with my family, where my husband and I lived over 10 years ago. It was wonderful to be there again.
BONUS QUESTION: WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SAY TO ALL THE PEOPLE THAT ARE SUPPORTING YOU ON YOUR AMBITIOUS JOURNEY?
I would like to thank all the great people who have made it possible for us to already offset almost 24,000 tons of CO₂ through climate protection in Europe. That's as much CO₂ as you would produce if you flew from Berlin to New York 11,000 times.
First and foremost, I am proud of my team that fights every day to limit global warming. Last but not least, I would like to thank our advisors, partners and all the volunteers who make ForTomorrow possible.
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