About Sandbag
Sandbag is a non-profit climate change think tank which uses data analysis to build evidence-based climate policy.
We focus on EU policies such as the EU Emissions Trading Scheme and climate governance, and emissions reductions in industrial sectors.
We believe in Europe’s ability to lead climate action, by example and using its large market and technological momentum as an incentive for others to follow. But we’re also aware of the risk that Europe’s might fail to deliver on its own pledges, which is why we want to get EU policy right.
Mission & Vision
Sandbag’s vision is that climate policy in Europe and beyond should be robustly designed to drive rapid and cost-effective emissions reductions, towards a net zero economy.
Our mission is to provide targeted, evidence-based advocacy at the points of highest leverage, with Sandbag’s analysis and data tools being trusted and consulted by key decision-makers.
The principle that we follow in all our work is: put your effort where it has the biggest impact.
Sandbag’s advocacy activity is underpinned by sophisticated modelling, data tools and data visualisation.
Sandbag successes
We have led a number of successful campaigns to improve European climate policy, including:
removing hundreds of millions of ‘unused allowances’ from the oversupplied EU ETS
winning the introduction of the Market Stability Reserve, to lock away surplus allowances
set an ambitious fifth carbon budget in the UK
helping to secure a ban on polluting HFC offset credits
History
Sandbag was founded in 2008 in London to shine a light on what was really going on in emissions trading in the EU and to enable people to buy and remove the surplus carbon allowances from the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS).
Sandbag started operating from Brussels in 2013, opening an office there to host our advocacy activities with EU institutions, then a legal entity in 2018, Sandbag Climate Campaign ASBL. In 2019, it was decided to fully dedicate Sandbag to EU climate policy from Brussels, while the UK-based entity, renamed ‘Ember’, would pursue the global power sector and coal phase-out work previously done by Sandbag. You can find their website here: ember-climate.org
Sandbag informs and influences European legislation on climate change by working with the key policymakers and business representatives to change climate policy, supported by our in-depth research and analysis. We also work with campaigning organisations across Europe, supplying the data and evidence-base to secure wins for the climate. And – with the right pressure at the right time – we are able to make a big difference.