Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
This article was adapted from a transcript of our fireside chat with Anjali. Join our community to participate live in monthly conversations with experts, activists, policymakers, and more! Our fireside chats are not product endorsements.
Anjali Mahadevia is on a mission towards a world with less waste. As Head of Business Development at Future, Anjali is helping to make sustainability (literally) rewarding and convenient for consumers. In this fireside chat, Anjali shares how your spending can save the planet and how you can build sustainable habits in a FUN and affordable way.
Here’s what we’ll cover:
Reflecting on her years of experience in education and climate, Anjali explores how accessibility and consumer activism can play in helping consumers build a sustainable future.
Before joining Future, what beliefs and/or experiences shaped the trajectory of your career?
I was born to a Hindu family, raised with a big focus on karma—it means that if you do good for your environment, it will do good for you. We believe in reincarnation, where if you screw up this life, your next life will suck if you're a bad person. So, I decided to dedicate my life to doing good things.
I studied marketing and operations management at the Wharton School of Business. While most of my peers went into finance or consulting, I became a teacher through Teach for America and taught high school math in South Central LA for three years. Teaching in South Central LA was an eye-opening experience. I learned that kids born in traumatic or high-conflict areas process information differently. This realization highlighted the huge equity gaps in education and informed my approach to teaching.
When COVID hit, I wanted to make a bigger impact, focusing on women's empowerment, equity, education, and climate, which intersect with all these issues. This led me to co-founding a company called Ampliphi to help tackle the plastic crisis by reducing unnecessary plastics rather than just offsetting them.
What led you to your current role at Future?
After selling Ampliphi, my next goal was to work in consumer activism and inspire individuals to make lower-carbon choices. At Future, we reward individuals for climate-friendly behaviors. Our CEO realized he would need to plant 600 trees every year to neutralize his family's carbon footprint. So, to empower individuals to make change on a larger scale, we focus on inspiring low-carbon behaviors and making sustainability rewarding and convenient.
How does Future incentivize sustainable changes?
Future has created a rewards economy for green behaviors. For example, if you buy a vegan burger, you get 5% cashback* through our rewards card, the FutureCard Visa Debit Card.** We also run fun campaigns, such as offering free subway rides in New York City and rewarding users for frequent public transit use. We launched the first-ever transit loyalty program, giving bonuses for frequent subway rides. These initiatives help make sustainable actions rewarding and engaging.
How does Future decide what is a sustainable action? How do you actually reward it?
We reward anything that reduces carbon. Actions like eating a plant-based burger instead of a regular burger reduce carbon. Users fund their Future account, and our system uses merchant category codes to identify and reward sustainable behaviors automatically upon purchasing. For exceptions, like specific products from grocery stores, users can send receipts.
What are some high-leverage actions that people are interested in on the Future app?
High-leverage actions include switching to plant-based foods, using public transportation, and shopping at thrift stores. We currently have about 50,000 businesses where users can earn 5-6% in cashback rewards for sustainable purchases. For grocery stores, users can send pictures of receipts for specific products to get rewards.
Has Future faced challenges in incentivizing behaviors in areas where public transportation is less accessible?
Yes, but our platform rewards more than just public transit. It includes Amtrak, electric rideshares (like Uber Electric, Lyft Green and Revel), scooters, and city bikes. We want to incentivize small behavior changes, like choosing an electric vehicle or a city bike, rather than just promoting public transit use.
How have you seen the tie between financial anxiety and climate anxiety?
Future rewards everyday behaviors by giving at least 1% cashback on every purchase, which helps lower-income workers save money while being sustainable. By showing users their carbon impact and offering financial rewards, we address both climate and financial anxiety. We're launching campaigns to offer free bus rides in major US cities, focusing on underserved communities to measure the economic and social benefits of increased public transit use.
Ultimately, what impact is Future trying to achieve?
We aim to integrate sustainable behaviors into your daily life. In the end, it's about redirecting consumer choices towards climate-friendly behaviors and capturing that impact.
To learn how you can get rewards for taking sustainable actions in your daily life, check out Future’s cash back program!
Disclaimers
*Terms and conditions apply. See future.green/legal/rewards for details.
**Future is not a bank. Banking services are provided by Piermont Bank, Member FDIC. The FutureCard Visa Debit Card is issued by Piermont Bank, Member FDIC, pursuant to a license from Visa USA Inc. Your funds are FDIC insured up to $250,000 through Piermont Bank; Member FDIC
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