Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP) today announced a new multi-year partnership with Re:wild, National Park Service and the Santa Monica Mountains Fund to support restoration efforts in areas devastated by California’s recent wildfires. Snap will work closely with Re:wild, a new environmental organization founded by a group of renowned conservation scientists together with Leonardo DiCaprio, to educate Snapchatters on the impacts of climate change on landscapes and communities through original content and augmented reality experiences.
Snap and Re:wild will work together to educate Snapchatters on the impacts of climate change on landscapes and communities through original content and augmented reality experiences.
Specifically, Snap and Re:wild will work closely with the National Park Service and the Santa Monica Mountains Fund to tackle the challenges faced by California wildlands and wildlife by starting with a flagship Los-Angeles-area landscape within California’s biodiversity hotspot: the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. Together, the organizations will implement a landscape restoration strategy by funding the planting of 10,000 native trees and 100,000 plants in some of the areas hardest hit by the 2018 Woolsey and 2013 Spring wildfires.
“As a native California company, our team members have experienced first-hand how our landscapes have been ravaged by climate change — this past year alone we have seen periods of drought, disastrous fires, and unimaginable flooding,” said Ben Schwerin, Senior Vice President for Content and Partnerships at Snap Inc. “We are committed to doing our part to revitalize California’s extraordinary biodiversity, which is key to ensuring the ongoing health and wellbeing of Californians — nearly half of which are under the age of 24.”
“Rewilding the ecosystems of the hard-hit Santa Monica mountains will not only ensure Los Angeles residents are able to continue to enjoy the wild so close to their home, but will also help ensure climate stability, provide clean air and water, protect wildlife, and prevent fires and drought,” said Penny Langhammer, Re:wild Executive Vice President. “This is a wonderful model that will make California’s future a little greener—and, if partnerships like this can be developed in other biodiversity hotspots around the world, our planet’s future a whole lot healthier.”
The partnership, which was announced at Snap’s annual Partner Summit, builds on a commitment Snap made earlier this week that Snap has become historically carbon neutral as part of its larger climate strategy. Snap’s climate strategy encompasses three key parts: 1) We have become carbon neutral, going back to our founding and into the future; 2) Reducing Snap’s greenhouse emissions in line with what science says is needed to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement; and 3) Purchasing 100% renewable electricity for Snap’s facilities globally.
Snap regularly does research with its Gen Z community to better understand the issues they care about and want to see represented on the platform, and climate change and the environment are among the issues that rank highest. In the U.S., more than half of Gen Z gets their news and information from Snapchat’s Discover platform, and on average over 200 million Snapchatters engage with AR on its platform every day.
Many of Snap’s news partners on its Discover platform cover climate change regularly, including The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, NowThis, and NBC News. “Climate Frontline” from Channel 4 News in the UK and Pattrn, a channel focused exclusively on climate and the environment, share new content on Snapchat regularly. Snap has also developed several original content series in this space, including “First Person,” which tells the stories of young people fighting to save our planet, and the upcoming series “Breakwater,” a scripted drama that’s set in a world of climate refugees.
About Snap Inc.
Snap Inc. is a camera company. We believe that reinventing the camera represents our greatest opportunity to improve the way people live and communicate. We contribute to human progress by empowering people to express themselves, live in the moment, learn about the world, and have fun together. For more information, visit snap.com.
About Re:wild
Re:wild is on a mission to protect and restore the wild. We have a singular and powerful focus: the wild as the most effective solution to the interconnected climate, biodiversity and pandemic crises. Founded by a group of renowned conservation scientists together with Leonardo DiCaprio, Re:wild is a force multiplier that brings together Indigenous peoples, local communities, influential leaders, nongovernmental organizations, governments, corporations and the public to protect and rewild at the scale and speed we need. Re:wild launched in 2021 based on more than three decades of combined conservation impact of the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation and Global Wildlife Conservation, leveraging expertise, partnerships and platforms under one unified brand, bringing new attention, energy and voices together. Our vital work has protected and conserved over 12 million acres benefitting more than 16,000 species in the world’s most irreplaceable places for biodiversity. We don’t need to reinvent the planet. We just need to rewild it—for all wildkind. Learn more at rewild.org.
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