Ben Gleisner wins Most Impactful Entrepreneur at the Pacific Basin Economic Council

Pacific Basin Economic Council - Environment Social & Governance Awards 2022-2023

The Pacific Basin Economic Council (PBEC) is delighted to announce the member companies who have won the 2022-23 PBEC Annual ESG Awards. The winners combine both outstanding environmental protection efforts and ESG compliance with positive financial results. For the first return of these annual ESG awards after a 16 year hiatus (previously named the PBEC Annual Environmental Awards from 1998-2006), the overall assessment and judging was conducted by the PBEC International Secretariat. The award selection was based 5 criteria including:

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1. Compliance with Current Regulations
2. Corporate Policy Targets in-line with Global Targets
3. Overall Improvement in Business Processes
4. Pollution Reduction Impact/Protection Efforts of Finite Resources
5. Increased Awareness Outreach

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Judges used comparative analysis to assess each of these, including publicly available information such as access to Annual Reports, press releases, company website and social media channels as well as commentary in the news.

Most Impactful Entrepreneur - Ben Gleisner Founder, Cogo

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Cogo is a carbon footprint management product that helps individuals and businesses to measure, understand and reduce their impact on the climate. Cogo does this through partnerships with some of the world's largest banks to integrate leading carbon-tracking functionality into their banking apps.

Cogo uses best-in-class models to provide accurate ways to measure carbon emissions specific to local markets and cutting edge behavioural science techniques to nudge customers to make more sustainable choices.

Cogo currently works with twelve banks, with plans to double this in the next twelve months. Founded in 2016, Cogo now employs over 100 people, operates in 12 countries across Europe and Australasia (including the UK, Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia, Japan and Singapore) and helps over a million customers around the world measure their carbon footprint. Cogo has raised over US$12.5 million in funding since its launch.

The company also recently represented the pinnacle of New Zealand’s tech ecosystem as part of the New Zealand Government’s trade missions to Japan and Singapore and Australia.

A worthy winner in Ben Gleisner of Cogo as our inaugural Most Impactful Entrepreneur 2022/23, many congratulations!