About Us

We are a small and growing collective of individuals and organisations united by the urgency of removing CO2 from the atmosphere. We are dedicated to building the evidence and catalysing leadership and action in the field of carbon removal.

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“We need urgently to take action on the carbon that is already up there to give current and future generations a true chance in making the world a liveable place.”
—Theresa Sebastian, Re-Earth Initiative

“In terms of the timeline of humans, we are in the last breath. walk it back is about one of the ways left for us to regain our balance, between earth and nature.”
– William Russell, MONOM Studio

“We urgently have to figure out how to get the more-than-two trillions tons of carbon we’ve put up into our atmosphere back down again: walk it back is hoping to speed this urgent work up and get conversations about it out into the open.”
– Craig Cohon, walk it back

“It’s possible for every one of us to do more for the climate. If your undertaking follows the science and has integrity it has the potential to inspire many and to impact even more. walk it back is a good example: it’s a positive symbol of the progress we could make if more of us were prepared to go the extra mile.”
– Abdalah Mokssit, Secretary of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

“It’s a massive undertaking, especially at his age. I hope his body doesn’t decompose on the way there.”
– Craig’s son Jonas

Craig's Commitment

- Emilia Saiz Carrancedo, Secretary General UCLG and Craig Cohon

As the world shuddered to an enforced stop as a result of coronavirus, businessman Craig Cohon, like many of us, slowed down, looked back on his life and took stock. And he hit the books – Collapse, Donut Economics, Drawdown, Earthshot, Green Swans, Ministry for the Future, Pilgrimage for Peace, Race for Tomorrow, Saving Us, Silent Spring, The Drowned World, The Future We Choose, There Is No Planet B, The Uninhabitable Earth.

By the time world leaders descended on Glasgow for the United Nations Conference of Parties 26 in the autumn of 2021, Craig had started to question conventional yardsticks of success. He read up on Loss and Damage, he listened to the Outrage and Optimism podcast. He worried things weren’t happening quick enough. To cut it short: Craig woke up. Taking a sprinkle of Dr Seuss (“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not”) and a pinch of Goethe (“Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it/Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it!”) Craig set out to figure out what he could do about it. First, became the first private citizen to calculate his personal carbon footprint. Next, he worked out how he could best deploy his own energy, time, money and networks to not only reverse that footprint, but to inspire as many individuals, businesses and political leaders as possible to follow suit. walk it back is the result.

On October 13, 2022, Craig became the first person on the planet to sign a forward contract for over $1 million to leverage additional millions in carbon removal infrastructure finance. On January 3, 2023, he’ll dedicate six months of his life to walking all the way across Europe to Asia to raise awareness and accelerate action on getting carbon out of the air, supported by a small but powerful and growing network of organisations, from Re-Earth Initiative to World Economic Forum, Global Citizen and UCLG. Craig’s 2023 walk is the walk it back campaign’s first action. Our vision is to build a movement of concerned citizens, businesses and governments passing the baton on: galvanizing action within institutions, and inspiring citizens to walk it back to raise awareness and remove carbon across the globe. Want to pick up the baton?

Agreement with Patch
Craig’s carbon calculation
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100000

of carbon removal

4250

km walk

countries

Our Partners

walk it back is supported by a small but powerful network of organisations. But we believe the more partners we have, the stronger we become and the further we’ll get. Get in touch if you think you or your organisation has something to bring to the party.

Become a partner

Brand Partnerships

Climate Activation

Transport Parterships

City Partnerships

Activism

Human Performance Partnerships

Circularity Partnerships

Supporters

Supported by a Global Team of Experts

While only one of us is walking across the whole of Europe to reach Asia, walk it back is the fruit of a collaboration between a much wider team of experts in advocacy, architecture, art, athleticism, campaigning, communications, logistics, policy and sound.