ROOTED: Frequently Asked Questions
General
What is ROOTED?
ROOTED is a privacy-first, AI-powered carbon footprint calculator designed for SMEs, charities, and cultural organisations. It tracks Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions entirely on your device without cloud uploads or data leaks. It includes six core modules: Measure (emissions calculator with bill scanning), Ask (AI-powered Q&A), Act (action plans with a Justice Filter), Track (multi-year progress monitoring), Communicate (inclusive language coaching), and Learn (interactive glossary and climate journey).
Who is ROOTED for?
ROOTED is built for small and medium enterprises, sole traders, charities, and cultural non-profits, particularly those in the UK, Ireland, and Denmark who need to report emissions but lack the budget for enterprise SaaS platforms.
Is ROOTED free?
Yes. ROOTED is free for SMEs, sole traders, charities, and non-profits under the PolyForm Noncommercial 1.0.0 licence. The aim is to keep it free for organisations that use it to track their own emissions. A licence fee applies only if ROOTED is used for commercial gain, for example reselling it as part of a paid consultancy service. See the ROOTED page for full licence details.
What stage is ROOTED at?
ROOTED is currently in Public Beta (v2.2.3) and open for pilot cohort applications. The pilot is building real-world evidence that local-first AI tools can deliver meaningful climate action, evidence that supports funding applications to scale the work.
Technical
What hardware do I need?
Currently, ROOTED requires an Apple Mac with M-series chip and 16GB RAM minimum (M1, M2, M3, or M4). Windows and Linux support is coming soon.
Does ROOTED work offline?
Yes. ROOTED runs entirely on your device using local AI models (Llama 3.1 via Ollama). No internet connection is required after initial setup.
What AI models does ROOTED use?
ROOTED uses an optimised Llama 3.1 (8B, 4-bit quantised) model running locally via Ollama, plus Tesseract OCR and Gemma 3 for document scanning. A hybrid RAG pipeline (ChromaDB + BM25) powers the Q&A feature.
Where is my data stored?
All data stays on your machine in a local SQLite database and ChromaDB vector store. ROOTED never uploads your financial records, supply chain data, or emissions calculations to any server. AI inference runs locally via Ollama. Your data folder is fully under your control. You can back it up, move it, or delete it at any time.
What data do I need to get started?
To calculate your carbon footprint, gather the following for your chosen reporting period (typically 12 months):
- Scope 1 (direct emissions): Natural gas bills, heating oil invoices, company vehicle fuel receipts, refrigerant top-up records
- Scope 2 (energy): Electricity bills (kWh and supplier), district heating invoices
- Scope 3 (indirect): Flight bookings, rail tickets, hotel invoices, employee commuting surveys, purchased goods and services records
You can scan documents using ROOTED's built-in OCR (Tesseract and Gemma 3) or enter data manually. Start with whatever data you have, as you can always improve data quality over time.
Compliance & Reporting
Does ROOTED comply with CSRD requirements?
Yes. ROOTED generates reports aligned with the ESRS E1 Climate Change standard and supports VSME (Voluntary Standard for SMEs) Excel exports using the official EFRAG template format.
What emission factors does ROOTED use?
ROOTED includes 196 verified 2025 emission factors from the UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) and Ireland's Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI). Examples include UK electricity grid (0.192 kgCO2e/kWh), natural gas (0.183 kgCO2e/kWh), and short-haul flights (0.153 kgCO2e/passenger-km). All factors are cited and versioned so you can trace every calculation.
Can I use ROOTED reports for audits?
Yes. Every calculation includes a full audit trail with transparent methodology, cited sources, and version history. Reports are designed to be audit-ready.
Does ROOTED support science-based targets?
Yes. ROOTED calculates SBTi-aligned reduction pathways: 42% reduction by 2030 and 90% by 2050, with base-year adjustment and automatic recalculation.
Key Terms Explained
What are Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions?
- Scope 1 covers direct emissions from sources you own or control, such as burning gas for heating, fuel in company vehicles, or refrigerant leaks.
- Scope 2 covers indirect emissions from the energy you purchase, including electricity from the grid and district heating.
- Scope 3 covers all other indirect emissions in your value chain, including business travel, employee commuting, purchased goods and services, and waste disposal. For most SMEs, Scope 3 is the largest category.
What does tCO2e mean?
Tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e) is the standard unit for measuring greenhouse gas emissions. It converts the warming effect of different gases (methane, nitrous oxide, refrigerants) into an equivalent amount of CO2 so they can be compared and totalled.
What is the difference between Net-Zero and Carbon Neutral?
Carbon Neutral means offsetting your current emissions. You still produce the same amount but pay for removal or avoidance elsewhere. Net-Zero means reducing your emissions by at least 90% (aligned with SBTi targets) and only offsetting the residual amount that cannot be eliminated. Net-Zero is the more ambitious and scientifically credible target.
What is the CSRD?
The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) is EU legislation requiring companies to report detailed sustainability data using the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS). ROOTED generates reports aligned with ESRS E1 (Climate Change), the standard most relevant to carbon emissions. The VSME (Voluntary Standard for SMEs) provides a simplified format for smaller organisations.
What is a Climate Justice approach?
ROOTED's "Justice Filter" reranks action plan recommendations to prioritise solutions that benefit workers, communities, and vulnerable groups rather than just cost savings. This aligns with the principle that those least responsible for climate change should not bear the greatest burden of addressing it.
Privacy & Security
How is ROOTED different from cloud-based carbon calculators?
Most carbon calculators (Plan A, Normative, Greenly) require you to upload sensitive financial and supply chain data to their servers. ROOTED processes everything locally, so your data never leaves your building. This eliminates data breach risk and protects your intellectual property.
Does Jura Labs ever see my data?
No. Jura Labs has zero access to your data. ROOTED is designed so that not even its creator can see what you calculate. Your emissions data lives in a local SQLite database, your AI knowledge base is stored in a local ChromaDB vector store, and all LLM inference runs through Ollama on your hardware. This is a fundamental architectural choice, not just a policy.
Features
What is the Communications Coach?
The Communications Coach analyses your text or website for polarising climate language. It scores your content 0–100 across eight categories (emergency framing, jargon, war metaphors, guilt language, political signalling, techno-optimism, doom narratives, exclusionary terms) based on Britain Talks Climate research by Climate Outreach. Scores of 80–100 indicate highly accessible language; below 40 suggests likely polarising messaging.
What is the Climate Journey?
The Climate Journey is ROOTED's interactive learning module. It builds your sustainability confidence through scenario-based decision making, quizzes, and nature-inspired guides. Topics cover everything from understanding your carbon footprint to communicating sustainability to stakeholders.
How many reduction measures does ROOTED recommend?
ROOTED includes 27 verified reduction measures sourced from the Carbon Trust, IEMA, and Carbon Independent. Recommendations are filtered by your sector and emission hotspots, then reranked by the Justice Filter to highlight equity-focused solutions.
The Pilot
What is the Pilot Cohort?
The pilot recruits SMEs, sole traders, and cultural non-profits to trial ROOTED and provide feedback. Pilot participants help shape development and, critically, build the evidence base that supports funding applications to keep ROOTED free and scale it further.
What do I get as a pilot participant?
A place in the founding cohort, a direct line to influence feature development, and priority support from Jura Labs. ROOTED is free. The real value of joining early is shaping what it becomes.
What is the commitment?
Use ROOTED to track your emissions for at least one reporting cycle and provide structured feedback on the workflow, accuracy, and user experience.
How do I apply?
Visit our pilot signup page to apply.