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GDFA and two of its initiatives needed to reach policymakers, financial institutions, and sustainability professionals online - but the main website was outdated, EAC had no site of its own, and the Encyclopenergy data platform was full of broken plugins and spam. There was no in-house web or design capability to fix any of it.
Brand refresh for GDFA. New websites for GDFA and EAC. Encyclopenergy redesigned with Airtable integration to make its energy efficiency data usable for partners. Social media campaign to launch the Green Fintech Classification.
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initiatives, each with a digital presence built for the decision-makers they need to influence. Encyclopenergy's team went from a site they couldn't update to one they manage independently
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projects delivered over two years - each one commissioned on the back of the last.
The Green Digital Finance Alliance (GDFA) is a global non-profit working at the intersection of digital technology and sustainable finance. Its audience spans policymakers, senior figures in green finance, corporate sustainability professionals, and research partners. GDFA runs several initiatives. Every Action Counts (EAC) is a coalition of experts and organisations focused on corporate sustainability action. Encyclopenergy is an open data platform cataloguing energy efficiency solutions for the built environment - built by the community, designed for researchers and industry partners
GDFA had no in-house marketing or design team. Its research and initiatives were reaching policymakers and financial institutions through direct relationships - but its digital presence didn't reflect the weight of the work. The main website was outdated. Its Every Action Counts initiative had no standalone site at all. Encyclopenergy, its open energy efficiency data platform, had fallen into disrepair.
The first project with Adopter was a social media campaign to launch the Green Fintech Classification - the world's first framework for categorising green fintech innovations. GDFA came back within months for a brand refresh, then two new websites, then a redesign of a third.
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The Green Fintech Classification launch was GDFA's first project with Adopter - a social media campaign to put the world's first green fintech framework in front of the sector's thought leaders and stakeholders. Over 10 days, 28 organic posts generated nearly 15,000 impressions and close to 900 engagements - a 405% increase in reach and 370% increase in engagement compared to GDFA's previous launch. Engagement rates hit 11% on LinkedIn. Stakeholders and funders contacted GDFA independently to praise the quality of the content.
"Adopter take the time to really understand the technical work of their clients, with the content specifically framed to reach thought leaders and stakeholders in our niche." - Gerrit Sinderman, Interim Director, GDFA
With COP27 approaching, GDFA commissioned a brand refresh - a new visual identity for the organisation ahead of a much more visible period. That brand work fed directly into what came next.
COP27 would put GDFA in front of exactly the audience it existed to reach. Its website - the first thing any of them would check - was outdated, slow, and overdue for replacement.
The old site needed cleaning up immediately so GDFA had a credible front door while the new one took shape. From there, the build was designed around what GDFA's audience would actually come to the site for: publications and news. Each got custom templates that GDFA's team could update themselves - no developer, no bottleneck, no waiting. The site went live ahead of its deadline, faster and with a smaller digital carbon footprint than what it replaced.
"When I came on board as Executive Director the team made themselves available day and night for a very tight deadline. They adapted to our team dynamics and were flexible when we needed to pivot on key elements." - Katherine Foster, Executive Director, GDFA
EAC had been running for a year with nothing more than a single page on GDFA's site. For a coalition asking sustainability professionals and domain experts to get involved and stake their reputation on a shared platform, that wasn't enough. Adopter built EAC a standalone site designed to grow with the coalition - with a low carbon footprint and fast load times that reflected EAC's own sustainability commitment. It launched in time for EAC to publish a major new report through its own platform for the first time.
The GDFA and EAC websites were clean briefs - new builds with clear outcomes. Encyclopenergy was a different situation.
GDFA's open data platform for energy efficiency solutions in the built environment had been built on WordPress by a third-party developer and handed over without documentation. The GDFA team called it a "black box." By the time they brought it to Adopter, the site had outdated plugins, spam comments, no analytics, and a data layer that didn't work. Energy efficiency data was stored as WordPress posts, making it nearly impossible to sort, filter, or draw any practical insight from.
The whole point of Encyclopenergy was to make energy efficiency data usable for the sector. Partners across the industry relied on it as a shared resource - and those same partners had been asking for better filtering and categorisation for some time. A platform they couldn't get value from was a platform they'd stop using.
Adopter started by connecting analytics and clearing the technical debt - spam, outdated plugins, broken functionality. Then the data layer. An Airtable-based system was integrated into the site, giving the team a familiar tool they already understood to manage entries and respond to partner feedback without depending on a developer. A Google Forms submission process replaced the old upload method, making it simpler to add new data.
"We are not web designers or developers, so it was great to work with someone we could speak to from a functionality perspective, describing a desired outcome in non-technical terms, and have Adopter guide us through a range of approaches and bring us the best solutions." - Jannika Aalto, GDFA
The GDFA team went from a site they were uncomfortable even accessing to one they run independently. The black box became theirs.
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Adopter continues to provide occasional maintenance and support across GDFA's digital properties.
The Green Fintech Classification campaign reached 405% more people and generated 370% higher engagement than GDFA's previous launch - with engagement rates of 11% on LinkedIn and 7.6% on Twitter. Stakeholders and funders contacted GDFA unprompted to comment on the quality of the content.
In its first full year, the new GDFA website drew visitors from more than 140 countries - with the heaviest traffic from Switzerland, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Hong Kong, and Singapore. The global financial centres where GDFA's stakeholders work. Organic search drove roughly a third of all traffic, and the Green Fintech Classification pages became some of the most visited content on the site.
Both the GDFA and EAC websites were delivered ahead of their COP27 deadline, with faster load times and smaller digital carbon footprints. Across all three web projects, every site was built or redesigned so that GDFA's teams could manage content and updates without developer dependency.
Encyclopenergy's engagement rate rose from 37% to 62% after the redesign - visitors were spending more time with the data and finding what they came for.
GDFA started with an outdated website, no brand system, and no in-house capability to fix any of it. Today, three of its initiatives have their own digital presence, each managed internally by the team.
"Adopter supported us in revamping the Encyclopenergy website to make it easy for our internal team to update and customise. We found Matt and Adopter well-organised and very easy to work with. Right from the start, the work followed a clear process, where the Adopter team met all the agreed deadlines and always kept us informed on the progress. Throughout the process, Matt and Adopter were proactive and very receptive to feedback. Before Adopter's support, our original third-party developer provided us with a 'black box' website. However, after Adopter's intervention, the site has transformed, becoming easier to use and edit. Our team members now feel more comfortable accessing it. As a value-led organisation, we also appreciate the fact that Adopter is a certified B Corp."
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