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Carbon Brief membership terms of service

Welcome to CB+. By signing up for a monthly or annual membership, you agree to these Terms of Service and the Community Code of Conduct, which we make available before you join.

Who we are: Your membership is supplied by Carbon Brief Ltd, company number 07222041, trading in the UK as Carbon Brief. Our registered address is 18 Crucifix Ln, London SE1 3JW, United Kingdom. For membership support or complaints, contact [email protected] or write to that address.

1. Membership and access

Your membership grants you access to the benefits listed for your selected tier at checkout, including any members-only areas of CB Connect, our discussion forum. Some forum areas or previews may be publicly visible. Access to paid benefits is restricted to the registered account holder and cannot be shared or transferred, except for seat changes permitted under an organisational plan.

Optional community channels: Where WhatsApp access is included in your tier, joining is optional and requires a WhatsApp account. The platform has its own terms and privacy notice. Our Privacy Policy explains what other participants can see. Keep your membership login secure and contact us if you suspect unauthorised access.

Organisational and honorary access: If your access is provided by an organisation, it depends on an assigned seat and the organisation’s subscription. The organisation’s administrator may reassign or remove seats under its agreed plan. Any complimentary or honorary access has the duration and conditions stated in your invitation and does not become paid access without your agreement.

2. Billing and automatic renewal

  • Billing cycles: We offer both monthly and annual subscription plans in Pounds Stirling. Before payment, checkout shows your tier, total price including applicable taxes, billing interval and next payment date. Depending on your currency, your bank might charge you an additional conversion fee.
  • Automatic renewal: Paid memberships automatically renew at the end of the billing cycle unless cancelled before the renewal date. We will confirm your purchase and provide the applicable terms.
  • Pricing: Any possible price change would apply from a future renewal, not partway through a period you have already paid for. We would email the new price and effective date at least 30 days before it applies, so you could choose to cancel before being charged.

Introductory offers and tier changes: The offer and checkout will state the discount period, the amount charged during it, the standard price afterwards and when that price first applies. Before you change tier, we will show the effective date and any extra charge, credit or change to your renewal date.

Failed payments: If a payment fails, we will notify you and explain how to update your payment method and when access may be suspended or end.

3. Cancellation and refunds

  • Cancel any time: You can stop automatic renewal at any time through your member dashboard managed by Memberful at https://membership.carbonbrief.org/account, or contact [email protected] for help. We will confirm cancellation. You retain access until the end of your current paid billing period. Stopping renewal does not itself request a refund or delete your accounts.
  • Initial cooling-off rights: If you buy as a consumer, you normally have 14 calendar days after the day the contract is made to cancel without giving a reason. Tell us by a clear statement using the contact details above, or use the model cancellation form supplied with your confirmation. We will make any refund due within 14 days of being told.
  • Goodwill renewal refunds: You may also request a goodwill refund at [email protected] within seven days of an automatic renewal. Where no legal refund right applies, these requests are discretionary. We will still consider billing errors, service failures and legal claims outside that period. Nothing in these terms limits your statutory cancellation rights or remedies for a service that is faulty or not as described.

4. Community rules and conduct

To maintain a safe and constructive environment, you agree to:

  • Be respectful and constructive; harassment, hate speech, bullying or spamming will not be tolerated.
  • Keep restricted discussions and non-public member details private. Do not share restricted posts, copyrighted materials or screenshots outside their permitted audience without permission. Publicly visible areas are not confidential. This rule does not prevent lawful reporting of wrongdoing, seeking confidential professional advice or reporting a concern to moderators.
  • Termination: We may restrict community access or end membership for a serious or repeated breach of the Community Code of Conduct. We may suspend access immediately while investigating a serious safety concern. Carbon Brief reserves the right to restrict community access or end membership without notice or explanation. Refunds will be considered fairly in light of the circumstances and your legal rights; we do not impose an automatic forfeiture of all payments.

5. Intellectual property

Content created by Carbon Brief remains the intellectual property of Carbon Brief. You may use it personally and as permitted by any licence stated on the content or by law. You may not resell or republish restricted content without permission.

Carbon Brief membership privacy policy

Membership accounts and community participation

We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting your personal data. Carbon Brief Ltd is the UK controller for the CB+ membership data described here. Contact [privacy email] or [confirmed postal address] about your information. This policy covers membership accounts, community participation and related services, alongside our website privacy and cookie notices at [links].

Information we collect

  • Account info: Your name and email address when you sign up, membership tier and status, account identifiers, communication preferences and any optional profile fields you complete.
  • Payment info: Stripe processes payment details. We receive transaction, invoice, billing and subscription information needed to manage your membership, but do not store your full card number or security code.
  • Community profiles: Your username, optional profile information, posts, messages, reactions and moderation records in CB Connect. If you choose to receive CB+ messages via WhatsApp, your phone number, profile information and contributions are also involved in that service. We collect the personal data you provide directly to us through WhatsApp, which may include your phone number, display name, profile picture, the content of your messages, media shared during the conversation, and interaction timestamps. You can exit the WhatsApp community at any time.

Technical and source information: We may receive login and security logs, IP addresses and device information from the services we use. Membership payment updates will be sent to you by Memberful and Stripe. For an organisational seat, your administrator may supply your name, work email and seat status. Any member’s reading analytics are described in section 5.

Required and optional information: We need the account and applicable billing details requested at checkout to create and administer your membership via Memberful and Stripe. Optional profile fields and participation in WhatsApp are not required to receive the core membership service.

We use service providers to administer the membership and share only information needed for their relevant functions. Some providers also handle data for their own purposes under their own privacy notices.

  • Memberful: Manages our membership portal, logins and subscription status. WordPress and WP-Engine support the website account and access to member benefits.
  • Stripe: Handles payment processing, payment security and billing records under its applicable terms and privacy notice.
  • Discourse and WhatsApp: Support community access and participation. WhatsApp handles its service under its own terms and privacy notice. Participation via WhatsApp is optional.

MailerLite and Zapier: Support membership email delivery and, where configured, synchronise names, email addresses, tier and subscription status so we can manage relevant mailing groups. Google Analytics supports the analytics described in section 5, where enabled.

Visibility to other people: Public forum areas and previews can be viewed by non-members and may be indexed by search engines. Restricted areas are visible to their permitted participants and authorised staff.

WhatsApp visibility: Community administrators can see your phone number. Administrators will be a few selected, trusted Carbon Brief staff. In ordinary discussion “groups”, other group members can also see it. Visibility differs between Community “announcements” and linked “groups”, and your profile settings also affect what others can see. Other participants may retain copies or screenshots; we cannot guarantee confidentiality or erase their copies.

How we use your data and our lawful bases

We use information needed to set up and deliver your paid membership, manage payments, provide included benefits and send essential account messages on the basis of our contract with you. We keep legally required accounting and compliance records to meet legal obligations.

We rely on legitimate interests to protect accounts, prevent fraud, moderate the community and handle support or disputes. These interests are a secure, constructive service and effective administration, balanced against your rights. For honorary access or an organisational seat where we do not contract directly with you, we rely on legitimate interests in administering the access provided to you.

We do not make joining WhatsApp or receiving optional marketing a condition of membership.

Email choices: Essential messages include receipts, payment problems and important changes to your membership. Unsubscribing from marketing does not cancel membership and ending membership does not automatically unsubscribe you from separately chosen free newsletters.

Your rights and complaints

You may ask to access or correct your personal data and, where applicable, request erasure, restriction or portability. You may withdraw consent at any time without affecting earlier lawful processing. These rights have legal conditions: for example, we may need to retain accounting records or information needed for legal claims. Contact [email protected]. We normally respond to rights requests within one month, subject to lawful extensions and any necessary checks.

Your right to object: You can object to direct marketing at any time. You can also object to processing based on legitimate interests on grounds relating to your situation. Contact [email protected] or use the marketing unsubscribe link, as appropriate.

If you have a privacy complaint, contact [email protected]. We will acknowledge it within 30 days, investigate without undue delay, keep you informed and explain the outcome. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/.

Cookies and member analytics

We use essential login and security technologies to provide the service. Our cookie notice explains the technologies in use and how to change your choices. Where consent is required, we obtain it before using the relevant technology. Refusing optional analytics does not prevent access to paid benefits.

Member reading analytics: With your consent, we link pages viewed and interactions while you are logged in to a pseudonymous account identifier in Google Analytics 4. This lets us analyse use of membership benefits and [confirm any other purposes]. Authorised staff may analyse exported records in Google Analytics. The identifier remains personal data where we can link it to your account.

How long we keep information

We keep information for the following periods or according to these criteria: membership and support records; financial records; posts and moderation records; analytics and exported logs; and backups. We delete or anonymise information when it is no longer needed, unless a legal obligation or claim requires retention.

International transfers

Some providers may handle membership data outside the UK. You can request information about the applicable safeguards from [email protected]

Changes to this policy

We will update this policy when our use of information changes and explain significant changes to affected members. Where a new use requires consent, we will ask for it before starting that use. The date above identifies the latest version.