Welcome to the Community Pledges feature of the Yolo County Climate Action and Adaptation Plan website (the "Service"). The Service is operated by Kausal Oy ("Kausal," "we," or "us") in collaboration with Yolo County ("the County") as part of the County's Climate Action and Adaptation Plan. By accessing or using the Service at [insert site URL], you agree to be bound by these Terms of Use (the "Terms"). If you do not agree to these Terms, please do not use the Service.
Community Pledges lets residents and other members of the public commit to individual climate-positive actions ("pledges") that support the goals of the Yolo County Climate Action and Adaptation Plan. You can browse a list of pledges, commit to the ones you choose, optionally provide your ZIP code, and share progress updates and feedback. The Service displays how many people have committed to each pledge so the community can see collective momentum.
You must be at least 16 years old to create an account or commit to a pledge through the Service. If you are under 16, please do not use the Service or provide any personal information.
The Service uses passwordless sign-in. To save your pledges across visits, you provide your email address and confirm a one-time code that we send to that email. No password is created, and we do not ask for your name. You are responsible for maintaining access to, and the security of, the email account you use to sign in, and for all activity that occurs under your account.
You may also commit to pledges without creating an account by choosing to continue without saving your progress. If you later choose to register with your email address, the commitments you made anonymously during that session may be associated with ("migrated to") your new account so that your progress is preserved.
You agree to use the Service only for its intended purpose and in compliance with these Terms and all applicable laws and regulations. You must not use the Service in any manner that could damage, disable, overburden, or impair it, or interfere with any other party's use of the Service. You agree not to submit content that is unlawful, abusive, misleading, or that infringes the rights of others.
You retain ownership of the content you submit to the Service. We collect and store the following data about you:
What is shown publicly. Aggregate information, such as the number of residents who have committed to a particular pledge, is displayed publicly on the Service. Your email address and other information that could identify you are not published.
Data Controller. For the purposes of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Kausal acts as the Data Controller for the personal data processed through the Service. Kausal determines the purposes and means of processing this data.
As the Data Controller, Kausal is responsible for:
Applicable law. Kausal is established in the European Union, and processing through the Service is subject to the GDPR. Because the Service is offered to residents of California, the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (together, the "CCPA/CPRA"), may also apply. We aim to honor your rights under both frameworks, as set out below.
Purpose of processing. We process your personal data to provide and improve the Service, to record and display your pledges and progress, and to communicate with you about the Service.
Data sharing with Yolo County. Because the Service is provided in collaboration with the County as part of its Climate Action and Adaptation Plan, we share pledge data with the County so that it can monitor, evaluate, and report on community engagement and progress toward its climate goals. The County receives this information primarily in aggregate form. Where any sharing includes personal data, we apply appropriate safeguards and limit the sharing to what is necessary for these purposes. We do not otherwise share your personal data with third parties except as required to operate the Service or as required by law.
Where your data is stored. Personal data processed through the Service is stored in the United States. We apply appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect it regardless of where it is stored.
Data retention. We retain your personal data for a maximum of five years from the last time you signed in to the Service, unless a longer retention period is required by law. After this period, your personal data is securely deleted or anonymized. Anonymized data, which cannot be used to identify you, may be retained indefinitely for statistical and analytical purposes, including aggregate pledge counts.
Security measures. We have implemented appropriate technical and organizational measures to ensure a level of security appropriate to the risk, including measures to protect your personal data against unauthorized or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, destruction, or damage.
Your rights. Under the GDPR you have the right to access, rectify, erase, restrict, or object to the processing of your personal data, as well as the right to data portability. If you are a California resident, you also have the right to know what personal information we collect, to request its deletion or correction, and to opt out of any "sale" or "sharing" of personal information as those terms are defined under the CCPA/CPRA. Kausal does not sell your personal information. We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of these rights. To exercise your rights, please contact our Data Protection Officer (DPO) at jouni.tuomisto@kausal.tech.
Essential communications. We may contact you with information necessary to provide the Service, such as your one-time sign-in code, security alerts, and service notifications. These communications are essential to operating the Service and do not require separate consent.
Optional communications. Separately, you may choose to opt in to additional communications, such as reminders about your pledges, progress prompts, and related updates. We send these only if you opt in, and you may withdraw your consent and unsubscribe at any time.
The software running the Service is owned by Kausal and licensed under the AGPLv3 open-source license. You acknowledge that Kausal retains all rights, title, and interest in and to the Service, including all intellectual property rights.
You retain ownership of the content you submit (such as your pledge commitments and feedback). By submitting content, you grant Kausal and the County a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use, store, and display that content as needed to operate the Service and to support the County's Climate Action and Adaptation Plan, including by showing aggregate and anonymized information publicly. We do not publish content in a way that identifies you.
The Service is provided "as is" and without warranty of any kind. Kausal does not guarantee the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of the Service or the outputs it generates. To the fullest extent permitted by law, Kausal shall not be liable for any losses or damages arising from the use of, or inability to use, the Service.
You may stop using the Service and request deletion of your account at any time by contacting us. We may delete accounts that have been inactive for an extended period and, in any case, will not retain your personal data longer than five years from your last sign-in. We will provide reasonable notice before deleting an active account where practicable. Kausal may also suspend or terminate access to the Service where necessary to protect the Service or comply with the law.
We may modify these Terms from time to time. Any changes will be effective upon posting the revised Terms on the Service. Your continued use of the Service after the revised Terms are posted constitutes your acceptance of the modified Terms.
These Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of Finland, and any disputes arising out of or in connection with these Terms shall be resolved in the courts located in Helsinki, Finland. Nothing in this section limits any mandatory rights you may have as a consumer or data subject under the laws of your place of residence, including the privacy rights of California residents described above.
If you have any questions about these Terms or the Service, please contact us at info@kausal.tech. For questions specifically about your personal data or to exercise your data rights, contact our Data Protection Officer at jouni.tuomisto@kausal.tech.
By using the Service, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms.