SDGs

World’s largest corporate sustainability initiative opens chapter in Ireland

Climate Journal reporting — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 09:47:22 +0000

World’s largest corporate sustainability initiative opens chapter in Ireland

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SDGs

Climate Action

Business Sustainability

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Business Sustainability

A special initiative of the UN Secretary-General, the United Nations Global Compact, will officially launch its Irish chapter on November 28th at Dublin’s Exo Building to accelerate actions towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) by 2030.

Sanda Ojiambo, Assistant Secretary-General and CEO of the UN Global Compact will open the exclusive event where senior representatives from business, government, academia, and civil society will explore how ambitious change can be implemented for a more sustainable future in Ireland.

At the current COP29, the UN Climate Change Conference held in Baku, Azerbaijan, Ojiambo emphasised that the world is “so far off in terms of climate targets and where we need to be" and that providing clear pathways for the private sector is crucial.

The launch event will provide more insights about the UN Global Compact and programmes such as the Forward Faster initiative, a global platform for credible, ambitious corporate action to guide companies on where to make the most significant impact the fastest.

Nessa Whelan, United Nations Global Compact Ireland Country Manager, highlights that Ireland needs forward-thinking leaders from the private sector committed to prioritising sustainability.

Nessa Whelan, United Nations Global Compact Ireland Country Manager

“The official launch of the network in Ireland marks a groundbreaking milestone towards driving positive, sustainable change. New members can expect to join like-minded organisations that will advance their business beyond mere regulatory compliance towards sustainable actions that add true value through longevity and profitability.”

She adds that since only 17% of the United Nations’ SDGs are on track to be achieved by the 2030 original deadline, introducing the Forward Faster initiative in Ireland to increase accountability and transparency is a major step in accelerating change.

“The Forward Faster initiative will be adopted in Ireland by focusing on key areas where businesses can drive rapid progress on the SDGs. These include gender equality, climate action, living wages, water resilience, and sustainable finance,”

Whelan explains.

The Forward Faster initiative by UN Global Compact aims to accelerate actions to deliver on SDG targets by 2030.

The launch event will feature high-level discussions with national and international speakers, including David McRedmond, CEO of An Post, and Noel Keeley, CEO of Musgraves Ltd and other influential figures, to provide insights, facilitate the exchange of ideas and foster collaborations.

To join the UN Global Compact Network Ireland, businesses must align their operations with the Ten Principles covering human rights, labour standards, environment, and anti-corruption. This requires a public commitment from their CEO and submitting an annual Communication on Progress (CoP).

Regarding benefits for businesses, Whelan says: “Participants receive access to a range of training sessions, workshops, and best practice resources that guide them in embedding sustainability into their operations. Furthermore, they gain visibility for their leadership in sustainability and are supported in meeting emerging regulatory requirements related to sustainable business practices, helping them remain competitive in a changing global economy.”

The UN Global Compact Network Ireland will provide companies with tailored support, resources, and learning opportunities to accelerate their progress while encouraging them to take bold action and lead the way in creating a more sustainable and resilient economy.

To make membership accessible to businesses of all sizes, the annual fee is tiered based on company size and revenue so new registrants can join the network of existing Irish members such as An Post, DAA, Smurfit Kappa, Ryanair, ICON plc, and AIB.

With over 15,000 companies and 3,000 non-business signatories based in over 160 countries, involving 69 Local Networks, the UN Global Compact has become the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative since its launch in 2000, accelerating change at scale to deliver on the SDG targets by 2030.

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November 2024

New narrative to position Africa as an ideal impact investment frontier

Climate Journal reporting — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 14:55:04 +0000

New narrative to position Africa as an ideal impact investment frontier

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The African Venture Philanthropy Alliance (AVPA) launched a new communication channel, The Africa Advantage digital magazine, to smash assumptions and showcase the continent as a globally competitive destination for impact capital.

As an ecosystem builder and a network of social investors collaborating to mobilise and deploy impact investments in Africa, AVPA hopes that with this new format, they can better present market potential, innovation, human capital and a wealth of untapped opportunities.

“Africa's complex and unique social challenges have often been viewed as an embarrassment, but instead, we see them as exciting impact investing opportunities for social transformation”, says Dr Frank Aswani, CEO of AVPA and the Editor-in-Chief of The Africa Advantage magazine.

The first edition of the publication features a collection of sector or opportunity-specific articles written by African experts, highlighting the unique opportunities not just for Africa but the world at large.

Topics include Africa`s impact investing landscape, interviews with leading changemakers, impact entrepreneurs and policymakers such as Ojoma Ochai, Managing Partner of The Creative Economy Practice at CC Hub, which aims to stimulate innovation and technology application to catalyse African Creative Economy growth.

Dr Frank Aswani, CEO of AVPA and the Editor-in-Chief of The Africa Advantage magazine.

Dr Aswani adds:

“We intend to connect a diverse network of social investors, ecosystem enablers, innovators, policymakers and knowledge actors, not just within Africa, but also with those from Asia, Europe, North and Latin America.”

AVPA believes that while Africa faces socio-environmental challenges similar to those of other developing regions, it contains unique features that, when fully exploited, can potentially bring innovative sustainable solutions to regional and global challenges.

The organisation emphasised that unique opportunities could arise from a continent characterised by its young and diverse population, rich natural resources and various social challenges, providing unparalleled opportunities for testing innovative and globally scalable solutions.

They see these factors as enablers, making Africa the ideal sandbox for innovations with positive societal and environmental impact while testing new markets, products, services, new finance structures and impact business models.

The scope of The Africa Advantage magazine is to go beyond information dissemination and build a foundation to catalyse discussions and ultimately stimulate incremental impact capital deployment to and on the continent.

Headline image: Unsplash

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November 2023

Alarming global decline in investing in impact businesses

Climate Journal reporting — Fri, 10 Nov 2023 14:26:04 +0000

Alarming global decline in investing in impact businesses

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Data concerning a significant global slowdown in venture capital funding in startups primarily working on climate tech, renewable energy, circular economy, and social justice projects has been revealed in the Impact Startups 2023 report presented at the international ImpactFest event in the Netherlands.

The research published in November by ImpactCity and Dealroom.co predicts about a one-third drop in investing in impact startups that are addressing one or more UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) globally compared to 2022 levels, with over $41 billion in funds raised in 2023, so far.

"The impact investment landscape is suffering from the increased interest rates and global economic slowdown. Impact funding has decreased in line with the rest of the market, so looking narrowly at this year, we are not seeing it outperforming other investment themes,”

says Lorenzo Chiavarini, Venture Capital Research Lead & Impact Specialist at Dealroom.co.

The Impact Startup 2023 report predicts significant drop in VC funding in the impact ecosystem. Source: Dealroom.co

These findings also feed into the worrying development that none of the 17 UN SDGs are on track to be achieved by the original deadline in 2030, which will also be discussed at the upcoming COP28, the UN Climate Change Conference in November in Dubai.

However, Chiavarini highlights that “zooming out in the last ten years, impact funding has grown 12x, more than twice the rest of the market”, saying that they “are confident Impact will start outperforming the rest of tech again in the coming years".

Despite the heavy decline, climate tech and affordable energy companies have been found to be at the forefront of unlocking investment while solutions addressing social challenges are least funded, according to this recent study that analysed the database of 17,000 impact startups.

One of the alarming trends showcased was the dramatic drop in funding for circular economy startups in fashion from its peak in 2021 at $1.8 billion to $140.8 million in 2023 at this point, despite the enormous environmental impact of the fashion industry.

The research found that Europe is leaving the US behind in becoming the leading impact investing destination while proving to be more resilient in the downturn, with the Netherlands` over-index on impact on top of the ratings compared to the European average.

Europe has taken the lead in attracting VC funding for impact businesses. Source: Dealroom.co

"It's stunning to see Europe becoming the top destination for venture capital impact investments for the first time ever. Europe has always been more impact-oriented than other regions like North America and Asia, now attracting nearly $15B of impact VC funding,"

Chiavarini adds.

Numbers also revealed that low and middle-income countries are lagging behind in attracting impact investments, securing only a minimal 5 per cent share of global impact funding even though they are most vulnerable to climate change impact and hosting over 50% of the global population.

Despite the report, the leading European annual impact event, ImpactFest, has sustained its popularity since 2016 among investors and startups, combining 'doing good and doing business', presenting solutions, and learning and networking opportunities to shake up the investment landscape.

ImpactFest is hosted by ImpactCity, an ecosystem builder supporting the development of impact companies. The event is traditionally held at the Fokker Terminal in collaboration with the Municipality of The Hague, Unknown Group, and KplusV and empowered by various partners, including Rabobank and B Lab.

ImpacFest is the leading European annual impact event. Image: ImpactCity

Headline Image: Unsplash

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November 2023

Artists joined charity auction to promote and support sustainability agenda

Business Spirit News reporting — Mon, 20 Sep 2021 08:30:42 +0000

Artists joined charity auction to promote and support sustainability agenda

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Artists are contributing to an auction to amplify the message of The Sustainability Summit Earth virtual event focusing on pressing environmental and social issues.

Visual artists have offered their artworks to be part of an online auction brought to life by The Sustainability Summit Earth virtual event to support the overall ethos of the conference.

The 3-day online broadcast event, which takes place 21-23 September 2021 with keynotes, panel discussions, fireside chats, spoken word performances and other sessions, is hosted by the Irish production team SX21.

Adam’s Auctioneers will manage the online auction where people can buy artworks of 21 artists from across the globe until 23rd September.

Featured artists include Jim O’Farrell, Robert Shaw, Fiona Kelly and Norman McCluskey, to name a few.

Gavin Downes from the SX21 team says:

“We have 21 artists and photographers from across the world taking part to raise vital funds for our three chosen Not-For-Profit partners of SX21.”

Mo Kelly, Nick Munier and Morgan, showcasing their stunning works of art on Sandymount Strand, Dublin. Image: SX21

These pieces of visual art of the earth and mother nature have been created with an eco-conscious framework, featuring a range of paintings, printmaking, drawings and photography.

All proceeds raised will go directly to the Not-For-Profit partners of The Sustainability Summit Earth event like FoodCloud, Trees, Water & People and 1% For the Planet.

Iseult Ward, CEO of Irish social enterprise FoodCloud, and three contributing artists, Mo Kelly, Nick Munier and Morgan, joined forces with the SX21 team to showcase their stunning works of art on Sandymount Strand in Dublin.

This exciting artist-driven charity initiative champions the sustainability agenda and reflects on the overall ethos of The Sustainability Summit Earth event hosted by SX21.

The online event connects the greatest minds, industry champions, start-ups, investors, public sector officials, NGOs, and the academic sector to collaborate, share, learn and create for the long-term benefit of society, purpose, and the planet.

Student tickets are €29, while general admission tickets are €59 including fees.

Headline image: SX21, featuring artist, Mo Kelly

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September 2021

Circular Week 2020 campaign is open for partner applications

Anonymous — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 12:17:04 +0000

Circular Week 2020 campaign is open for partner applications

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One week to raise awareness about Circular Economy, sustainable production and consumption in Europe.

The third edition of the international Circular Week educational and inspirational campaign aims to inspire transformation towards a Circular Economy.

The event will take place between 12-18th October at multiple locations in Europe. Organisers and partners include various organisations who want to raise awareness about Circular Economy, sustainable production and consumption in alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Circular Economy requires stakeholders to change their mindset about the use of natural resources and the way of how the economy works. Currently, the industry operates a linear model of resource consumption by using the "take, use, and throw away" principle.

On the other hand, Circular Economy assumes that raw materials and products will remain in circulation as long as possible, and their value will be maximised. As a result, we will extract fewer natural resources and produce less waste, and those created will be used again for production.

Illustration: Getty Image

One of the critical elements of realising the potentials of Circular Economy principles is a collaboration between different players along the supply chain.

“Circular Economy provides businesses with the opportunity to ensure sustained economic development, minimise environmental impact and maximise social welfare. However, many barriers still exist. This year we are very glad to do so by joining the 2020 edition of Circular Week together with other like-minded peers throughout Europe to underline the importance of collaboration in the transition to a more circular future.” said Stefan Crets, Executive Director at CSR Europe.

The Circular Week initiative also offers an opportunity to sustainable businesses to promote their work and to stakeholders to connect, while reaching out to the broader public about responsible consumption. Finally, Circular Week is a platform where every organisation, institution or individual could become engaged and take part in this movement and forge alliances.

„In the face of today's epidemiological situation and the economic crisis that we experience, the transformation towards a circular economy seems to be an even more desirable and necessary direction of change”,

said Agnieszka Sznyk, President of the Board at INNOWO,, main organsier of the event. „That is why we would like to invite as many organisations and institutions to participate in the 2020 edition of Circular Week to build partnerships and support the transition into a circular economy.”

Anyone who would like to join the week-long series of events dedicated to the Circular Economy can now apply to become an official partner. Event proposals could be focusing on any elements related to the agenda, such as food waste, sustainable fashion, sustainable construction or agriculture, etc.

This year, organisers will put more emphasis on how to lead to the development of local entrepreneurship, economic stability with sustainable production and consumption.

„COVID-19 made us aware that business as usual is not an option anymore, and that we have to come up with more resilient models. Circular Economy can create jobs and contribute to the societal goals, not as an additional cost but as a business model.” - said Freek van Eijk, Managing Director of Holland Circular Hotspot in regards to becoming partners of Circular Week 2020.

The campaign website provides more information regarding the agenda, partners and details on becoming an official partner.

“Circular Week 2020 will be another opportunity to learn from one another, celebrate our successes and identify new opportunities to collaborate,”

said James Close, Head of the Circular Economy Programme, London Waste and Recycling Board.

The main organiser behind the campaign is the Institute of Innovation and Responsible Development, INNOWO. Other prestigious organisations, such as CSR Europe, Circular Economy Forum Austria, LWARB- London Waste and Recycling Board (Great Britain), Circular Change (Slovenia), Circular Futures (Austria), Institut national de l'économie circulaire (Inec) (France) have joined as official partners of Circular Week 2020.

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August 2020

The time to act is now for business to integrate sustainability

Szilvia Szabó — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 16:18:53 +0000

The time to act is now for business to integrate sustainability

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SDGs

Business

Tourism sector players are joining forces to fight plastic pollution

Anonymous — Wed, 29 Jan 2020 16:47:14 +0000

Tourism sector players are joining forces to fight plastic pollution

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Global Tourism Plastics Initiative aims to unite the tourism sector to take actions in the shift towards sustainability.

During the busy tourist season, marine litter in the Mediterranean region increases by up to 40 per cent which has a great irony since eight out of ten tourists travel to coastal areas wishing to unwind on sandy beaches with crystal clear water while enjoying the beauty of natural wildlife.

According to the Global Tourism Plastic Initiative, alongside the 8 million tonnes of plastic that enter the ocean every year, 300 million tonnes of new plastic is created annually, utilizing non-renewable resources such as oil, gas and coal, and contributing to climate change. If growth in plastic production and incineration continue, cumulative emissions by 2050 will make up between 10 and 13 per cent of the total remaining global carbon budget. As a result, the implications of plastic overconsumption extend even further than the litter that is visible in the ocean.

From polluters to fixers: Global Tourism Plastics Initiative

The plastic problem can only be solved with the active collaboration of stakeholders in the tourism industry, including moving away from single-use plastics, reducing consumption of unnecessary plastics, and moving towards circularity through better recycling and re-using schemes.

“Plastic pollution is one of the major environmental challenges of our time. The Global Tourism Plastics Initiative supports tourism companies and destinations to innovate, eliminate and circulate the way they use plastics, to help achieve circularity in the use of plastics and reduce plastic pollution globally,” said UNEP’s Economy Division Director, Ligia Noronha.

The goal of the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative is to bring the tourism sector together under a common vision to transition to a circular plastic economy and sustainability in the sector. The initiative has been developed by the Sustainable Tourism Programme of the One Planet Network, a multi-stakeholder partnership to implement Sustainable Development Goal 12 on sustainable consumption and production.

The campaign is led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Tourism Organization in collaboration with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.

The Global Tourism Plastics Initiative requires tourism organizations to make a set of concrete commitments by 2025, including:

Eliminate problematic or unnecessary plastic packaging and items by 2025
Take action to move from single-use to re-use models or reusable alternative by 2025
Engage the value chain to move towards 100 per cent of plastic packaging to be reusable, recyclable, or compostable
Take action to increase the amount of recycled content across all plastic packaging and items used
Commit to collaborate and invest to increase the recycling and composting rates for plastics
Report publicly and annually on progress made towards these targets

This initiative is the tourism sector interface of the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment, which currently has over 450 signatories from businesses, governments, and other organizations, with the common objective of reducing plastic pollution through ambitious targets.

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Program of the One Planet Network

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January 2020

UNDP launches new Ocean Innovation Challenge

Szilvia Szabó — Mon, 20 Jan 2020 16:43:21 +0000

UNDP launches new Ocean Innovation Challenge

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SDGs

Ocean

Responsible Innovation

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Funding

Open Call

Blue Economy

Financing Innovation for Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14 - Life under water

The ocean ecosystem has never faced such a diverse range of threats caused by overfishing, pollution, habitat loss and the multiple impacts of climate change.

Recognising the increasing urgency of tackling ocean pollution, particularly from plastics and nutrients, the first of several planned Ocean Innovation Challenge focuses on SDG 14.1- Reduce Marine Pollution. This open call seeks innovations that are transferable, replicable and scalable offering grants ranging from $50,000 to $250,000.

“To achieve SDG14, we must break new ground with innovative technologies, policies, regulations and financial instruments. In this regard, the new UNDP Ocean Innovation Challenge is a most welcome addition to the growing number of ocean incubators and accelerators.” says Peter Thomson, UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy on Oceans.

That is clear by now that the `business as usual` scenario will not deliver the transformational change needed to move towards sustainable ocean use.

The Ocean Innovation Challenge is issuing a series of 'Ocean Challenges' or Requests for Proposals, each focused on a specific SDG14 target.

This unique new support has been designed to accelerate progress on SDG14 by the identifying, financing, advising and mentoring of genuinely innovative, entrepreneurial and creative approaches to the ocean and coastal restoration and protection that sustains livelihoods and advances the ’blue economy’.

“At a time when the world’s oceans and seas face unprecedented pressures, UNDP’s new Ocean Innovation Challenge will shine a light on innovative, entrepreneurial and creative approaches that can advance ocean and coastal restoration and protection,” says Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator.

The first 'Ocean Challenge', launched on 8 January 2020, seeks innovative solutions to counter the scourge of ocean pollution.

Initial concepts may be submitted by public or private entities, including governments, private companies (including start-ups), NGO/CSO, United Nations entities, academic institutions, and intergovernmental organizations.

Interested applicants should submit their preliminary proposal here no later than 5 March 2020.

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January 2020