Sustainability

Piloting innovative sustainability ideas for increased adaptability, relentlessly

Bronagh Loughlin — Wed, 23 Aug 2023 19:37:26 +0000

Piloting innovative sustainability ideas for increased adaptability, relentlessly

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Circular Economy

Sustainability

Sustainable Development Goals

Topic

Sustainability

Circular Economy

Axfoundation is an independent, non-profit organisation based in Sweden, working concretely and practically toward building a sustainable society.

Together with more than 300 partners across industries and sectors, the Foundation tackles local and global sustainability challenges based on practical issues related to what we buy, the food we consume, and the resources we utilise.

The organisation sees itself more as a ‘do tank’ as opposed to a think tank and innovates and accelerates solutions within Circular Economy, Future Food, Sustainable Production and Consumption. They believe entrepreneurship is a powerful force for change and use business to accelerate long-term transformative change.

Their current projects stretch across 15 industries, including textile, waste, fishing, food, retail, recycling, agriculture, and technology.

The home of many projects they run is the Torsåker Farm, Axfoundation’s test and development centre for sustainable food systems, located 30 kilometres north of Stockholm, Sweden.

The environment at the test farm is ideal for evaluating sustainable farming methods, identifying waste streams for circular solutions, and test growing both new and old crops.

Torsåker Farm - Axfoundation’s test and development centre for sustainable food systems in Sweden. Image: Axfoundation

At the farm, actors across industries and sectors come together to take on complex issues in real-world conditions and explore solutions that would be impossible to test alone. They then bring the results from the fields and the lake for processing in the test kitchens.

The Farm contributes to the increased use of sustainable animal husbandry and agroecological farming methods while also fuelling the efficient and circular use of resources and reducing the use of antibiotics for food-producing animals.

Another interesting project led by Axfoundation with the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) was a pilot-scale infrastructure to convert waste from the Swedish food industry into quality raw protein material for animal feed.

The result was Sweden’s first green rainbow trout fed with a circular-based fish feed composed mainly of insects. The project ended in 2022, and the life cycle analysis revealed a decrease in greenhouse gas emissions by 70 per cent compared to conventional fish feed. The next step was to take the lessons learnt further by testing circular feed for chickens, pigs, and laying hens.

Embracing an underutilised fish species, the Swedish bream, is part of Axfoundation`s work. Image: Axfoundation

Although sometimes innovation comes from simply realising what is missing.

That was the case with embracing an underutilised fish species, the Swedish bream, to get more recognition.

With a from-lake-to-plate approach, they created the Minced Bream – a versatile product with a neutral, fine taste that has received positive reactions from school students and chefs.

A circular project led by the Foundation is the Swedish Wool Initiative, paving the way to zero waste since 2020.

Sweden imports more than 1,700 tonnes of wool annually; meanwhile, less than 50% of all the wool produced by Swedish farmers is used.

Teaming with 20 partners, they set out to develop a new yarn made from previously discarded wool and enable brands within fashion, outdoor, and home textiles to access qualitative and competitive wool easily.

A circular project led by the Axfoundation is the Swedish Wool Initiative. Image: Axfoundation

Axfoundation took on another challenge in the field of agriculture about using tonnes of residual product generated from oat drink production.

The Over & Oat project was launched to explore how to turn oat drink residues into new food and materials in a sustainable and economically viable way.

Looking at global issues, such as plastic consumption, predicted to quadruple in the coming century, the organisation launched the Plastics Progress Tools initiative to support companies on their journey toward more responsible use of plastics.

They designed a digital tool that will compile and analyse plastic data, which can form a basis for strategic prioritisation and decision-making. Further embracing digital tools, they took the lead on the ProPare project under the Sustainable Production and Consumption branch.

This technology aims to act as a global standard for digital product passports. It is perfectly timed as the EU is expected to implement new legislation requiring nearly all products available on the European market to have a digital product passport.

These passports will offer sustainability data to help drive the adoption of the circular economy. Axfoundation is on the journey to prove that turning great ideas into practical solutions by pivoting can help address large-scale sustainability challenges immensely.

They may not always go as planned, but that is the point and a crucial part of the learning curve. To innovate sustainable solutions and achieve transformative change, failure must not be feared but embraced.

These pilot projects are telling us, clear and loud, that ideas with great potential deserve a fighting chance because they could have a real, genuine impact when scaled up and implemented.

Headline image: Unsplash

This article is an extract from content originally published in the Circular Economy in Action special edition of the Profit with Purpose Magazine - you can read the full article and other features in the magazine.

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August 2023

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Profit with Purpose Magazine

Can sustainability be funny?

Szilvia Szabó — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 13:02:26 +0000

Can sustainability be funny?

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Master students can choose to write comedy scripts on sustainability issues as part of a unique course at the Management Program of the Vienna University of Economics and Business.

Dr André Martinuzzi, creator and leader of this trailblazer course, shares insights on using the power of humour to help students better understand and deal with complex sustainability topics.

Environmental protection, social responsibility, and sustainable development are often perceived as killjoys, and young people typically feel pessimistic about their future.

When we started looking for new and innovative ways to motivate students to engage with serious sustainability issues, we found that humour might be a promising method. It has the potential to help increase students’ self-motivation and awareness of current sustainability challenges, such as climate change or poverty.

Dr André Martinuzzi, Head of the Institute for Managing Sustainability Vienna University of Economics and Business

The idea sparked as I watched late-night comedy shows for quite some time and was very impressed by John Oliver’s ‘Last Week Tonight’ and Hasan Minhaj’s ‘Patriot Act’. Instead of making fun of daily life or commenting on day-to-day politics, they both explain scientifically challenging subjects in a hilarious way.

The more I watched these shows, the more I asked myself if it was possible to give students the task of developing comedy scripts instead of writing seminar papers.

On this basis, with two assistants, Florian Findler and Angelo Spörk, we designed and continuously improved a course where students use humour by working in a group, creating scripts in the style of late-night comedy. To our knowledge, no one has tried this before.

Within the scripts, humour is not used to make fun of serious issues. Instead, it is used to illustrate sustainability challenges in a scientifically sound and easily understandable way while raising awareness.

In order to do that, students have to understand the basics of humour and comedy scriptwriting, need the courage to be funny and have the freedom of creativity while dealing with serious and rather complex issues.

Many of them tell us that humour helps them communicate better about challenging topics in their peer groups and reach people who would otherwise not be interested in the subject.

Students have created scripts that cover various topics such as the Sharing Economy, E-mobility, fast fashion, greenwashing, food waste, supply chains, and smart homes.

A good punchline is surprising and reveals a more profound truth.

Therefore, developing good comedy takes expertise because humour is more than just fooling around.

Based on the experiences and evaluations of the three courses we already delivered, we learned a few lessons:

Humour is a craft and not a talent, which requires practising.
Students better understand a specific topic by writing comedy scripts than by writing standard seminar papers.
Humour can be integrated into courses that are not genuinely funny. Students reported that this approach helped them to boost their creativity and imagination.

Our experience has also shown that humour can point out grievances. At the same time, exaggerated characters can make people realise their own unsustainable behaviour or ask the question, 'Do we really want to go there?’.

We created a dedicated website to share more about our learnings so others can explore options for implementing this method.

Writing comedy scripts can help young people better engage with sustainability and social issues.. Image: Getty Images

Naturally, there are some challenges in integrating this approach into teaching.

Teachers may see the use of humour as inappropriate for academic subjects and find it beyond their abilities to support students sufficiently through empowerment and steering. The question also arises if this approach can be used on topics like extinction, climate change, or human rights, which are very serious issues and where urgency could be diluted by humour.

Of course, this approach is unsuitable for classes that aim to teach the basics as quickly as possible.

For the students, humour can also be a coping strategy to better deal with emotionally stressful issues such as biodiversity loss, human rights violations or climate change.

For example, one student said, 'if you don't laugh about it, you should cry', while another student shared, "humour helps me not to feel powerless, to gain emotional distance and to be able to talk about things that I otherwise tend to repress".

Students look forward to this course because it is entirely different from the typical classes at a business school.

The course design consists of the following elements:

Students work in groups of 5-6 on major sustainability challenges, such as land use, low-cost airlines, cruise ships, fast fashion, food waste, animal suffering, or bee mortality.
Together they carry out brief background research and co-develop a collection of materials on the recent problem, its causes and possible solutions.
Simultaneously, they take part in basic improvisation theatre training, gain insight into the building blocks of humour and learn how to develop sketches, jokes and punch lines.
Each student group develops the concept for a comedy script, containing an elaborated storyline and first humorous examples.
In several rounds of rehearsals and presentations, they receive feedback regarding scientific background, storytelling and humour.
Finally, the students give an 8-10 minute performance of their scripts in front of the classroom.

The course has already been implemented three times, received excellent feedback from the students and won the "Best of Austria Award" thanks to its innovative approach.

Headline image: Getty Images

This content is a piece of an article originally published in the "Make change happen" issue of Profit with Purpose Magazine.

The Summer 2022 edition of the magazine is focusing on making cities sustainable and inclusive, and is available here >>>

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April 2023

Inspiring female voices in sustainability in Ireland

Anonymous — Wed, 08 Mar 2023 10:13:36 +0000

Inspiring female voices in sustainability in Ireland

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Celebrating International Women`s Day by shining a light on trailblazer Irish women.

Female leaders have proven crucial for driving the change we need to fight the climate crisis. These incredible women are working day by day to help us achieve a more sustainable and equitable world.

In honour of International Women’s Day, celebrated on March 8th, we are spotlighting the work of these genuine changemakers as a reminder that we can all spark positive changes by putting our skills to work.

Written by Bronagh Loughlin and Szilvia Szabó

Start-up

Aisling Kirwan - Positive Carbon

Aisling Kirwan, alongside Mark Kirwan, brought Positive Carbon to life to offer an automated food waste tracking solution that could help food service companies to minimise their environmental impact while optimising their operation.

By working with renowned hospitality players and food service providers in the Irish Market, they have already proved that adopting sustainability measures is in the best interest of any business. Their ultimate goal is to help businesses understand their food waste and apply necessary changes to become more efficient and less wasteful.

Social Enterprise

Viki Baird – Stillgarden Distillery

Viki Baird is the brainchild behind the Stillgarden Distillery, the Dublin-based business changing industry practices by designing its spirits through the lenses of community, science, and nature.

As Co-Founder, she has played an instrumental role in developing a pro-social approach to building and running this business. Part of this approach includes community projects like the Social Botanist Project, whereby local community members meet up and plant botanicals.

They also keep a keen eye on reused materials as much as possible, including packaging, sourcing coffee grains from local shops to create their espresso martini blend and even giving used organic ingredients to local farmers to be used for chicken feed.

Viki Baird, Co-Founder, Stillgarden Distillery social enterprise

Higher Education

Lucia Walsh - TU Dublin

As a lecturer at Technological University Dublin, she has gone far beyond the daily routine of teaching the set agenda. She is the program chair for the Postgraduate Certificate in Sustainability Leadership in Business course and the MSc Business & Entrepreneurship while leading various collaborative programs.

These include supporting students in taking on ENACTUS projects where they can learn more about social entrepreneurship on learning by doing basis and the ENFUSE project that connects third-level students with SMEs and social enterprises to work on challenges together.

Business support

Máire Fay - Dublin Chamber

As the Head of Education, Development & Sustainability at Dublin Chamber, she is passionate about helping SMEs to better understand and adopt environmental initiatives to improve their business while contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals.

One of the flagship projects that has grown from strength to strength under her wings is the Sustainability Academy, which provides hands-on knowledge to business leaders on current sustainability affairs, such as carbon management, circular business models, climate strategy, and green public procurement, among others.

Scale-up

Iseult Ward and Aoibheann O’Brien – FoodCloud

FoodCloud - a social enterprise to save and transform surplus food into opportunities to make the world a kinder place.

Iseult Ward and Aoibheann O’Brien shared a vision that no good food should go to waste when they started a school project at Trinity College Dublin in 2012.

Following their dream, they established FoodCloud in 2013 as a social enterprise to save and transform surplus food into opportunities to make the world a kinder place.

Working towards this mission, they have also become a role model of how to scale a social enterprise and significantly increase its impact through entrepreneurial thinking.

In 2021, FoodCloud redistributed 16,380 tonnes of surplus food, equivalent to 89 million meals, across four countries: Ireland, the UK, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Climate action

Ciara Feehely - Vita

Ciara Feehely is the Head of Communications and Fundraising at Vita Ireland, the Irish development partner supporting African farmers and communities for over 32 years. Ciara and her team work with African climate-smart communities with access to markets, services, and livelihoods for all.

In Eritrea and Ethiopia, Vita’s work focuses on empowering climate-smart agriculture, climate mitigation, and empowering women. Ciara’s involvement since 2015 has helped the organisation immensely with improving its efforts to facilitate sustainable livelihoods.

Communication

Fiona Donnellan – Sustainable PR

Fiona Donnellan is helping sustainable brands tell their stories to have a greater impact and enhance their reputation. Her business offers public relations, communications, and social media services for purpose-driven brands. Founded in 2019, Sustainable PR’s client list includes incredible businesses like Reuzi, Grown Clothing, Shells Cafe, Minor Figures, Jiminy Eco Toys and more.

Fiona’s mission is to help sustainable brands get a spotlight at a time when altering our lifestyles and behaviours couldn’t be more important.

Economic Development

Mary Mac Sweeney – Dublin City Council

For many years she worked as Deputy Head of Enterprise and Economic Development at Dublin City Council, supporting startups and scaling businesses through the Local Enterprise Office and promoting Dublin as an attractive place to live, work, study and invest through the Dublin Place Branding initiative.

Mary Mac Sweeney, Acting Executive Manager at the Culture, Recreation and Economic Services at Dublin City Council

She has been promoting sustainability and social innovation with a genuine passion and keeping these issues on the agenda for strategic plans for Dublin city.

At the forefront of change, she contributed to various programs, projects and initiatives, such as the Dublin City Social Enterprise Awards, getting Dublin to join the 100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities European agenda, and bringing the SoCircular event to life with her team while supporting various other events in the impact space.

Mary continues to cross-pollinate ideas and inspire collaborations to make change happen scale as Acting Executive Manager at the Culture, Recreation and Economic Services at Dublin City Council.

Circular Economy - Public awareness and policy

Dr Sarah Miller – Rediscovery Centre

Dr Sarah Millet has been a visionary leader as she has facilitated and overseen the development of the Rediscovery Centre, Ireland`s National Centre for the Circular Economy, since 2005. As CEO of this ecological centre and innovation hub, she is advancing the agenda for Circular Economy in Ireland and Europe.

The Rediscovery Centre has become a leading partner in hosting the prestigious Circular Economy Hotspot 2023 event in Dublin, a four-day learning and networking opportunity to adopt circular economy practices.

The centre’s work is built around the three key themes of education, demonstration and advocacy.

Circular economy - Business education

Joanne Rourke - Eastern-Midlands Waste Region

Joanne is an Environmental Scientist with over 20 years of experience in environmental work involving laboratory work, policy, communication, awareness, research and education. She is a true advocate for sustainability, driving change through several Irish and EU projects, like the MODOS Circular Economy business training program, which supports leaders in transitioning to more circular business models.

Her passion and expertise shine through every time she is on stage at events, representing the Eastern-Midlands Waste Regional Office as a Resource Efficiency Officer. She holds a PhD in Human Geography, specialising in Environmental Risk Communication.

Circular economy - design

Lynn Haughton - The Upcycle Movement

With a motto that 'It's only waste if we waste its potential' Lynn founded the multi-award-winning community organisation 'The Upcycle Movement' in 2012 to inspire people to look at waste differently and contribute to a circular economy. Her mission is to keep materials from ending up in landfills by giving them a second life and turning them into functional and beautiful items.

She mainly focuses on upcycling wetsuits as they cannot be recycled and do not biodegrade, only adding to gigantic waste mountains at the end of their use. Besides working on design solutions and hosting workshops, she recently added a new feature, the Re Source platform, that connects resources for upcycling with designers who can repurpose them.

The Upcycle Movement turns wetsuits into practical and beautiful items, keeping them from ending up in landfills.

Young Entrepreneurs

Kara O’Sullivan and Joanna Dooley- Greens Are Good For You

Kara O’Sullivan and Joanna Dooley are the Founders of Greens Are Good For You, a fashion rental service. These two young women were inspired to start this business following years of sharing each other's favourite clothing pieces and recognising the global issues in the fashion industry.

Their company aims to encourage customers to consume with a conscience, understanding that they can consume fashion most affordably and sustainably.

This list is only the tip of the iceberg, as many more inspirational female voices are out there.

Therefore, this is only us, inspired by these amazing women, to kick off the discussion and turn the conversation over to you to keep it going.

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March 2023

State of the world investigated at global sustainability event

Business Spirit News reporting — Tue, 25 Oct 2022 11:44:48 +0000

State of the world investigated at global sustainability event

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“Society has an illness, which is over analysing everything," said leading environmentalist Professor Gunter Pauli at global sustainability event opening.

The opening of the Planetiers World Gathering (PWG) has kicked off with a passionate speech by Sérgio Ribeiro, Co-founder of this leading global sustainability event, taking place in Lisbon, Portugal, between 24-26 October.

Addressing attendees, Ribeiro highlighted the urgent need for finding a balance across the world's environmental, social and economic sectors and dedicating this summit to inspire action on pressing challenges of our time.

“So many amazing speakers and participants have come to Lisbon this year, amidst such difficult conditions.

They believe in the power of cooperation and the importance of cooperation to achieve the goals of an effective sustainable transition."

Sérgio Ribeiro, Co-founder of the Planetiers World Gathering; Image: Planetiers

Topics covered during the first day included the current energy crisis, the impact of the pandemic, and the growing global social, environmental and economic instability, among others.

Professor Gunter Pauli, entrepreneur and author of The Book Economy book, also took the stage and enthusiastically expressed his views on moving forward, learning from nature and nurturing talents, so they dare to seek knowledge and use it for good.

“Society has an illness, which is over analysing everything. When your house is on fire, you do not go and start writing a strategic plan,”

Prof. Pauli referred to the pledges of becoming net-zero by 2050, which will come too late in his opinion.

Professor Gunter Pauli pointed out that we have no time to waste to act at Planetiers World Gathering 2022; Image: Planetiers

He also shared eye-opening examples occurring in nature that we can take inspiration from to design innovative sustainable solutions.

One of them was the case of dolphins using water bubbles for hunting without harming female fish carrying eggs since they are too heavy to be forced to the surface by the bubbles.

He pointed out that this method can help us find ways for sustainable fishing in a way that would not risk the regeneration of fish species.

A forum on the day focused on the role of the United Nations in building a new global development model, the roadmap for humanity, and the strategies to ensure peace to mark the celebration of the 77th anniversary of the UN.

On Tuesday, October 25th, the event continues with more leaders sharing insights, such as Satya Tripathi, Secretary-General of the Global Alliance for a Sustainable Planet and Ali Tabrizi, Director of Seaspiracy documentary.

Green Tourism, Sportainability, and Techceleration for Sustainability will also be among the topics explored at PWG on the second day.

The Planetiers World Gathering was founded in 2020 and has become a leading global sustainability-focused innovation event, bringing together key stakeholders in climate action and innovation from across the globe.

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October 2022

Innovative sustainability startups to meet in Germany

Business Spirit News reporting — Sun, 02 Oct 2022 14:40:37 +0000

Innovative sustainability startups to meet in Germany

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Europe's largest B2B fair for sustainable innovations takes place in Germany for the second time.

With seven innovation areas and approximately 2,500 visitors, IMPACT FESTIVAL is returning on 5-6 October in Offenbach, Germany, to discover the latest trends and innovations in the field of sustainability, and discuss the digital and sustainable transformation.

More than 170 startups will present their solutions at the exhibition area, and over 100 investors will be present to scout the market for best-in-class projects.

Around one hundred expert speakers will share their thoughts on why and how the business sector must rethink existing strategies and practices in light of climate change. Speakers include Anna Christmann, Member of the German Bundestag, Beth Thoren, Director of Environmental Action, EMEA at Patagonia, and Wolfgang Gründinger, Chief Evangelist at Enpal.

Attendees can choose from fifty master classes with a deep dive in fields like clean tech, resource efficiency, data management or sustainable finance.

"We are thrilled to host the second edition of IMPACT FESTIVAL and to have more than 100 speakers on stage with more than 170+ of Europe's most promising sustainable innovations.

We look forward to connecting thought leaders, innovators, investors and corporates and accelerating the green transformation of businesses and our entire economy,"

said Mara Steinbrenner and Linda Köpper, lead organisers of IMPACT FESTIVAL, in a joint statement.

The IMPACT Award celebrates and honours European startups that tackle current social challenges by using technology and innovation.

The IMPACT Award ceremony will also be part of the program on the first day's evening.

The award celebrates and honours European startups that tackle current social challenges with the help of sustainable technologies and innovations.

Nominees are listed in different categories, such as Education & Social Innovation, Hardware Solutions and Platform & Software (SaaS) Solutions.

In addition, enterprises will have the chance to win the votes of participants to take home the Audience Award.

As a hybrid event, people can attend in person and online. Day tickets and further information are available on the event’s website.

The IMPACT FESTIVAL collaborates with ClimateSeed, a company running decarbonisation projects, to ensure that the CO2 emission and waste associated with the event is as little as possible.

To achieve this goal, they offer exclusively vegan catering with reusable containers, use FairCup with no plastic bottles, and cooperate with service providers to align their operations.

In addition to the annual two-day event, the project also provides a platform that connects key stakeholders from the sustainability ecosystem to network and exchange ideas all year round.

The IMPACT FESTIVAL is a project of the early-stage investor and innovation unit of Commerzbank Group, which investigates future technologies relevant to business and society while promoting and developing sustainable and digital solutions.

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October 2022

“I hope to see a better world for every living organism.”

Bronagh Loughlin — Mon, 25 Jul 2022 11:41:52 +0000

“I hope to see a better world for every living organism.”

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Sustainability

Leadership

Award

Sustainable lifestyle

Topic

Sustainability

Awards

Courageous sustainability leader, Godfrey Mchunguzi Oyema, has been recognised for his extensive work in advocacy and igniting change.

The importance of leaders within the sustainability sector cannot be overstated. Sustainability leaders have the skills and courage to challenge industries and business as usual, while acting as the voice for the people.

The Sustainability Leader of the Year Award hosted by the Earth Mother Community non-profit organisation aims to recognise the work of leaders fighting climate change and making the world a better place for all.

Winner of this year’s award, Godfrey Mchunguzi Oyema, works as Assistant Environmental Officer with the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and shares his thoughts on what keeps him going.

His career background has extensively been in wildlife conservation, human ecology, and sustainability, which lead him to the UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency in Kasulu, Tanzania.

Additionally, Godfrey uses his social media networks to spread awareness of the environmental issues we currently face and encourage people to take action.

His passion for advocating for sustainability issues was ignited during his school years.

“It’s been quite a journey; I’ve worked with many different organisations in environmental conservation, biodiversity, and wildlife protection,” Godfrey says.

He shares that his personal motivation for his work is to “see a better world for every living organism.”

Godfrey Mchunguzi Oyema, sustainability expert and activist, winner of the Sustainability Leader of the Year Award

Godfrey further explains:

“When I say every living organism, I speak about people, plants, and animals.

Without a better, balanced world regarding the environment, economy, and society, our lives, businesses, communities, and societies cannot be what they are.

So putting these three components together really motivates me to ensure they stay in balance for all living organisms on this planet.”

He kickstarted his sustainability career in 2010, working with the Tanzania Commission for Science & Technology as their Associate Country Programme Coordinator. In this role, Godfrey established the Tanzania Biodiversity Information Facility (TanBIF) Portal and co-published the first-ever National Biota Checklist, which included more than 13,000 biological species.

Godrey now serves as the Assistant Environmental Officer at UNHCR.

Following his work here, Godfrey went on to work as the Senior Biodiversity Officer at a consultancy company, where he continued to shine as an expert in biodiversity and environmental management.

His impressive career continued as he began working as the Environmental Compliance & Forestry Manager for Unilever in 2015. Here he was responsible for implementing their Sustainable Living Plan, which linked environmental objectives to business operations.

While working with Unilever, Godfrey achieved the Rainforest Alliance Certificate for three consecutive years and created numerous plans to prevent biodiversity loss and restore ecosystems.

Also, he worked on the development and implementation of their Environmental and Social Strategies.

Later, he worked as a Freelance Consultant, providing professional advice and expertise on sustainability issues using his diverse experience.

Now, he serves as the Assistant Environmental Officer at UNHCR. His work with this refugee agency has centred around offering advice on alternative sustainable cooking energy programmes, ensuring they are sustainable and compliant.

Godfrey shares what keeps him going:

“The issue of sustainability needs to start from home, and this needs to rise from the fact that environmental resources are vital to us. We need to protect, conserve, and sustainably use these limited natural resources.

My value has always been to be a custodian and take the responsibility of managing our limited natural resources and taking this knowledge to the general public, family, friends, and colleagues.”

He strongly believes we all must do this to ensure a balanced world for all living organisms. Godfrey is also harnessing the power of social media to drive change:

“I speak to groups, people one-on-one, and communities to discuss our current problems. Social media has provided us with a great platform to do this!”

About winning the Sustainability Leader of the Year award, he shares:

“For me, winning this award means so much. This is my first-ever sustainability award with global recognition. The award only motivates me to do more work in this area and continue inspiring others to do right by the environment.

It means so much in terms of my career and is a huge personal milestone for me.”

Organisers of this award believe that we need more courageous sustainability leaders taking risks and leading the way, but we also need to support them on their journey.

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July 2022

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

VITA Ireland

Szilvia Szabó — Mon, 13 Sep 2021 16:27:16 +0000

VITA Ireland

Location

Ireland

https://vita.ie/

Reach

Africa

As regions in East Africa experience some of the worst effects of climate change, we partner with rural communities in Ethiopia and Eritrea to create sustainable, climate smart livelihoods. Our values centre on sustainability and adaptability, with each of our programmes dedicated to not only mitigating climate change but also ensuring that partners, communities, and families are equipped with the skills, training, and resources needed to thrive.

Carbon offsetting with Vita is a straightforward and verified process. Vita creates carbon savings through clean water and fuel-efficient cookstove programmes. These life-saving programmes prevent the cutting down of trees for fuel to cook or sterilise dirty water, thereby saving carbon emissions from being released while also improving the health and livelihoods of vulnerable rural communities.

How can carbon offsetting fix climate and communities at one go?

Creating 'climate smart communities' while cutting back on carbon emissions proved a viable model to tackle the climate crisis.

Inspire

August 2021

Focus

Platform :: Partner categories

Funding | Supports

Networking | Events | Community

ISINNOVA

Szilvia Szabó — Sat, 11 Sep 2021 20:36:00 +0000

ISINNOVA

Location

Italy

https://www.isinnova.org/

Reach

Europe

ISINNOVA, the Institute of Studies for the Integration of Systems, is an independent research institute that supports international, national and local public bodies, as well as private organisations, as they pursue sustainable visions and policies. They supports communities, authorities and industries, developing research-based and collaborative solutions to complex challenges.

It ideates and runs cross-discipline and cross-sector research and innovation projects that bring together public authorities, industries, research institutions and civil society. Co-creating long-term visions for sustainability and advising on the development of coherent systemic (or strategic) plans, ISINNOVA delivers concrete solutions in response to complex challenges

Focus

research

Responsible Innovation

Responsible Research and Innovation

Business

Sustainability

Sustainable Development Goals

Platform :: Partner categories

Innovation | Research

Networking | Events | Community

Work For Impact

Szilvia Szabó — Wed, 18 Aug 2021 15:00:19 +0000

Work For Impact

Location

Ireland

https://www.workforimpact.com/

Reach

Global

Work for Impact connects for-purpose companies to professional, specialised freelance talent around the globe.

It is a freelance platform designed specifically for socially, environmentally responsible and nonprofit organizations.

They offer organizations access to a talented workforce and provide exciting paid work opportunities to freelancers. By connecting these organizations with skilled individuals, they aim to bring life to meaningful projects that will have a positive impact on our world.

Focus

Sustainable business

Sustainable Development Goals

Platform :: Partner categories

Networking | Events | Community