Climate Change

Can clay help us to counter the heat?

Anonymous — Mon, 25 Jul 2022 10:36:29 +0000

Can clay help us to counter the heat?

Tags

Heatwaves

Responsible Research and Innovation

Climate Action

Topic

Heatwaves

Climate Change

research

Heatwaves instantly result in increased use of air conditioning, which already accounts for considerable energy consumption. Is there a better option?

Written by

Ellen Albertsdóttir & Adrian Grist

Turning on the air conditioning is the logical response for many to counter the heat.

However, it is not just a burden to the environment but also a financial blow to the pocket. It is an issue which prompted architect and researcher Marwa Dabaieh at Malmö University in Sweden to develop an eco-cooling system.

Air conditioning is the norm in Egypt, where Dabaieh tested her cooling system despite being very expensive to purchase and operate. Another issue in such countries is that many residents live outside the electricity grid.

Furthermore, the need for cooling systems will also increase in countries with modest average temperatures as heatwaves become more commonplace, as we are experiencing this already.

Marwa Dabaieh is a researcher working on the eco-cooling system made out of clay; Docent and associate professor at Malmö University.

As an expert in sustainable and environmentally conscious architecture, Dabaieh’s innovation relies on a self-assembly concept. This solution aims to keep indoor temperature and humidity low by using traditional ‘shisha funnels’ made of clay to construct a cooling system.

The goal is to lower the indoor temperature by 10 °C by combining clay funnels, water, and the natural power of sun and wind.

The experimental attempts so far have been promising. In a recently published scientific article, Dabaieh presents a reduction of the indoor temperature by 2 °C during an experiment in Cairo. Since then, she has achieved a decrease of 6 °C.

The next step for Dabaieh is to continue the development of the sustainable and passive cooling system.

“Clay is not expensive, which makes the construction price affordable. But it is expensive to develop the method. I am driven by pure passion for this but still need resources to take the pilot project further.

Now I hope to find innovation support that would allow me to scale up the project,” says Dabaieh.

The next step for her is to continue the development of a sustainable and passive cooling system with economical benefits.

“Some people, such as pensioners, the unemployed and refugees, cannot afford air conditioning. This means that mortality risks increase when heat waves become more common. Tragically, this happens when it could be resolved by being better prepared,” adds Dabaieh.

"This passive eco-cooling solution does not require any extra energy or electricity and can offer a practical solution to enhance the living conditions of low-income populations."

Using traditional ‘shisha funnels’ made of clay to construct natural cooling systems can help manage extreme heat.

This project is being developed at the Malmö University, which has close collaboration ties with the Forum for Social Innovation Sweden, the national knowledge and collaboration platform for social innovation and social enterprise.

Background style

Light

Sponsored?

July 2022

Short film to amplify the voices of women in climate negotiations

Business Spirit News reporting — Tue, 08 Mar 2022 14:13:00 +0000

Short film to amplify the voices of women in climate negotiations

Tags

Topic

Campaign organisation ‘SHE Changes Climate’ has released a video highlighting the need for gender-balanced climate negotiations to mark International Women’s Day.

Activist not-for-profit ‘SHE Changes Climate’ has launched a short film to raise awareness about gender inequality in addressing the climate crises and inspire action to get more women at the top decision-making level.

Producers hope to amplify the missing voice of women in climate negotiations by featuring eight influential female climate change-makers.

Campaign organisers say that research shows that women are most likely to drive climate initiatives.

Yet, they are still not represented adequately at climate negotiations.

One of the female leaders appearing in the short film, Atossa Soltani, Director of the Sacred Headwaters Initiative, describes her experience with climate action:

“When I look at the forest protection movement, when I look at community organisations, when I look at amazing projects that are helping protect forests, the vast majority are led by women.”

Atossa Soltani, Director of the Sacred Headwaters Initiative; Image: SHE Changes Climate

According to a United Nation’s report, women are disproportionately suffering from the impacts of climate change, and 80% of people displaced by climate crises are also women.

“The climate crisis affects us all, yet the perspectives on, and decisions about how to tackle the crisis have been made mainly by men,” says Bianca Pitt, Co-Founder of SHE Changes Climate.

“Enough is enough. Women must be represented in climate negotiations.”

Official trailer - SHE Changes Climate

Campaigners call on world leaders to implement the Gender Action Plan from COP25 Climate Conference and deliver on their commitment to promote gender equality in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change process.

“When more women are elected to parliament, stronger environmental bills are passed and they’re enforced more strongly, more strictly,” Joycelyn Longdon, Founder of Climate in Colour, explains the importance of gender-balanced decision making.

The film, created by Earth Minutes and Visionary Pictures and sponsored by Clim8 Invest is available to watch for free on WaterBear, a streaming platform dedicated to the future of our planet.

The movement behind the film is empowered by SHE Changes Climate, a global non-profit organisation that seeks to bring awareness to the crucial role of women in accelerating just climate action.

Headline image: SHE Changes Climate, featuring Joycelyn Longdon, Founder of Climate in Colour.

Background style

Light

Sponsored?

March 2022

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

SX21 - The Sustainability Summit Earth

Szilvia Szabó — Wed, 18 Aug 2021 14:20:53 +0000

SX21 - The Sustainability Summit Earth

Location

Ireland

https://thesustainabilitysummit.earth/

Reach

Global

The Sustainability Summit Earth event aims to connect 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.

Whether you're a student or a CEO, each of us has the power to be an agent of change. It’s time to re-imagine the future.

Artists joined charity auction to promote and support sustainability agenda

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

Inspire

September 2021

Focus

Sustainability

Event

Sustainable business

Sustainable Development Goals

Climate Change

Business

Conference

Platform :: Partner categories

Networking | Events | Community

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

Sinead Connolly — Tue, 17 Aug 2021 17:17:20 +0000

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

Tags

Topic

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

Carbon offsetting enables individuals and organisations to reduce their carbon footprint by purchasing verified carbon credits, which essentially means investing in offsetting projects that independent third parties manage and monitor.

Renewable energy, bio-diversity protection, community projects, clean water, and improved cookstoves are examples of offsetting projects offered by various organisations that reduce emissions and transform communities worldwide.

“It’s a global issue,” explains Ciara Feehely, Head of Communications and Fundraising at Vita, an Irish NGO that is in the business of creating sustainable, climate smart livelihoods with rural communities in East Africa.

“It doesn’t matter where you take that tonne of carbon out of the atmosphere. Every time you buy a carbon offset, you have a global impact.”

Empowering the people of East Africa through community-led development based on equality and sustainability, and tackling climate change by transitioning to renewable energy and leveraging existing resources, has been the driving force behind Vita’s work.

“The woman is at the centre of all our programs and always has been,” explains Feehely.

“Relieving her burden is important. A woman can spend 16-30 hours a week gathering sticks for a fire, to cook food and sanitise water.”

Creating climate smart communities in East Africa is the main focus of Vita Ireland. Image: Vita Ireland

Working in Ethiopia and Eritrea for the last twenty years, Vita knew how critical fuel-efficient stoves and access to clean water are to the quality of life while positively impacting the climate and the environment.

Monetising carbon savings

With that in mind, they launched the Vita Green Impact Fund in 2015 to monetise carbon emissions savings to benefit the local community and the environment.

The focus of this social impact investment vehicle was on balancing economic development and climate justice.

Vita’s investors were looking for environmental and social impact, along with the security of verifiable carbon emissions savings, independently accredited by The Gold Standard.

They raised €2 million for the Fund and used the investment to finance water programs and supply homes in East Africa with fuel-efficient stoves.

“We reached 311,000 people with clean water or clean cooking,” explained Feehely.

“With the €2 million that we spent, we actually generated 2 million carbon offsets.

It’s a very cost-effective model because there is no commercial leakage since we retain the ownership right up until the point of sale.”

Vita was able to repay their investors with a modest return and invested the profit back into the community that had generated the carbon offsets in the first place.

Following on from the success of their pilot scheme, they are currently raising €27.5 million to reach at least 4 million people with life enhancing and climate mitigating initiatives.

Empowering women

One of Vita’s most critical carbon offsetting and community programs is the repair of broken water pumps.

Water pumps installed in the ’80s and ’90s had fallen into disrepair, and with no access to materials or parts, villagers were unable to fix them.

Efficient cooking and access to clean water can help reducing carbon emission and improve quality of life. Image: Vita Ireland

Local access to clean water reduces the need for women and children to walks miles to find water, and most crucially, eliminates the need to resort to sharing water sources with animals.

Without access to clean water, the dirty water must be boiled to sterilise it.

This typically means a lot of firewood is required as fuel for the stove, which leads to mass deforestation.

The need to cut down trees for fuel can be reduced by making clean water available, thus putting less strain on the local environment.

Saving trees has an immediate impact on the atmosphere, a fully grown tree absorbs anywhere between 10 and 50kg of CO2 on average per year.

Another of Vita’s flagship offsetting programs was the introduction of fuel-efficient stoves.

Open stoves in cooking are an inefficient and dangerous activity that emits tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere every year.

Those who operate open stoves often suffer health implications relating to the eyes, heart and lungs.

Using modernised versions results in a reduction of approximately 50% of carbon emissions compared to the traditional stone stoves.

Looking into the future

To makes sure that these are not stand-alone actions they also run sustainable forestry programmes in tandem with their development projects.

For example, each recipient of a fuel-efficient stove will get some saplings.

These are grown on a plantation in the village, and local women are taught how to manage the trees sustainably to ensure reduced carbon emissions and better energy security for all of the community.

Feehely believes that greenwashing is no longer an option because of increased regulation and transparency.

“It’s going to be expensive to be an emitter in the future, even for big organisations.

Creating carbon and damaging the planet is going to cost your business money, and it’s going to detract from your brand.”

Headline image: Vita Ireland

Background style

Light

Sponsored?

August 2021

THE CLIMATE BET

kiss.tamas — Wed, 14 Jul 2021 20:43:50 +0000

THE CLIMATE BET

Location

Germany

https://www.dieklimawette.de/en/

Reach

Germany

The Climate Bet campaign was initiated by the association "3 fürs Klima", which motivates and supports people to achieve the Paris Climate Agreement target’s on an individual level today.

The campaign aims to demonstrate that citizens do not only demand global responsibility for improved climate protection but are also willing to act. Their goal is to bring the voices of 1 million people and their 1 million tons of saved CO2 to the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow in November 2021.

The members of the "3 fürs Klima" association commit themselves to a climate-neutral life and implement this goal with the 'Triad for the Climate': Reduce one's own carbon footprint, compensate for the rest and finally take others with them on the path to a climate-neutral society in order to increase one's personal handprint.

German climate activist cycles 6,000 km to reduce carbon emission and mobilise people

Summer cycling tour will be visiting 200 cities in Germany over 100 days to save tonnes of carbon emission.

Inspire

June 2021

Focus

Sustainable Development Goals

Climate Change

Carbon Emission

Platform :: Partner categories

Networking | Events | Community

Achieving a climate-neutral EU by 2050 becomes a legal obligation to all member states

Business Spirit News reporting — Thu, 01 Jul 2021 17:29:39 +0000

Achieving a climate-neutral EU by 2050 becomes a legal obligation to all member states

Tags

Topic

Newly adopted European climate law is entering into force, ensuring climate neutrality in the EU in alignment with the Paris Agreement.

The European Council ended the European climate law's adoption procedure and set into legislation the objective of a climate-neutral EU by 2050.

This step transforms the European Green Deal’s political commitment to EU climate neutrality by 2050 into a binding obligation, which means that the EU will aim for negative emissions afterwards.

Parliament rapporteur Jytte Guteland (S&D, Sweden) said:

“I am proud that we finally have a climate law.

We confirmed a net emissions reductions target of at least 55%, closer to 57% by 2030, according to our agreement with the Commission.

I would have preferred to go even further, but this is a good deal based on science that will make a big difference.

The EU must now reduce emissions more in the next decade than it has in the previous three decades combined, and we have new and more ambitious targets that can inspire more countries to step up.”

The new EU climate law is entering into force; image:Unsplash

The new law sets a binding Union climate target of reducing net greenhouse gas emissions (emissions after deduction of removals) by at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990.

By 30 September 2023, and every five years thereafter, the Commission will assess the collective progress made by all EU countries and the consistency of national measures towards the EU’s goal of becoming climate neutral by 2050.

Now that the European climate law has been adopted by both the European Parliament and the Council, citizens and businesses have the legal certainty and predictability they need to plan for this transition.

Given the importance of independent scientific advice, and based on a proposal from Parliament, a European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change will be set up to monitor progress and to assess whether European policy is consistent with these objectives.

In addition, an upcoming proposal from the Commission on the LULUCF Regulation (Land use and forestry regulation for 2021-2030) to regulate GHG emissions and removals from land use, land use change and forestry, will increase EU carbon sinks and will hence de facto increase the 2030 EU’s target to 57%.

At the same time, it will publish a projected indicative Union’s greenhouse gas budget for the period 2030-2050, together with its underlying methodology.

“I warmly welcome this final step of the adoption of the EU’s very first climate law, which enshrines into legislation the 2050 climate neutrality objective.

An agreement on the European climate law has been a priority for the Portuguese Presidency and I am glad that we have successfully brought it over the finishing line,” said João Pedro Matos Fernandes, Minister of Environment and Climate Action.

The Commission plans to present a series of proposals on 14 July 2021 in order for the EU to be able to reach the more ambitious 2030-target.

Background style

Light

Sponsored?

July 2021

A Circular Economy could prevent climate breakdown but needs speeding up

Bronagh Loughlin — Thu, 28 Jan 2021 21:57:26 +0000

A Circular Economy could prevent climate breakdown but needs speeding up

Tags

Topic

The Circularity Gap Report 2021 offers not only a sober warning of the danger of climate inaction but a clear map forward

The Circularity Gap Report 2021, based on a global scoring system, was released on the 26th of January, highlighting the urgent need to transition to a circular economy in order to tackle climate change related risks.

It aims to empower key decision-makers in both business and government to coordinate actions to accelerate necessary changes.

The research revealed that Circular Economy strategies could cut global emissions by 39%.

Still, the global economy was just 8.6% circular in 2020, meaning the world is consuming over 100 billion tonnes of materials per year and only 8.6% of that is reused in any form.

Two years prior, it was 9.1%, which makes it clear that things have effectively gotten worse.

The Circularity Gap Report 2021, image: Circular Economy

The report is launched annually during The World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos, published by the Circle Economy impact organisation dedicated to accelerating the circular economy transition.

“The Circularity Gap Report offers not only a sober warning of the danger of climate inaction but a clear map forward.

A collaborative effort is necessary among government, business and civil society to scale the circular economy and drive down emissions.

Only through collective investment in and commitment to circular practices can we shape a more sustainable, resilient future,” said Borge Brende, President of the World Economic Forum, at the launch.

The report finds that 22.8 billion tonnes (Gt) of annual emissions associated with creating new products from virgin materials can be eliminated by applying circular strategies.

That would drastically reduce the amount of minerals, fossil fuels, metals and biomass consumed globally.

It calculates that approximately 70% of all emissions are generated by the extraction, processing and manufacturing of goods to meet society’s needs – the meals we eat, the clothes we wear and so on.

Martijn Lopes Cardozo, Circle Economy CEO, said: “Governments are making huge decisions that will shape our climate future.

They are spending billions to stimulate their economies after the Covid pandemic, and they are committed to strengthening their climate commitments ahead of the Glasgow Climate Summit.

Circular economy strategies hold the key to a resource-efficient, low-carbon and inclusive future.”

Circularity Gap Report 2021

The strategies identified in the publication would cut annual material consumption down to 79Gt, by reducing the number of materials used to make products and services, using resources for longer, and replacing finite resources such as fossil fuels with regenerative resources such as renewable energy.

Additionally, they would increase the proportion of reused materials to 17%, nearly doubling the global economy's circularity.

Laxmi Haigh, science writer at Circle Economy and one of the lead authors of the Circularity Gap 2021 report shares more insights:

“I think it is important to be optimistic.

In the last ten years, the circular economy has moved from being more of a ‘fringe’ topic to a mainstream one.

The solution for restoring balance is right in front of us, but it will take the energetic collaboration of people across governments and industries to make it a reality.”

Mobility, housing and nutrition are also named the three fundamental societal needs responsible for nearly 70% of global emissions. These are the areas where circular strategies can have the most significant impact.

“The tagline of our report is: 'Solutions for a world that consumes 1 billion tonnes of materials and has warmed by 1-degree'.

And that is what we have done: provide solutions.

We have identified which circular actions can be most beneficial in reducing virgin resource extraction and limiting greenhouse house emissions across the six most prevalent 'needs and wants'.

Based on the findings, we present a circular roadmap of 21 interventions that countries can adopt into their climate plans moving forward.

From adopting healthier diets to assessing how multifunctional the buildings we construct are, the roadmap is wide.

Laxmi Haigh, science writer at Circle Economy, lead authors of the Circularity Gap 2021 report

In this way, any country interested in integrating the circular economy into its climate plans and pledges can use our report as a handbook, or look for more tailored insights,” adds Haigh about how to make the best use of this report and take action.

Different strategies are appropriate for different countries at various stages of economic development.

The report presents blueprints for governments to take actions in three broad categories - low-income, middle-income and higher-income countries - with different priorities for each.

At this stage, the world is on course for a climate breakdown, but the report suggests that we can bridge the gap to achieve climate neutrality through leadership and action.

Suppose the coming decade is the decisive one for humanity’s future on this planet.

In that case, 2021 is the year to ramp up our efforts to bring our goals into realistic reach and prevent the worst potential impact of climate change from becoming our reality.

Martin Frick, Senior Director Policy and Programme Coordination at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change says,

“For billions of years, our home planet was in a perfect cycle: New life constantly emerged out of the same carbon that existed as life before.

We need to restore this balance and achieve carbon neutrality without delay.

For that, we need to eliminate waste and create products that last, can be repaired and ultimately can be transformed into new products.”

In adopting a roadmap packed with circular strategies, society can pave the way for the systemic transformations required to course-correct the global economy – going far beyond the limitations of current policy and national climate pledges.

Headline image: Pexels

Footer

Circularity Gap Report 2021

Background style

Light

Sponsored?

January 2021

Green pandemic recovery requires better finance of adaptation plans

Bronagh Loughlin — Mon, 25 Jan 2021 17:41:15 +0000

Green pandemic recovery requires better finance of adaptation plans

Tags

Topic

The Adaptation Gap Report urges all nations to pursue the efforts for green pandemic recovery

As climate change impacts intensify and temperatures continue to rise, nations need to urgently act to adapt to the new climate reality.

Otherwise, they will face severe costs, damages and losses, the new Adaptation Gap 2020 report by UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) finds.

The recently published report discovers that whilst nations have advanced in planning, huge gaps remain in finance for developing countries and delivering adaptation projects to the stage whereby they get real protection against climate impacts such as floods, droughts and sea-level rise.

Findings suggest that private and public finance for adaptation must be stepped up urgently, along with faster implementation.

Inger Andersen, Executive Director at UNEP said:

“The hard truth is that climate change is upon us.

Its impacts will intensify and hit vulnerable countries and communities the hardest – even if we meet the Paris Agreement goals of holding global warming this century to well below 2°C and pursuing 1.5°C.

Inger Andersen, Executive Director at UNEP, image: UNEP

As the UN Secretary-General has said, we need a global commitment to put half of all global climate finance towards adaptation in the next year.

This will allow a huge step in adaptation – in everything from early warning systems to resilient water resources to nature-based solutions.”

The report states that nature-based solutions - locally appropriate actions that address societal challenges, such as climate change, and provide biodiversity and human-wellbeing benefits by protecting, sustainably managing and restoring modified or natural ecosystems - must become a priority.

Nature-based solutions for adaptation can be low-cost options that are potentially effective in reducing climate risks, while simultaneously bringing important additional benefits for the environment, economy, livelihoods and other values to a wide range of stakeholders, including the poor, women and other marginalised groups.

The recognition that nature-based solutions can make crucial contributions to climate change adaptation is both nationally and internationally. However, there are few concrete plans.

Adaptation Gap 2020 report by UN Environmental Programme, image: UNEP

The most encouraging finding of the report is that 72 per cent of countries have adopted a minimum of one national-level adaptation planning instrument.

Although, the drawback is the finance needed to implement these plans, is not growing fast enough.

While the pace of adaptation funding is rising, it continues to be outpaced by the rapidly increasing adaptation costs.

Annual adaptation costs in developing countries are estimated at around $70 billion, and this figure is expected to reach 140-300 billion in 2030 and 280-500 billion in 2050.

The Adaptation Gap Report 2020 emphasises that cutting greenhouse gas emissions will reduce the impacts and the costs associated with climate change.

An analysis of four major climate and development funds – the Global Environmental Facility, the Green Climate Fund, the Adaptation Fund and the International Climate Initiative – suggested that support for green initiatives with some element of nature-based solutions has increased over the last two decades.

Cumulative investment for climate change mitigation and adaptation projects under the four funds remained at $94 billion.

However, just $12 billion was spent on nature-based solutions – a rather small fraction of total adaptation and conservation finance.

In most cases, this necessitates planning and coordination across national or jurisdictional boundaries, creating both a challenge and an opportunity for environmental policy frameworks and transboundary negotiations.

Of over 1,700 adaptation initiatives surveyed, just 3 per cent had already reported real reductions to climate risks posed to the communities where the projects were being carried out.

New tools such as sustainability investment criteria, climate-related disclosure principles and mainstreaming of climate risks into investment decisions can stimulate investments in climate resilience.

The report urges all nations to pursue the efforts outlined, which call for green pandemic recovery and updated Nationally Determined Contributions that include new net-zero commitments.

Adaption – reducing communities’ and countries’ vulnerability to climate change by improving their ability to absorb impacts – is a key pillar of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

The agreement requires its signatories to implement adaption measures through national plans, climate information systems, early warning, protective measures and investments in a green future.

The world must plan for, finance and implement climate change adaptation to support those nations least responsible for climate change but most at risk.

While the COVID-19 pandemic is predicted to hit countries' ability to adapt to climate change, investing in adaptation is still a sound economic decision.

Headline photo by Aleksandar Pasaric from Pexels

Footer

Report -UNEP

Background style

Light

Sponsored?

January 2021

First Climate Entrepreneurship postgraduate course in Ireland is launched

Szilvia Szabó — Mon, 18 Jan 2021 21:24:57 +0000

First Climate Entrepreneurship postgraduate course in Ireland is launched

Tags

Topic

An opportunity for innovators to upskill, reskill, or pivot ideas to tackle climate change and gain market advantage

Trinity College Dublin has launched a new Postgraduate Certificate in Climate Entrepreneurship.

The first of its kind course in Ireland was designed to address the climate change emergency and better equip future business leaders to mitigate related risks and unlock opportunities.

The course run by Tangent, Trinity’s Ideas Workspace, in collaboration with the School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin will begin in March 2021.

“Climate entrepreneurship is a rapidly emerging area with the potential to build societal resilience, create additional jobs in both rural and urban areas and have a meaningful societal impact while positioning Ireland as a global leader in responding and adapting to climate change,”

says Professor Quentin Crowley, Associate Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin.

Professor Quentin Crowley, Associate Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin

The Irish Government Climate Action Plan (2019) outlines an integrated approach to prepare for climate-related opportunities and challenges in alignment with the recently introduced EU Green Deal, which will radically change sectors and the economy.

This move presents new opportunities for entrepreneurs and those on the forefront of the transition to a low-carbon economy.

According to Professor Crowley, as we seek opportunities to increase climate change adaption or mitigation measures, we can also make a positive contribution to our economy and society.

Graduates of the Climate Entrepreneurship programme will develop entrepreneurial skills that can be applied to any aspect of climate action.

They will be given critical and lateral thinking skills and an understanding of the societal and economic value that can be achieved by applying an innovative approach to the global challenge presented by climate change.

This course will not focus on any one area but how these opportunities can fit together, involving three key modules:

Systems Innovation for Positive Climate Action
Entrepreneurship Opportunities in Climate Adaptation and Mitigation
Climate Enterprise Development

Modules are designed to enable undergraduates to identify opportunities for entrepreneurship that can positively impact climate change, including the process of creating, leading and scaling a start-up venture and developing a sustainable green business.

Students can expect to gain both subject-specific and transferrable skills and have the confidence to turn ideas into creative solutions with a particular focus on developing system-thinking and entrepreneurial mindset.

"I'm interested in this course because I have a huge passion for sustainability and social justice. I believe that when it comes to finding solutions to pressing issues, like climate change, entrepreneurs are leading the way.

I would love to join alongside them and discover how we can truly tackle these issues to save our planet.

As a Freelance Writer and Journalist, a majority of my clients are organisations who are working in the field of sustainable business.

I feel that the course is the perfect combination to improve my skills to meet the needs of future clients I would like to work with and take action myself," explains Bronagh Loughlin why she is considering taking this course as her next carrier move.

Online Postgraduate Certificate in Climate Entrepreneurship; image: Pexels

Industry players are also keen to engage and have shown a tremendous amount of enthusiasm to contribute.

A wide range of experts will be involved to ensure a down-to-earth approach and to offer sectorial insights.

The course is funded under the HEA Springboard+ initiative and is free to eligible candidates.

Classes will be delivered online over 24 weeks, and graduates will be awarded a Level 9 Certification from Trinity College Dublin.

“We recommend this course to eligible applicants who would like to challenge themselves and work with others who have a passion for becoming changemakers.

If you have a curious mind, willing to explore outside of your subject area and collaborate to explore new solutions, this course is for you,” says Professor Quentin.

Graduates can use this learning opportunity to upskill, reskill, or pivot their area of focus.

Highlighted areas of the course:

Developing strategies and action plans in response to high impact climate challenges.
Communicate and interact with multiple stakeholders to support positive climate action.
Enable behavioural changes and explain their influence as changemakers in complex climate systems.
Evaluate ethical, social, commercial and political factors in decision making to support climate entrepreneurship.

“This course is a launchpad for the changemakers, activists and entrepreneurs who understand that there is still time to address the global issue of climate change.

I look forward to the innovative solutions that graduates on this course will produce, creating a positive impact on the world,” adds Dr Dan Rogers, Head of Education at Tangent, Trinity's Ideas Workspace.

Applications are welcome from any nationality where they have been resident in the EU/EEA for 3 of 5 years prior to application. The closing date for applications is 11th February 2021.

Footer

Climate Entrepreneurship programme

Background style

Light

Sponsored?

January 2021