Sustainability

Sustainability Communication

Business

communication

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Expert opinion by Joanna Mulkeen, Founder of One Step Closer

In the past years, more and more companies put efforts into managing their carbon emission and pledging to become net-zero while introducing other sustainability practices.

However, most companies and organisations have no measures of how successful their sustainability communications are in reaching and influencing their audience, and there are often no set KPIs for active audience engagement.

But this is about to change. New regulations, like the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), will require companies and organisations to map and report on their engagement efforts starting in 2024.

People trust companies and organisations more than governments, media and even NGOs to bring changes to sustainability, according to Edelman’s Trust Barometer 2023 report. It also found that climate change concerns people more than nuclear war, inflation and food shortages.

There is a growing demand amongst consumers and employees alike to align with organisations and companies and look at them as ‘partners for good’.

I created One Step Closer, a unique Sustainability Engagement Engine, to allow people to engage with organisations’ sustainability actions in an easy and fun way, immediately seeing their actions’ impact.

I work with organisations to help them extract simple sustainability stories linked to bigger commitments and design engagement campaigns that allow their audience to vote directly and influence these actions while we communicate the results and the proven impacts.

Joanna Mulkeen, Founder of One Step Closer

However, citizen engagement is a hard nut to crack.

One of these challenges is that consumers want organisations to take sustainability actions but often don't believe what they say.

Then there is the complexity of sustainability challenges and strategies that can make it hard to create simple messages and translate them into campaigns.

Also, some organisations are shying away from publicly discussing their sustainability agenda as they fear being accused of greenwashing and any potential backlash.

Many organisations fear that simple sustainability messages will convey an insincere sustainability commitment.

Although, we have found just the opposite to be the case, as these straightforward campaigns can help anchor complex messages in a tangible and personally relevant way.

Also, organisations are holding back because not all aspects of their operations might be perfectly sustainable.

Sustainability mastery is impressive and sometimes inspirational, but as stories, they are often presented as passive pieces of content.

Journeys, however, are an invitation to explore together and perfectly placed to tell stories about intentions, failures, commitments, sacrifice and success – celebrating milestones along the way.

Probably one of the most used tools where complexity can become a barrier in this space is sustainability reports. But honestly, who wants to read a report? Why not let your audience become a part of it?

A perfect sustainability track record absolutely should not be a starting point.

If you have already done everything, how could people get involved?

It is human nature to ‘connect’ with stories that are not finished rather than the ones that are.

We have developed the ENGAGE Model for the One Step Closer platform with a focus on community actions around sustainability:

E – EMPOWER citizens by asking them to vote and influence positive outcomes

N – in a NEUTRAL space away from marketing fluff

G – make sure it’s GREGARIOUS so people can share

A – with ACTION-BASED activity that makes a difference

G – prove it’s GENUINE by showing the impact

E – ensure that it is EMPIRICAL so you can learn every time you do anything

I believe following this logic can help take small but meaningful steps towards common goals, and I have seen them deliver results beyond expectations.

One of our campaigns for Trinity College Dublin (TCD) in Ireland aimed to raise awareness about the importance of biodiversity and ‘nature spaces’ in our cities.

We asked students, staff, and the general public to vote if TCS should rewild the iconic 400-year-old lawns on their campus in the heart of Dublin.

The campaign attracted nearly 14,000 votes, with 90 per cent in favour of choosing wildflowers. It also generated over 50 pieces of media coverage nationally and abroad.

This simple yet powerful project gave participating citizens a sense of personal ownership of these wildflower lawns and a clear emotional connection to the sustainability challenges around biodiversity.

Citizen engagement campaign at Trinity College Dublin. Image: One Step Closer

We need to see examples of actions that work, and this is where the role of media is vital and how they report on sustainability challenges, inspiring people to regain faith that efforts and shifts in how we live are worthwhile.

Headline image: Getty images

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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September 2023

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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

Sustainable Development Goals

Topic

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.

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In pursuit of changing lives

Szilvia Szabó — Tue, 01 Aug 2023 20:23:56 +0000

In pursuit of changing lives

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Social Entrepreneurship

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Insights from social entrepreneur Lucia Dal Negro, Founder of Kokono, on building a socially and environmentally conscious enterprise in Uganda.

Kokono is a project started by De-LAB, an Italian social enterprise, designed to address the challenge of keeping infants safe in their first year after birth in Africa.

We produce unique cradles from biodegradable materials to protect children from 0 to 12 months from major health and safety risks, including the malaria mosquito.

From the very beginning, I have worked with a team, and we did not only want to work in the health sector and 'settle' for helping people. We also wanted to do it in an environmentally responsible way. Besides, we thought about logistics and optimised the shape of the cradle in a way that saves a lot of space and makes it easy to stack them up.

Kokono produces unique cradles from biodegradable materials to protect babies from major health and safety risks. Image: Kokono

Moreover, the product is sold without packaging to avoid polluting a country with no actual plastic and waste disposal system.

The next edition of Kokono will also be produced with 50 per cent recovered plastic, which will help decrease its environmental footprint while giving us a chance to raise awareness about the circular economy. It has been a bumpy road since the first design came to life to make this a reality.

The Covid pandemic obviously resulted in a major setback, and there was a grasshopper invasion in East Africa in January 2020, which did not help. We had to adapt not just our business plans but the product’s design. Kokono was originally supposed to be made from banana fibres, but then the grasshopper invasion destroyed all the plantations, so there was no way to use that material.

After rethinking the project, Covid forced us to stop for almost a year because Uganda had the longest lockdown in Africa, and nothing could be done. But luckily, there were also some exceptional positive moments, including the first sale to a private hospital of 40 cradles.

One of the most inspiring moments was when we got the result of the Social Impact Assessment on the first user group of Kokono.

I remember the amazement and pride I felt as I saw that not one of the first 20 children had caught malaria in the six months of using the cradle.

There I realised that we had a future, and it was worth fighting for. It took countless hours of work, patience and dedication to get where we are now.

There was a time when if I had given up, people would have still applauded me anyway because everything was so terribly difficult.

Instead, perseverance won, and thanks to the collaboration with Italian and local partners and the encouragement of the Ugandans, while seeing this idea manifesting and helping people, I did not give up.

To the many social innovators out there trying to make a difference, I would say never to let difficulties get you down: no one ever told us it would be easy.

We are currently looking for equity investors to expand our project, which has succeeded in the proof of concept and market testing phase. Uganda is a huge country, and the demand is massive here and elsewhere as well. With the capital investment, we could support the distribution network and start selling the product on a large scale.

Another thing that impressed me was getting to know the single mothers of the Kawempe slum in Kampala. After the pandemic, their numbers have increased dramatically.

Here you would meet 14-15 years old girls who need to be educated about childcare.

They welcomed the product as if it were a solution 'dropped from the sky'.

It was touching, especially since I expected more resistance towards something new and unknown.

Instead, they were overjoyed. Sometimes understanding each other is much easier than we think and happens profoundly. This experience gave me much strength to go on.

Kokono was first introduced in Uganda, and looking to expand in the next years. Image: Kokono

Having the opportunity to work in the field and interact with people using our solution really keeps me grounded and more determined to raise funds and expand our operations.

In addition to having funds, I would like to have a network of companies that see this as a project for the future and would support us with expertise and vision in other African countries.

Ugandan birth and infant mortality rates are no different from those of other countries on the continent, and the potential to make a significant impact is enormous.

Lucia Dal Negro Founder of Kokono in the middle

I enjoy spending about a month twice a year in Kampala supervising the operations and working with the team. I extricate myself entirely from European and Italian problems and finally connect to the local set-up, feeling the atmosphere.

This society is made up of a young population full of vitality, which dares to dream big even if it does not have the means....and, above all, never complains.

What gives me the energy to keep going is the fact that Kokono really works, saves the lives of children and gives hope to mothers struggling to juggle work and bringing up their kids.

Working with local partners who believe in it and look to us for guidance on moving forward is another factor in making this work.

Finally, I think that if we, as a very small organisation, have made it this far, who knows what larger and more structured companies could do.

There are too many opportunities offered by circular models that must be exploited....it is no longer the time to stand by, and we at De-LAB are ready to build partnerships with those who think like us!

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Can we have it all? Sustainable Hedonism on the rise

Business Spirit News reporting — Thu, 20 Jul 2023 15:21:04 +0000

Can we have it all? Sustainable Hedonism on the rise

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Book

Sustainable lifestyle

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Sustainable lifestyle

The Sustainable Hedonism book calls us to explore our collective and personal convictions about success and good life.

Author Orsolya Lelkes is an independent scholar, psychological counsellor, and former Deputy Director at the European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research in Vienna.

Sustainable Hedonism book by Orsolya Lelkes; Published by Bristol University Press

She challenges the mainstream worldview, rooted in economics, that equates happiness with pleasure and encourages greed, materialism, egoism and disconnection.

Drawing on science and ancient Greek philosophers, the author details how we can cultivate our skills for enjoying life without harming ourselves or others and live an autonomous, creative, and connected life.

Complementary to our intellectual understanding, the experiential method of role-playing and theatre can powerfully facilitate the exploration of the inner drivers and hindrances of a thriving life.

Jonathan Dawson, Head of Economics at Schumacher College expressed his thoughts about the book in a review:

“Beyond the empty, sterile promises of consumerism, there is a place rich in meaningful engagement with ourselves, others and the more than human world.

A rediscovery of our bodies – specifically in the form of theatre and role-play – provides a powerful channel for this re-awakening. This is the territory that Orsolya Lelkes so skilfully and powerfully explores, helping us to re-engage with the power of embodiment.”

The author shares her thoughts about writing the book and how to utilize the knowledge you can find in it:

“I wanted to have the freedom to write about something that I feel relevant, and I’m passionate about.

When I started the book, I had two central pillars in my life: one was researching social science, social justice and happiness, and the other was working with individuals as a coach and group facilitator.

While I was involved with these topics, I felt that there was a wall between the two sides of research and people looking for better ways to live their lives.

I also wanted to break down this wall by looking at how we can find a way to fulfil our dreams without destroying our planet.

By putting sustainability and hedonism together, I meant to provoke a conversation.

We usually don’t see sustainability as the freedom to enjoy life but rather as restrictions and limitations to what we can do.

Orsolya Lelkes, Author of the Sustainable Hedonism book

For me, it is also about that we can learn to enjoy life more and be conscious about our environment at the same time.

One of my goals with the book was to open up the conversation about what we need for success and how we can redefine and refine our narratives about being successful and happy in a capitalist economy that is basically built on continuous consumption.

When you learn about the economy in education, they will teach you that human beings are egoistic, pleasure-seeking, and competitive.

This is just one example of the unquestioned beliefs in our economic system that drive a self-fulfilling prophesy that we are becoming more egoistic, pleasure-seeking, and competitive.

One of the biggest challenges in adopting a sustainable lifestyle is that it sounds like an invitation that says you need to lose many things from your comfort to join, and who wants to do that, really?

I believe that our pleasure-seeking side and responsible side shouldn’t be in conflict when it comes to sustainability.

Our lives are strongly shaped by the stories we tell ourselves, both individually and collectively. We are often unaware of our potential to transform them and take many things for granted.

Another narrative rarely questioned in our society is that we need many material-based things in our lives to be happy.

If you think about building a reputation or exhibiting power, you show that through materialistic elements. We are trained and seduced to think of success primarily in material terms, money, consumption, things we own, or external power and reputation.

This is not optimal for a happy life. It is not a resilient strategy – as it is vulnerable and exposed to the mercy of others or of external fortune. But actually, some research found that these people with a materialistic focus are less happy and even less resilient. It is interesting to consider that what we value as a society and what is good for us on an individual level are not the same thing.

I hope this book will become more than just intellectual knowledge and invite people to explore and experiment with how they live, considering some of the content I wrote.

I’d like to invite pioneers, innovators and critical thinkers – who do not simply want to point the finger at others but seek their own role in contributing to a solution to the failures they witness.

The last chapter is fundamentally about allowing ourselves to live with a playful, curious and friendly spirit.

I don’t want to be the clever person who tells you what to do.

Instead, I would like to encourage people to discover more about their options for living a happy and sustainable life.“

Headline image: Noah Silliman, Unsplash

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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Impulses on the path to accelerating sustainability in business

Business Spirit News reporting — Wed, 28 Jun 2023 08:49:24 +0000

Impulses on the path to accelerating sustainability in business

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Sustainable Development Goals

Event

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Europe's largest B2B annual event for sustainable transformation, the IMPACT FESTIVAL, is returning for its third edition on 13 and 14 September in Germany with top-class speakers to provide visitors with inspiration, knowledge and concrete solutions for embracing a sustainable economy.

The two-day event will present keynote speeches, panel discussions, start-up pitches and performances on three main stages focusing on the six innovation areas derived from the EU Green Deal and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Speakers will include Dr Med. Eckart von Hirschhausen, delivering a keynote on "Healthy Earth - Healthy People. What we can now achieve with assets - and what it costs us to do nothing".

Sustainability expert Maja Göpel will discuss the meaning of value in the 21st century, while Godo Röben, former managing director of vegan food production company Rügenwalder Mühle will share his vision on the future of food.

The IMPACT FESTIVAL offers knowledge exchange, networking and inspiration to innovators to embrace sustainability.

Visitors can also expect networking sessions, the next edition of the IMPACT AWARD, music performances, and how an artist will create a live art object from banners and signs used in the previous two IMPACT FESTIVALs.

Different tickets are available for students, businesses and investors to join the event.

The event first took place in 2021 and has grown into a movement that offers opportunities and content all year round as a platform for key stakeholders of the sustainable transformation to network and exchange ideas.

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

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Connecting theory, science and practice in business sustainability

Szilvia Szabó — Thu, 15 Jun 2023 08:48:33 +0000

Connecting theory, science and practice in business sustainability

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Education

Upskill

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Fireside chat with Dr Lucia Walsh, Lecturer and Programme Chair, Technological University Dublin

Human-induced climate change is the most pervasive threat to the environment and society we have ever experienced, and business as usual is no longer an option. Rather than seeing this as a threat, we need to view it as an opportunity to transform how we work and live, and business can play a crucial role in this.

As a programme chair of the part-time programme Postgraduate Certificate in Sustainability Leadership in Business at the Technological University Dublin, I believe we can help leaders better relate to climate action and sustainability.

Dr Lucia Walsh, Lecturer and Programme Chair, Technological University Dublin

The course is designed to equip leaders with a comprehensive understanding of sustainability principles and the knowledge and skills required to apply evidence-based sustainability tools to decision-making and create a stakeholder buy-in to instigate change and implement sustainable social, environmental and financial business practices.

The students develop a systematic understanding of sustainability principles and sustainability literacy related to the UN SDGs and link them to business as part of a ‘Sustainability Principles’ module led by Dr Olivia Freeman.

Another module is ‘Leading Sustainability’ facilitated by Alacoque McAlpine, emphasising developing communication and leadership skills so the business case for sustainability coupled with the most suitable strategies can be communicated and implemented effectively.

In the second semester, I take the lead with the students to bring their knowledge and skills together as they work on a consultancy project that addresses a real business sustainability challenge in the current workplace or business or collaboration with a client.

The students also develop a pitch aimed at key stakeholders to create a buy-in for the proposed solution to the business sustainability challenge. Interestingly, programme participants come from diverse backgrounds, including fintech, construction, consulting, pharma, project management, insurance, and public and not-for-profit sectors.

There is a lot of information and misinformation about sustainability.

Many people believe it is too late to act or that climate change isn’t as bad as portrayed in the media.

Businesses often feel overwhelmed and find it difficult to know where to start and what practical yet transformative actions they can take.

Furthermore, a lack of knowledge about sustainability in general and concerning business practice: it is often seen as having something to do with the environment rather than encompassing other social and economic elements.

Another significant challenge is that while there are new career opportunities in sustainability, it is often seen as a separate function without sustainability considerations being embedded into the core of business strategy or translated into clear KPIs – this means that sustainability is still often perceived as nice to have or something that only relates to reporting.

Smaller businesses especially don’t have the capacity or financial and human resources to pause and strategise, so it is hard for them to refine their core offerings and future-proof their business.

Our role, as educators, in climate action is empowering one student at a time with sustainability knowledge, skills and mindsets.

Most business practitioners join our programme because they recognise the importance of sustainability and its role in business and want to gain the relevant knowledge, skills and tools so they can lead in embedding sustainability into practice – either directly in their current roles or by influencing key stakeholders within their organisations.

Others join because they want to change their career and work directly in sustainability-related roles.

This programme is deliberately built to provide students with many opportunities for creativity, critical thinking, reflection and peer learning. We are also keen to keep all this learning connected to the real world.

A cut-through experience was when we had Nasreen Sheik, a former child labourer, to a panel discussion. Hearing first-hand about the horrific experiences of child labourers and modern slavery was very powerful.

For instance, we do not think too much about who makes our clothes, especially the very cheap ones, and the true cost of making them.

Students learn about dirty industry practices as well, incluidng child labourers and modern slavery in supply chains. Image: Unsplash

After this, no one will think of slavery or child labour as a distant problem you have nothing to do with.

With every purchase or supply chain decision, you are making an impact and have the choice also to make a difference.

After finishing the course, students keep in touch with each other and us to exchange ideas and share achievements, which makes us very proud.

For example, one of our recent graduates, Claire Hyland working at Thinkhouse, a leading youth marketing agency in Ireland, implemented her learnings to establish the foundations of their BCorp certification journey.

Another student, Bradley Queen, from the Irish Exporters Association, established the Institute of Sustainable Trade to support the members with education, networking and professional development opportunities so they can embed sustainability into their businesses.

There are many more examples of changes our students initiated, reinforcing the importance of education about sustainability in business.

Headline image: Unsplash

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Transforming Ireland’s home for entrepreneurs to support climate innovators

Bronagh Loughlin — Tue, 13 Jun 2023 11:31:06 +0000

Transforming Ireland’s home for entrepreneurs to support climate innovators

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As a top global incubator in the heart of Dublin City, hosting more than 160 innovative start-ups, the Guinness Enterprise Centre (GEC) has a massive influence on the business ecosystem in Ireland.

The Guinness Enterprise Centre is recognised as one of the greatest incubators globally, ranking as the second private business incubator in the world, according to UBI, the University Business Incubator benchmark.

Eamonn Sayers, Manager at GEC, says: “Our mission is to drive economic wealth in Ireland by empowering entrepreneurs to start and scale.

We provide the best environment for these entrepreneurs to attract talent, scale, and build phenomenal businesses.”

In the past years, the GEC underwent a transformational change inside-out.

After many years of being a traditional business support organisation, they modernised the building with sustainability in mind and became a green business hub.

Eamonn Sayers, Manager, Guinness Enterprise Centre

Recently, the Irish Government nominated the Guinness Enterprise Centre as a Circular Economy Hub.

They now actively collaborate with Techies Go Green, a non-profit organisation supporting tech-oriented companies to become carbon neutral by 2030, in building a sustainability cluster.

The cluster was launched by Eamon Ryan T.D., Minister for the Environment and Climate, in February 2023.

“What’s happening at the GEC right now is also a preview into the future of smart business and innovation in Ireland,” said Minister Ryan at the launch.

Speaking on this transition, Eamonn further explains how they facilitated this shift: “We recently completed an €11m expansion with support from Diageo, Dublin City Council, Dublin City Local Enterprise Office, Enterprise Ireland, the Irish Strategic Investment Fund and Furthr.

We started planning for this in 2016-2017, and from the beginning, we had the desire to put sustainability at the heart of our community in the GEC.”

More and more businesses are recognising the importance of taking climate action.

Eamonn reflects on the GEC’s decision: “We need to lead and demonstrate what is possible. In our community, we are inspired by innovators and entrepreneurs every single day.

It’s all around us. It’s in our DNA, and sustainability must also be in our DNA.”

The GEC building is now 95,000 square feet. Two new floors were added and built with carbon neutrality at their core.

The concept of having a green roof has encouraged the team to the point where they now have 18 beehives on the top of the building.

(Left to right) Eamonn Sayers, manager, Guinness Enterprise Centre; Eamon Ryan, TD, Minister for the Environment and Climate; Michael O Hara, co-founder, Techies Go Green; and Dr Mary O Riordan, CEO, HaPPE Earth on the green roof of GEC at the beehives.

Sustainability measures were also factored in around heating, lighting, air conditioning, recycling, charge points, transport initiatives, and much more. The team have plans to install solar panels to further their greening efforts.

Speaking on the challenges they faced in transitioning to a hub for sustainable innovation, Eamonn says: “The primary challenges we faced were balancing cost and value and, initially, lack of deep domain knowledge.

Understanding the practical side of sustainability was crucial to the development of the Centre.”

The team expects the hub to grow further and help immensely to drive sustainable innovation.

They started by building the largest community of sustainable innovators by collaborating with key partners in this space, such as Techies Go Green, Community Resources Network Ireland, Dublin City Council, the Dublin City Local Enterprise Office and Enterprise Ireland.

“In line with Government’s cluster policy, we have developed the Centres sustainability cluster, Sustainability@GEC attracting climate innovators with more engagement on a weekly basis. Besides, we are engaging our sustainable early-stage startup community with corporations adopting best practices and building new processes.”

The GEC team also believe the transition to a hub for sustainable innovation will help other businesses that are not traditionally green overcome barriers and challenges to implementing sustainability and circular economy practices.

Eamonn says that the GEC will act as a test bed connecting with a wide range of businesses and enterprise locations, with enterprises operating from their building employing over 900 staff.

“We want to share our sustainability journey with all other startup hubs across our enterprise ecosystem here in Ireland, thereby putting sustainability at the core of every startup community,” Says Eamonn about their ambitions to go further.

“If we get it right in the GEC, we can get it right in every start-up hub in Ireland. We get it right in the hubs; then it follows that every start-up in Ireland will put sustainability at the core of how they operate in business.

The impact on our country will be tremendous.

We are excited by the potential of Irish start-ups showing the way towards a sustainable future.

We have it within our own work and deeds to develop a brighter future for Ireland and for the world we live in. Let’s grasp this opportunity - our time for sustainability is now.”

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Doughnut Economics – Envisioning how humanity can thrive in the 21st Century

Bronagh Loughlin — Thu, 01 Jun 2023 12:45:19 +0000

Doughnut Economics – Envisioning how humanity can thrive in the 21st Century

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Doughnut Economics

Economy

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Doughnut Economics

Doughnut Economics proposes an economic mindset that is fit for our times. It is a way of thinking to bring about the distributive and regenerative dynamics this century calls for.

First published in an Oxfam report in 2012 authored by Kate Raworth, the concept of the Doughnut rapidly gained traction globally from the UN General Assembly, the Pope, and the Extinction Rebellion, among others.

The entry point of Doughnut Economics is to change the goal from endless GDP growth to thriving within planetary boundaries.

At the same time, see the big picture by recognising that the economy is embedded within and dependent upon society and the living world. It calls for turning today’s degenerative economies into regenerative systems and divisive economies into more distributive ones.

Finally, the concept reflects that growth may be a healthy phase of life, but nothing grows forever: things that succeed do so by growing until it is time to grow up and thrive instead.

Doughnut Economics envisions a future where humanity can thrive within planetary boundaries - visual explanation by Doughnut Economics Action Lab

The Doughnut Economics Action Lab (DEAL), Co-founded by Kate Raworth, aims to help create regenerative and distributive economies by design so that they can meet the needs of all people within the means of the living planet.

DEAL works across three levels of transformational change: reframing economic narratives, influencing strategic policy, and innovating with the community. They offer a wide range of open-access tools which anyone can use to turn Doughnut Economics from a radical idea into transformative action.

Erinch Sahan leads DEAL’s work in bringing Doughnut Economics to the world of business and finance. He says:

“Ultimately, it is about designing businesses around the question – how many social and ecological benefits can I generate through this enterprise.”

The Doughnut model offers a vision of what it means for humanity to thrive in the 21st century within planetary boundaries in a socially just economy and proposes a mindset and ways to get us there.

Erinch Sahan, Business & Enterprise Lead, Doughnut Economics Action Lab

Putting the ideas of Doughnut Economics into practice means following a number of principles: nurturing human nature, embracing the 21st century goal, seeing the big picture, being regenerative, thinking in systems, being distributed, being strategic in practice, and aiming to thrive rather than to grow.

DEAL designed the Cities & Regions tool, a guide for local and regional governments offering nine pathways to engage with Doughnut Economics.

Besides, the Doughnut Design for Businesses tool helps companies identify the design changes needed and guides them through assessing their current impacts.

The Doughnut model offers a vision of what it means for humanity to thrive in the 21st century within planetary boundaries in a socially just economy and proposes a mindset and ways to get us there.

Erinch says:

“The business world will need to embrace bold and ambitious solutions that are both regenerative and distributive.

To make this possible, a transformation in the deep design of business will be needed: its purpose and networks, how it is governed and owned and the nature of its relationship with finance.”

Naturally, there are challenges in adopting this visionary concept.

Two main obstacles include the reluctance to embrace the possibilities of designing businesses differently and engaging with the world of finance in a means that can enable this.

Central to the Doughnut Design for Business Core Tool is enterprise design. This is explored through five business design layers: a company’s purpose, networks, governance, ownership, and governance.

According to DEAL, the fundamental question about the existence of a business should change from “How much financial value can we extract from this enterprise?” to “How many benefits can we generate in the way we design this enterprise?”

Speaking on the essential steps to kickstart the journey as a business adopting Doughnut Economics, Erinch says: “Put the biggest ideas possible on the table and ask how your design holds back such ideas and how it can evolve to enable such ideas.”

An integral part of the Doughnut Design for Business Tool model is looking beyond obsessively growing profits.

Constant financial growth is drilled into the business agenda, so convincing business leaders to measure success in benefits and values instead of margins and profits to create regenerative and distributive models is more than challenging.

“It is about looking at the inevitable future economy we must create and embracing the transformation journey to belong to that journey. There will be no profits on the planet and in societies that we destroyed. So, let’s create a thriving society on a healthy planet and businesses that serve that purpose.”

There is also significant urgency for us to act on the climate crisis and meet sustainability goals.

“We do not have time to waste by pretending that the old structures and systems will be enough to help humanity into the Doughnut.

We need to embrace the transformations that are needed as quickly as possible. I think denying or avoiding the discomfort of that transformation is what we do not have enough time for,”

DEAL has built up a vibrant community of pioneering changemakers worldwide who demonstrate that this is doable.

Headline image: Elena Koycheva, unsplash

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June 2023

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