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How to get your impact story featured in media?

Anonymous — Fri, 19 May 2023 11:14:40 +0000

How to get your impact story featured in media?

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Impact

communication

Media relations

Impact Ecosystem

Topic

Impact

Communication

Annual plans and New Year`s resolutions are probably behind you by now, but that shouldn`t hold you from exploring some untapped potential in boosting your impact.

Why not make 2023 the year when you get your stories in the spotlight to raise awareness and engage with your audience?

Writing a press release that catches attention, having a practical media toolkit that helps you spread news or delivering an engaging interview could give your message an extra boost, helping you to achieve your goals.

Why social innovators are not covered more in media?

The answer might be plainer than you`d expect.

Besides handling the everyday challenges and neverending to-do lists, one of the most typical reasons is the lack of confidence and knowledge of using media relations and tools correctly.

In addition, nervousness naturally kicks in when it comes to public speaking, giving an interview or even writing content.

However, with some learning and practising, you could make the leap and use the power of communication to advance your agenda.

Learning opportunities to boost your message

Using media communication tools can give you a headstart in raising your profile, reaching and activating a wider audience while increasing your impact.

Here are a couple of simple steps you can take:

Do media training for impact innovators, where you learn how to handle situations like speaking at a podcast, giving an interview, engaging with media at events or making the most out of press releases. Getting the hang of media communication is like learning ice skating - you start out a bit wobbly, but after practising, you start gliding and smiling.

Learning media and Impact Writing skills could significantly amplify your message.

Change your approach to writing and publishing your impact report, as it has so much communication potential that you don't want to miss it. Haven`t you published one yet? Maybe the time has come to start advancing your agenda by start sharing your impact in a professional manner.

Make it easy to find and use information about your work, campaign, or else about your mission. It might sound very basic, but in reality, this is the most typically missed step to unlock potential in media communication. The best way to do that is to prepare and start actively using a professional media toolkit.

It is easier than you might think to utilise opportunities in PR and other forms of media communication, including public appearances, which can be nerve-wracking.

There are various learning options, such as attending programs and sessions held by the Impact Writing Institute, where you can harvest the benefits of working with expert trainers whether you are joining as an individual or have tailor-made training at your organisation.

This is not about you getting famous but shining a light on issues that need to be addressed and enabling people to get involved.

What really matters is to get confident about speaking up and be ready to share your story in a way that engages and mobilises your audience.

Giving yourself a chance to learn and expand your horizon using media communication should definitely be on your radar for boosting your impact in 2023 and beyond.

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May 2023

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Impact Writing Institute

Cities to stand together in solidarity for Ukraine

Business Spirit News reporting — Thu, 10 Mar 2022 19:15:16 +0000

Cities to stand together in solidarity for Ukraine

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Cities across Europe are called to organise gatherings in front of city halls to unite people in sharing moments of solidarity for Ukraine.

Eurocities, a network of larger European cities with over 200 members representing 38 countries and its people, is launching an initiative that invites cities to share a moment of solidarity on Saturday, 12 March.

Organisers are calling on cities to organise small or big gatherings in front of city halls across Europe on that day to express their support to those suffering due to the Russian military offensive targeting Ukraine.

President of Eurocities and Mayor of Florence, Dario Nardella, appeals to all mayors and cities to ‘link arms, or share a moment in front of or around our city halls.’

Addressing Eurocities members, Nardella added:

“City diplomacy breaks borders. Through networks like Eurocities, and through our city twinnings, we have built strong relationships. We know and trust each other. We have respect. When we offer solidarity, it is genuine and heartfelt.”

The cities of Bologna, Braga, Florence, Milan, Marseille, Nice, Rotterdam, as well as Rome have already answered the call and joined the movement.

One of the frontrunners to express solidarity is Dublin city. They are putting up lamppost banners and using digital panels across the city in the colour of blue and yellow of the Ukraine national flag as part of their preparation for the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day Festival on 17 March.

To unify the voices of European cities, the ‘shared moment of solidarity for Ukraine’ campaign asks everyone participating or wanting to join in any format to share their pictures on social media channels using the #CitiesWithUkraine hashtag.

“We can do this at the time that works best for each of us on Saturday 12 March, and I ask you to share your images on social media,”

says Nardella.

Digital panels across Dublin city expressing solidarity for Ukraine; Image: Mary Mac Sweeney

Both cities and people are invited to join regardless of whether or not the city is a Eurocities member and encouraged to use visuals provided by organisers on their website.

To boost the impact of each action, Eurocities will collect and share all city actions from their network in the week of 14 March.

Headline image: Simone Hutsch on Unsplash

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March 2022

Where are the women from the COP26 climate conference?

Bronagh Loughlin — Wed, 03 Nov 2021 09:45:25 +0000

Where are the women from the COP26 climate conference?

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The SHE Changes Climate activist campaign calls for 50:50 gender balance in all climate decision making, highlighting that only 16% of the COP26 UK Leadership team are women.

The SHE Changes Climate activist campaign revealed that only 16% of the COP26 Climate Conference Leadership team are women and calls for change to have at least a 50% representation of diverse women at their top levels, now and in the future.

The movement aims to bring inclusiveness and diversity to the COP26 negotiations and all future discussions on climate change.

To achieve that, they have launched the #5050Vision campaign, calling for all parties to be represented in decision-making because it affects all parties.

We caught up with Co-Founder and Co-Conspirator Antoinette Vermilye to learn more about their plans to achieve their 50:50 vision.

Antoinette shares more about the SHE Changes Climate movement: “It is a campaign that firstly targets the UK as the host country of this year’s COP to bring an equal representation of women to its leadership team.

This time a year ago, there were zero women on it. Less than 50 days before COP26, we only had three women comprising 25% of the top-level team.

Antoinette Vermilye, Co-Founder and Co-Conspirator of the She Changes Climate campaign

We are demanding more diversity and inclusiveness, transparency, and accountability to the COP26 negotiations.”

Organisers are inviting people to join the campaign online by using a digital toolkit and supporting the cause through a GoFundMe page.

On 9th November they will held a SHE Changes Climate Day, presenting live panels and interviews at The Pipe Factory, in the art district of Glasgow.

Antoinette explains why it is crucial to address the lack of representation in this and any future COP and propose solutions:

“Generally, male-dominated perspectives lean towards decisions made through a narrow lens that tends to be more economical and technological biased rather than leveraging the wisdom of indigenous peoples and nature-based solutions.

We are actively excluding the perspectives of the majority of stakeholders, such as gender, youth, diversity groups.

Doesn't it make sense to have all parties bringing their own experience, expertise, and perspectives to the ingredients of a solution?”

According to the 2021 World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap report, it will take 145.5 years to attain gender parity in politics globally if don't take action.

Antoinette explains further: “Women are on the frontline of climate change, often portrayed as victims, usually due to socio-economic conditions that are defined by a patriarchal society. Despite bearing the brunt of climate change consequences, women display remarkable resilience and resourcefulness.

But women are not being given a chance to speak or demonstrate their perspectives. They are systematically underrepresented at all levels of decision making."

It has been estimated that advancing gender equality could add $12 trillion to the global economy.

Women disproportionately suffer the impacts of disasters, severe weather events, and climate change because of cultural norms and the inequitable distribution of roles, resources, and power, especially in developing countries.

A UNDP report showed that “80% of people displaced by climate crises are women".

Founders of SHE Changes Climate believe that for all life to survive on this planet, we need a balanced representation of all humankind; making crucial decisions about our future, the future of our children and the future of every living thing on this planet.

They are committed to ensuring women - across a broad spectrum of ethnicity, class, disability, age, etc - are in these roles to make the crucial decisions to save humanity.

SHE Changes Climate was founded in late 2020 by Antoinette Vermilye, Bianca Pitt and Elise Buckle, with the aim to bring diversity and inclusiveness, transparency and accountability to the COP negotiations on Climate Change.

They started out in December 2020, by sending an open letter to the UK Government, calling on them for greater accountability and transparency on male/female parity on the UK COP26 leadership team.

The letter has been supported by over 450 male and female environmental leaders and gained significant visibility for the topic.

Read a full interview with Antoinette Vermilye from SHE Changes Climate in the Winter 2021/22 edition of the Profit with Purpose Magazine >>

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November 2021

Irish charity and community sector calls for action in pandemic recovery

Business Spirit News reporting — Fri, 29 Oct 2021 16:17:38 +0000

Irish charity and community sector calls for action in pandemic recovery

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A public awareness campaign was launched to promote the value and impact of the charity and community sector in Ireland.

Charities and community groups in Ireland have come together to launch the We Act national campaign to put community recovery in the spotlight for the Covid-19 aftermath and promote the value and impact of this sector nationwide.

The public awareness campaign was launched on 27th October, revealing the results of a survey conducted in March 2021 amongst 1000 people aiming to gain insights on the perceptions, experience and understanding of the charity and community sector.

“The Covid-19 crisis brought a renewed public focus on the work of our sector. From support lines for older people to laptops for children in emergency accommodation, when we saw a need in our communities, we responded to it.

The pandemic demonstrated that – in times of real need – charities and community groups are at the forefront of our national response,”

said Sarah Monaghan, We Act spokesperson and Campaigns Manager at The Wheel, Ireland’s national association of community and voluntary organisations, charities and social enterprises.

Launch of the We Act campaign in Ireland to promote the value and impact of the charity and community sector. Image: Naoise Culhane

There are 34,000 organisations in this sector, employing almost 165,000 people and further 1 million volunteers.

Considering the sector's weight, organisers hope to bridge the gap between some of the views raised in the research and create awareness of the value and impact of charities and community groups in Ireland.

Some of the key findings of the public survey:

70% of people believe the lives of people in their communities would be impacted if charities disappeared overnight. Still, just 8% believe they interacted with a charity or community group in the past year.
62% think charities are more likely to be responsive in their services than the public sector, but only 54% think the staff in the charity sector should be paid similarly to those in the public sector.
70% believe an organisation dealing with homelessness is a charity, while only 8% think an arts organisation is a charity. In reality, both can be charities.
Over 40% believe those who serve on charity boards are paid a salary. But, in fact, charity board members are unpaid volunteers, and the Charities Regulator stipulates explicitly that board members cannot accept a salary for their role.

The report also found that the public very highly trusts charities and community groups as they were the third most trusted institution in Ireland after schools and An Garda Síochána.

While 73% of the public trust charities and community groups in general, this drops to just 60% for large organisations compared to 78% for small organisations.

The We Act campaign will run over the next three years. Image: Naoise Culhane

Monaghan adds to the survey results: “We saw a shift in values towards equality, justice and supports for the most vulnerable in our communities and across the globe. Now, there needs to be a concentrated effort to ensure the innovation, goodwill and community cohesion continues as we recover from the pandemic.”

The We Act campaign will run over the next three years to address the challenges uncovered in the research.

The main focus in these years will be to support the growth of vibrant and sustainable community life and strengthen the charity and community sector while encouraging more members of the public to engage and participate by volunteering, working, and donating.

The campaign is funded through a grant from RTÉ Does Comic Relief that is distributed by The Community Foundation for Ireland.

Denise Charlton, Chief Executive of The Community Foundation for Ireland, said, “The Community Foundation for Ireland works with and supports more than 5,000 voluntary, community and charitable organisations.

There are a million stories of the positive impact they have on families, homes and individuals across Ireland, often out of public view.

We want to see more people working and staying in the sector, more people volunteering and engaging at a community level, more people knowing what services are out there should they need them, and more people feeling part of something positive and bigger than themselves.”

A coalition of charities and community groups, led by Boardmatch, Charities Institute Ireland, the Disability Federation of Ireland, Dóchas, The Wheel and Volunteer Ireland, manages the We Act campaign.

Headline image: Naoise Culhane, Photographer

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October 2021

How can innovation help your back pain disappear?

Business Spirit News reporting — Thu, 30 Sep 2021 10:16:19 +0000

How can innovation help your back pain disappear?

Tags

Innovation

Responsible Innovation

Responsible Research and Innovation

Wellbeing

Smart Health

Topic

Innovation

Responsible Innovation

Smart Health

The concept of a Smart Chair to improve the health and wellbeing of office workers has been developed as part of a Responsible Research and Innovation project.

The pandemic and working from home have dramatically increased the time we sit on a chair and the number of people suffering from back and neck pains.

A Smart Chair helping you improve your posture and maintain good habits could be a solution to avoid the negative health implications of sitting while working.

As a part of the Living Innovation project, global digital services company ATOS worked on this problem, trying to find a solution with citizens, particularly Millenials and GenZ, experts and scientists.

“We held several Design Thinking workshops in Spain and remotely with Austrian young people to understand the real needs of these groups.

Then, experts in the company have analysed the results and tested ideas in a virtual innovation workshop,” says Lydia Montandon, Business Development Director at ATOS Research & Innovation group.

As a result, they developed the concept of a Smart Office Chair, which is expected to be ergonomically designed in line with the recommendations of therapists: it should provide good support for the back, while integrated sensors detect the incorrect postures and send information to the user.

Lydia Montandon, Business Development Director, ATOS Research & Innovation group

The company would need to cooperate with office furniture manufacturers and physicians or traumatologists to produce a Smart Chair that can meet these requirements.

“In the future, smart health will probably focus more on preventing illnesses or diseases, helping people to avoid bad habits and therefore enjoying better wellbeing and healthier lives. But, let me ask you: How do you feel about your back and neck today?”

adds Montandon.

Software developers would use AI technologies to analyse built-in sensor data and detect unhealthy patterns.

An app would serve as an interface for the users and alert them when unhealthy postures can be corrected.

The idea is that “correct” postures can progressively become normal and become a new habit for the user.

The interesting part is that this chair is designed to be “shareable”.

Once the sitting position has been improved for one person – or one employee in an organisation – the Smart Chair can be passed on to the next one.

Thus, the business model is based on the idea of health prevention benefiting both employees and organisations in the long term.

According to Lydia, the whole design process has been fascinating since they involved different stakeholders in the ideation process.

“It was an exciting experience to reach out to younger generations and experiment with co-innovation methodologies during the pandemic.

It requires a lot of effort, but the resulting value proposition is richer than what we could have been achieved with traditional methods,” she recalls.

So far, the product has not reached the market yet, but the design team expects that the involvement of all stakeholders in the first steps of the project design will enhance its adoption when the product is ready to be commercialised.

“The main barrier in embracing co-creation in product design is the time and investment needed to organise co-innovation activities involving a representative group of stakeholders, including citizens, experts, salespeople, organisers, facilitators, etc.

Another barrier is the innovative way of doing things, which is still not convincing to all interested parties. A lot of effort is needed to raise awareness about the benefits of this approach,” Montandon explains further.

Lydia believes that a change of mindset regarding designing and developing an innovative product is needed, alongside how you approach customers, involving them in the process rather than presenting a result.

One of the early achievements would be for her to see her colleagues complaints about their back pains and visits to the therapist disappear soon, and provide this relief for many other people in the near future.

To learn more about this and other Responsible Innovation projects join the 'Living in a smart future' session at the Responsible Innovation Summit virtual conference on 19-22 Ocotber.

Headline image: Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

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September 2021

Movement to unite and support beach and river clean-up projects all over the world

Business Spirit News reporting — Fri, 13 Aug 2021 15:49:34 +0000

Movement to unite and support beach and river clean-up projects all over the world

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The Moving Water Alliance was launched to offer funding, educational materials and various supports to help non-profit projects addressing water pollution issues.

The Planet Calls non-profit organisation launched the Moving Water Alliance in August 2021 to unite and support beach and river clean-up projects worldwide.

This new movement offers access to funding, educational collateral and support to help organisers develop and grow their teams to address water pollution issues locally.

The idea of creating this Alliance sparked from witnessing the amount of waste that has been skyrocketing since the Covid-19 pandemic started.

Single-use plastic, like sanitiser bottles, aprons, masks, and gloves, is now making its way to not just landfills but natural habitats like oceans.

Tarryn Johnston, Chairperson, Moving Water Alliance

The increasing amount of pollution is putting more strain on already exhausted marine life and other ecosystems.

“I decided to become a Chairperson for Moving Water Alliance because I have an already well-established river clean-up non-profit-organisation based in Gauteng, South Africa.

I have created a model that anyone can replicate with enough drive, passion, and commitment to saving our rivers and oceans.

We want to assist more people and non-profits in doing the same all over the world,” says Tarryn Johnston about how she started this movement.

Johnston is no newcomer to river pollution clean-ups since she formed a non-profit in 2019 called Hennops Revival in South Africa.

Since its inception, she has removed almost 1.3 million kilograms of pollution from the Hennops River in Gauteng province together with her team of volunteers.

Thanks to the generosity of local businesses who sponsor some clean-ups, she could offer employment to the homeless and people in need from the local communities.

Her tried-and-tested business model will now be shared with members of Moving Water Alliance to help them solve a massive environmental problem while uplifting communities through the employment that these projects can provide.

Membership is free, and members can expect to receive various supports in growing their beach and river clean up teams.

Organisers of the Moving Water Alliance envision this initiative to become a home for existing river or beach clean-up projects and a welcoming space for those who would like to start such movements.

Members will be able to reach out when they need advice, encouragement or just a conversation with someone on the same page and find guides and friends with one common goal: saving our planets precious water bodies and marine and aquatic life.

The Moving Water Alliance encourages grassroots organisations and projects from this field to share their project, so the Alliance can amplify their reach and support them in their journey to make a positive impact!

Johnston adds:

“We are looking to guide and assist people who are in it for the long haul, as we understand that it didn't get this way overnight and neither will it be fixed overnight.”

The Planet Calls launched this initiative, hoping that having a global movement will certainly come with a weight and help create awareness of the rising number of people willing to stand up and do the work.

“At the moment, we are working on member welcome packs, which will include "how-to" guides and informative, encouraging material as well as the launch of our digital magazine scheduled for October,” says Tarryn Johnston about the next steps.

The Planet Calls is a non-profit foundation focused on sustainability and circular economy advocacy, educating people about how to treat the Earth with respect and care to accelerate change.

Headline image: by Brian Yurasits on Unsplash

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August 2021

Investors in Asia and Africa are invited to join the growing impact investing market

Business Spirit News reporting — Tue, 27 Jul 2021 11:36:49 +0000

Investors in Asia and Africa are invited to join the growing impact investing market

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First Impact Investing Fellowship program for asset owners and managers in Asia and Africa was launched to offer learning and networking.

The Impact Investing Fellowship was born from the shared mission of the African Venture Philanthropy Alliance (AVPA) and Asian Venture Philanthropy Network (AVPN) to transform the social investment landscape and increase the flow of capital and resources towards impact investing in these regions.

This trailblazer project is designed to challenge the perception of asset owners and managers that impact investing is a trade-off for financial returns, and the private sector should only focus on achieving financial returns.

Organisers of the Fellowship program state that today’s impact investment market offers diverse and viable opportunities for investors to advance social and environmental solutions through investments that also produce financial returns.

“Both continents have huge potential to augment their economic and social potential and to build on their recent successes by sharing different experiences of growth and development,” says Bridget Fury, Head of Oppenheimer Generations Philanthropies about why a program like this is needed.

“There is scope for Asia and Africa to see synchronised, sustainable growth if we establish optimal alliances between the regions.”

Bridget Fury, Head of Oppenheimer Generations Philanthropies; Image: Harambeans

In the last four years, the compound annual growth rate in impact investing in East and Southeast Asia alone was 20%, higher than the U.S and Canada.

“There is a mismatch between the supply of impact investment capital and demand from impact businesses. Investors will need to find innovative means to tailor their funds and meet the needs of these businesses where they are,”

adds Dr. Frank Aswani, CEO of AVPA.

Sixty participants will be selected in equal numbers from Asia and Africa to join the program that will help them have the right information and resources on building an impact investing strategy, managing a portfolio, defining, evaluating, and managing impact, among other skills.

In collaboration with Faculty from the Oxford Saïd Business School, impact investing experts will facilitate the program over four months.

Applications are open to asset managers, foundation directors, accelerators, incubators and NextGen leaders until 12 August 2021.

The first cohort of alumni will be supported by the unique network of AVPN, committed to building a vibrant and high impact social investment community across Asia, and the Pan-African network of AVPA that seeks to transform the social investing agenda in the continent.

Eventually, the Impact Investing Fellowship aims to increase the flow of social investment capital into Africa and Asia.

Headline image: Alexander Suhorucov from Pexels

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July 2021

EU Green Deal climate package set out to fundamentally change lives and businesses until 2030

Business Spirit News reporting — Thu, 15 Jul 2021 16:29:46 +0000

EU Green Deal climate package set out to fundamentally change lives and businesses until 2030

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Making Europe the world's first climate-neutral continent is the primary goal of the recently introduced EU Commission proposal package.

The European Commission adopted a package of proposals on 14 July to apply significant changes in the EU's climate, energy, land use, transport and taxation policies to cut net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels.

The goal is to make Europe the world's first climate-neutral continent until 2050 by embracing the European Green Deal in the next decade.

The proposal introduced by the European Commission is presenting the legislative tools to deliver on the targets agreed in the recently adopted European Climate Law.

These changes aim to fundamentally transform the European economy and society to create a fair, green and prosperous future.

The European Commission on delivering the European Green Deal

President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said:

“The fossil fuel economy has reached its limits.

We want to leave the next generation a healthy planet as well as good jobs and growth that does not hurt our nature.

The European Green Deal is our growth strategy that is moving towards a decarbonised economy.

Europe was the first continent to declare to be climate neutral in 2050, and now we are the very first ones to put a concrete roadmap on the table.

Europe walks the talk on climate policies through innovation, investment and social compensation.”

The package introduces a comprehensive and interconnected set of proposals that will enable the necessary acceleration of greenhouse gas emission reductions until 2030.

The specific targets are a combination of new strategies applied in various sectors.

Plans are mainly focusing on emissions trading to new sectors and a tightening of the existing EU Emissions Trading System; increased use of renewable energy; greater energy efficiency; a faster roll-out of low emission transport modes and the infrastructure and fuels to support them; an alignment of taxation policies with the European Green Deal objectives; measures to prevent carbon leakage; and tools to preserve and grow our natural carbon sinks.

What to expect as part of the new plans:

The EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) puts a price on carbon and lowers the cap on emissions from specific economic sectors every year. The Commission proposal aims to reduce the overall emission cap further and increase its annual rate of reduction. This would mean to phase out free emission allowances for aviation and include shipping emissions for the first time in the EU ETS. Besides, a separate new emissions trading system is set up for fuel distribution for road transport and buildings. The Commission also proposes to increase the size of the Innovation and Modernisation Funds.

Phasing out free emission allowances for aviation is part of the EU Green Deal proposal; Image: John McArthur, Unsplash

Member States should spend the entirety of their emissions trading revenues on climate and energy-related projects. A dedicated part of the revenues from the new system for road transport and buildings should address the possible social impact on vulnerable households, micro-enterprises and transport users.
The Effort Sharing Regulation assigns strengthened emissions reduction targets to each Member State for buildings, road and domestic maritime transport, agriculture, waste and small industries.

By 2035, the EU should aim to reach climate neutrality in the land use, forestry and agriculture sectors; Image:Randy Fath, Unsplash

Member States also share responsibility for removing carbon from the atmosphere, so the Regulation on Land Use, Forestry and Agriculture sets an overall EU target for carbon removals by natural sinks, equivalent to 310 million tonnes of CO2 emissions by 2030. National targets will require Member States to care for and expand their carbon sinks to meet this target. By 2035, the EU should aim to reach climate neutrality in the land use, forestry and agriculture sectors, including also agricultural non-CO2 emissions, such as those from fertiliser use and livestock.

Stronger CO2 emissions standards for cars and vans will accelerate the transition to zero-emission mobility by requiring the average emissions of new cars to come down by 55% from 2030 and 100% from 2035 compared to 2021 levels. As a result, all new vehicles registered as of 2035 will be zero-emission. To ensure that drivers can charge or fuel their cars at a reliable network across Europe, the revised Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation will require Member States to expand charging capacity as well.

This will require charging and fuelling points at regular intervals on major highways: every 60 kilometres for electric charging and every 150 kilometres for hydrogen refuelling.

The Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation requires that aircraft and ships have access to clean electricity supply in major ports and airports. The ReFuelEU Aviation Initiative will oblige fuel suppliers to blend increasing levels of sustainable aviation fuels in jet fuel taken on-board at EU airports.
A revision of the Energy Taxation Directive proposes to align the taxation of energy products with EU energy and climate policies, promoting clean technologies and removing outdated exemptions and reduced rates that currently encourage the use of fossil fuels.

A new Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism will put a carbon price on imports of a targeted selection of products to ensure that ambitious climate action in Europe does not lead to ‘carbon leakage'.

Instead of pushing carbon-intensive production outside Europe, this regulation will ensure that European emission reductions contribute to a global emissions decline.

It also aims to encourage industry leaders outside the EU and international partners to take steps in the same direction.

Sharing responsibility evenly across different sectors and Member States, and providing additional support where appropriate is critical in making these changes happen.

A new Social Climate Fund was also proposed to ensure a fair social transition and provide dedicated funding to Member States.

This support would help citizens finance investments in energy efficiency, new heating and cooling systems, and cleaner mobility.

The Social Climate Fund will provide €72.2 billion of funding to Member States, for the period 2025-2032; with a proposal to draw on matching Member State funding, the Fund would mobilise €144.4 billion for a socially fair transition.

Together, our proposals will spur the necessary changes, enable all citizens to experience the benefits of climate action as soon as possible, and provide support to the most vulnerable households. Europe's transition will be fair, green and competitive,”

said Frans Timmermans, Executive Vice-President for the European Green Deal about the new proposal package.

Headline image: Paul Hanaoka, Unsplash

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July 2021

Impact in the making: online matchmaking event for green tech stakeholders

Anonymous — Tue, 20 Apr 2021 10:42:29 +0000

Impact in the making: online matchmaking event for green tech stakeholders

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Innovators can join the Impact Connect online matchmaking event to find partners, funding and network, while learning from inspiring changemakers.

To allow value-driven innovators to connect and explore opportunities to collaborate, organisers of the Impact Festival created the Impact Connect online matchmaking day that takes place on the 23rd of April.

Over 150 Green Tech Start-Ups, 200 Corporates and 100 Venture Capitalists have registered, and innovators can still claim their free tickets to join the online event.

Using a comprehensive digital platform enables delegates to interact and find the most valuable connections through a personalised recommendation system.

Besides, there will be keynote speeches delivered by inspirational trailblazers from the impact community, including Torsten Schreiber, climate change activist and serial social entrepreneur, Founder of Africa Green Tec.

Torsten Schreiber, founder of Africa Green Tec, will share insights at the Impact Connect event. Image: Africa Green Tec

Alongside other speakers, Schreiber will share insights about his famous venture, Africa Green Tec, which has developed a holistic solution that makes it possible to supply entire villages in rural regions of Africa with electricity and sustainable technologies.

“We strive to connect the most innovative green-tech start-ups and scale-ups with corporates to accelerate the sustainable transformation in business.

Besides, we match these start-ups with venture capital investors to help innovators grow and establish themselves faster,” explains Fabian Demuth, lead organiser of the event and co-founder of the Impact Festival, about their goals.

"The Impact Festival has quickly become one of the largest platforms for sustainable technologies and innovations in the B2B sector and with the Impact Connect day we wanted to expand the opportunities available for innovators."

Fabian Demuth, co-founder of the Impact Festival

The closing session of the matchmaking day will be presenting the pitches of students who participated in the Impact Challenge programme earlier this year to develop their green innovation ideas further.

The program's main goal was to help young people from around the world to develop ideas into products that help society and contribute to achieving the SDGs.

Teams were supported by innovation experts brought to them by the Impact Festival and other partners, such as the Tech Quartier cross-industry innovation platform.

Designing the Impact Festival and digital platform that brings together the key players who can potentially change the course of business as usual for the better became the mission of Moritz Schwarz and Fabian Demuth, two German innovators.

They co-founded the Impact Festival to connect stakeholders, offer educational content and facilitate collaborations in order to make change happen after getting back to Germany from an eye-opening trip in Asia.

Despite the pandemic, they kicked off their business in 2020, partnered up with the Main Incubator for joint implementation, and started building the project they believed could influence leaders and decision-makers to adopt sustainability into their strategy.

Moritz Schwarz , co-founder of the Impact Festival

Moritz Schwarz adds:

“We see limitless opportunities for impact-driven enterprises as soon as destroying the environment becomes expensive while re-generating it becomes a viable business model.

It all starts with questioning what we really need, what creates value for society and the environment and what makes economic sense.

Businesses that can answer this will become the most sustainable, resilient and thriving in the future.

We already see a start of this change where emitting Co2 becomes more expensive.

Next up is the cost of biodiversity destruction and accounting for other social, environmental factors.”

The 2021 edition of the Impact Festival will take place in Frankfurt on the 16-17 September.

The event will present exciting and innovative technologies, a colourful and international gathering of the Green Tech players from different industries, with many visionaries and motivated changemakers.

“We are focusing on bringing the right content to the right audience and promote the most impactful innovations.

We are not an event agency but a corporate investor that strives to find start-ups that help businesses with sustainable and digital transformation,” says Demuth.

The eight focus areas of the event are derived from the EU Green Deal since businesses need to watch out for the outcomes of this Europe-wide initiative and adapt their operations accordingly.

Organisers also integrated the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with a more specific goal to look for the indicators where business can contribute and benefit.

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Petition to end corporate greenwashing calls leaders to take action

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Apr 2021 12:11:19 +0000

Petition to end corporate greenwashing calls leaders to take action

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The Europe-wide ‘Make 2021 Count’ campaign aims to end corporate greenwashing and boost carbon accountability.

As the world recalibrates towards sustainability after the setbacks of the pandemic, this year could well be our last chance to keep the 1.5℃ global warming limit within our future reach.

António Guterres, UN Secretary-General, said earlier this year that „2021 is a make-or-break year to confront the global climate emergency”.

Despite a drop in emissions of around 5%, 2020 was not enough to reverse the trend in carbon emissions.

However, more and more companies pledge to reduce their carbon emission, the transparency on the actual measurement remains unregulated, leaving enough room for greenwashing and misleading.

‘Make 2021 Count’ campaign aims to end corporate greenwashing; Image: Plan A

The Europe-wide ‘Make 2021 Count’ campaign is launched by Berlin-based green tech startup, Plan A, aiming to start a movement to end corporate greenwashing.

Joined by industry partners, organisers of this activist campaign call on the EU to introduce universal binding transparency standards for corporate carbon emissions accounting in European companies.

That would basically mean that once a company claims to be "carbon neutral" should be legally required to disclose its carbon footprint to the public.

Beyond this specific action, the campaign's goal is to educate businesses and spark new conversations between professionals on what sustainability means in 2021.

The first step of the campaign is a petition launched on the change.org website to collect as many signatures as possible, with an initial target of reaching 1000 signatures.

The petition will then be submitted to the European Commission with a call to action for policymakers and regulators to introduce legal measures in the fight against corporate greenwashing.

“For policymakers, we believe this petition can provide a catalyst for further regulations on transparency and definitions of true sustainable practices for corporate entities.

The drafting of European and national regulations on climate action offers the best possible opportunity to seize the moment,”

explains Lubomila Jordanova, CEO of Plan A, why they decided to start a petition as part of the ‘Make 2021 Count’ campaign.

Lubomila Jordanova, CEO of Plan A, lead organiser of the ‘Make 2021 Count’ campaign

It has become virtually impossible to distinguish between companies that take impactful steps to reduce and avoid CO2 and those that only claim to act sustainably without transparently reporting any actions and results.

Thus, greenwashing distorts the reality that the majority of EU businesses have not actually reported on their carbon reduction targets.

In parallel, there is a growing concern that greenwashing undermines the credibility of those companies that are driving actual change.

"The longer there is space for sustainability claims to be overstated, the longer greenwashing can exist and hinder real change.

By reporting transparently, thoroughly and credibly to the public about their emissions, companies can learn about themselves and from each other.

They will also acknowledge that there is no quick fix for sustainable carbon reduction, but that it is a journey that requires commitment and a sense of responsibility”, says Jordanova.

The campaign is calling leaders to sign the petition to end greenwashing

Greenwashing runs deeper than statements about carbon neutrality and generates confusion in determining whether a company is taking tangible steps towards sustainability or not.

This results in hesitation and represents a significant obstacle for companies wishing to start their sustainability journey.

This moment is a chance to help businesses identify the different forms of greenwashing and find viable steps to combat them.

Since its launch in 2017, Plan A, the main organiser of this campaign, has helped businesses steer away from greenwashing with a software that follows a scientific approach to carbon reduction and creates transparency on corporate greenhouse gas emissions.

The campaign is supported by well-recognised companies such as ecolytiq, Green City Solutions, Onomotion, Joblift and Coya.

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