Business

How to get people involved with sustainability and keep them engaged?

Anonymous — Thu, 07 Sep 2023 12:40:58 +0000

How to get people involved with sustainability and keep them engaged?

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Sustainability

Business

communication

Topic

Sustainability Communication

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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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

Topic

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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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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Business Sustainability

Event

Sustainable Development Goals

Topic

Business Sustainability

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

Tags

Business Sustainability

Education

Upskill

Sustainability

Topic

Business Sustainability

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

Topic

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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Looking at business sustainability through the upskilling lens

Bronagh Loughlin — Thu, 01 Jun 2023 10:07:11 +0000

Looking at business sustainability through the upskilling lens

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Expert opinion by Niall Collins, Chief Operating Officer Institute of Sustainability Studies

Businesses are under increasing pressure from all stakeholders to improve the sustainability performance of their operations.

Companies must integrate sustainability principles to remain competitive, meet stakeholder demands, and stay ahead of looming regulatory requirements.

You will need the right skills and knowledge to do all this.

I worked in sustainability consulting for several years, helping organisations from all different sectors and sizes begin the first stages of their sustainability transformation.

I understood quite early on that the only way to ensure the integration of sustainable business practices into any organisation was through education and upskilling of individuals.

Niall Collins Chief Operating Officer at Institute of Sustainability Studies

Furthermore, I believe every job is becoming a green job, and all employees need to understand how their role impacts an organisation’s sustainability goals.

External consultants, like I was, can only help to a certain extent. Internal teams must have the necessary skills to implement the critical steps to improve their business. I brought this expertise to the Institute of Sustainability Studies (ISS) to enable whole organisations to internalise sustainability through learning.

ISS is an ed-tech start-up that helps individuals and organisations on their sustainability journeys by developing and delivering practical, comprehensive, and action-oriented courses that can help them implement sustainability practices throughout their operations.

Removing jargon and making sustainability practical and accessible

Despite the growing interest from business leaders in this area, I have noticed that the jargon associated with sustainability often drowns the easy means of putting things into practice. In essence, they don’t know where to begin.

We have designed two learning opportunities at ISS - a Certificate and a Diploma in Business Sustainability - to remove the cloud that covers climate change, carbon management, circular economy and other topics in this field.

For instance, to tackle regulatory barriers, we provide detailed information in our Module on Sustainability Plan Implementation on key business-friendly regulations, including the EU Taxonomy, Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation, and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, all of which provide greater transparency concerning the analyses of sustainability risks inherent in business activities.

A dedicated module on Sustainable Finance helps businesses learn about financial assets and benefits that bring economic and environmental benefits while tackling the barrier of limited resources.

There is a lot of misinformation out there, especially when it comes to transitioning to a sustainable business.

One of the first assumptions we break in our courses is that being sustainable means shedding more money and taking a direct hit on profitability.

However, as most of our participants have found and experienced, many easy tools will help you become sustainable without compromising your profitability.

Breaking big ideas down into quick and actionable steps

Complex and complicated concepts, such as circular economy or decarbonisation, can be broken down and translated into quick and actionable steps.

That`s also the case with the circular economy, which could be a real win-win-win for businesses, society and the environment if adopted properly.

We have a dedicated module on circularity in business and sustainable products, focusing on optimising every aspect of a product’s lifespan.

In the end, they have the ability to explore advantages and analyse the risks and opportunities associated with a circular business model.

In addition, they can assess their current organisational value chain, figure out how they can design products that better suit the circular economic model, and understand the importance of communicating their company’s sustainability journey. Participants will also understand that they can begin with small steps.

Companies can do many things, from becoming more waste friendly to actively reducing waste from daily operations and across the supply chain. Building a circular business model that supports the company`s daily operations require a clear picture of where they are now and where they are headed. Therefore, a thorough analysis is where it all should start.

The next step is to implement the R-strategies - refuse, redesign, repair, recycle, and reduce and work out a feasible revenue model that can help achieve these goals.

Putting it all together

To be motivated to implement changes, you need to see the benefits of your investment and actions. It includes the essential step of considering customers’ needs, and creating a well-researched business plan that caters to these needs most effectively is vital.

It is important to note that any plan should always have room left to adapt and improvise as per client needs. Green marketing and communication are pivotal when it comes to building a sustainable business.

Unless you get the word out about your green credentials that you have worked hard on, the success of your business will be limited.

You should find a way to be transparent and authentic in your communication while avoiding the pitfalls of greenwashing and building an honest relationship with your customers and stakeholders.

Putting the pieces together is also easier when you can share your questions and doubts with others and learn from your peers.

We always try to embrace this as we clearly see the benefits of exchanging ideas and sometimes war stories.

Headline image: Unsplash

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Using tech for transparency in fashion

Bronagh Loughlin — Thu, 18 May 2023 13:26:02 +0000

Using tech for transparency in fashion

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Clothing and textiles are a fundamental part of our everyday lives and a vital sector within the global economy.

However, our current means of making, consuming, wearing, and discarding clothing is evidently no longer working. According to Business Wire, sustainability is rated as a vital purchase criterion for 60 per cent of consumers across the globe while they are demanding transparency from brands and looking for green credentials.

However, according to the Fashion Revolution 2022 Fashion Transparency Index, 50 per cent of the world’s biggest fashion companies disclose little or no information about their supply chain.

Only 12 per cent of fashion brands across the globe offer information concerning their raw material suppliers.

Without transparency, shoppers struggle to assess a brand’s environmental and social footprints and determine whether its statements are genuine or greenwashing.

What could bridge the transparency gap between eco-conscious consumers and fashion brands?

Can it be as simple as a QR code?

An Irish start-up, Ecode, thought so when they came up with the idea to empower consumers through their app to scan, learn, get rewards, connect, repair, recycle, and ultimately, change fashion.

Ecode was founded by three students, Elise Vens, Emmet Lowry and Nathan Gaborieau.

The three met during their Master’s in Sustainability at Trinity College Dublin (TCD), where they extensively studied the fashion supply chain's detrimental social and environmental effects.

Ecode founders Elise Vens, Emmet Lowry and Nathan Gaborieau.

They make an international team as Elise is from The Netherlands, Nathan is from France, and Emmet is Irish.

Elise Vens, Co-Founder of Ecode, explains how their initial idea took off: “We immediately pinpointed circularity as the driver of change and started working on a tool that would give shoppers more insight into what they're buying while empowering the consumer to be an actor of the change.

We realised this greatly benefits fashion brands in determining the lifespan of their items and increasing their products’ durability.

By gaining insight into these life cycles, Ecode has the power to help brands monitor their CSR improvements. Hence, our slogan became ‘enabling circularity in fashion’.”

In November 2021, the Ecode team participated in Trinity’s Provost Challenge, a three-day hackathon whereby students were challenged to ideate and develop a business idea where they came second.

Speaking on why they chose to focus on fashion specifically, Elise says: “For one of our courses, we had the opportunity to research the social and environmental impact of the fashion industry.

We were shocked to find out that this industry is the second-largest polluter on earth after the oil industry. A few weeks later, Trinity’s Provost Challenge was announced with the theme ‘How do you combat fast fashion?’.

We immediately realised this was our cue and submitted our idea for Ecode. Ecode can fundamentally change the fashion industry for the better, from a linear consumption towards a circular model of doing business.

We’ve recognised that the barrier to transformation is frequently not a lack of will but rather a lack of accessibility and connections between actors.”

Ecode`s solution is based on using QR codes in fashion items to increase transparency and circularity. Image: unsplash

Elis adds: “Ecode aims to integrate the entire landscape of actors in circularity. We connect stakeholders such as brands, consumers, recyclers, repairers, and resellers.

Ecode is not only offering a QR code, but an entire ecosystem that can collectively create change by interacting with one another, bringing the option of circularity to everyone’s doorstep.”

Afterwards, they decided to apply for Trinity’s LaunchBox Student Accelerator 2022 and were awarded the first prize, which provided immense validation for their project. In January of 2023, they received the Acting for the Environment Prize from Enactus France, an international social entrepreneurship project presentation competition for university students.

Currently, their biggest challenge is developing a BETA version of their application that can be replicated and quickly implemented in different companies to kickstart their revolution towards circularity in fashion. However, the team plans to overcome this hurdle and has big hopes for the project’s application.

Elise explains their plans further:

“Our goal is for Ecode to become the first thing that pops into the mind of consumers when they have to purchase, recycle, and repair clothing.

By making these processes easier for the consumer, we aim to drastically change consumer behaviour. In the next three years, we hope that everyone in Ireland and the rest of Europe will have heard of Ecode and that we will have a growing number of users.”

The amount of textile waste in the EU has doubled over the past 20 years.

With Ecode, the team hope to increase the number of clothes put back into circulation by up to 60 per cent in stores.

They also wish that by informing consumers about the impact of products, they can indirectly reduce the pressure on the planet by placing more environmentally sound products in the spotlight.

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Szilvia Szabó ⬤ Author

Journalist, Editor

Can sustainability be funny?

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

Can sustainability be funny?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The course design consists of the following elements:

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

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

Headline image: Getty Images

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

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

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How do trailblazer social innovators shape the Blue Economy?

Business Spirit News reporting — Wed, 12 Apr 2023 08:30:04 +0000

How do trailblazer social innovators shape the Blue Economy?

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Blue Economy

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Impact Hub corner

Stories of visionary entrepreneurs making inclusive and sustainable innovation happen at scale with the support of the global Impact Hub community.

Seafood alternative

Overfishing is putting enormous pressure on ocean ecosystems, but how can delicious and healthy sashimi help?

Bluana Foods startup is connected to Impact Hub Bucharest, Romania, has designed a tasty alternative solution to decrease the need for fresh fish.

The enterprise is creating a plant-based healthy seafood alternative product for tuna and salmon sashimi, using only natural ingredients.

Bluana Foods uses algae extracts with a molecular gastronomy approach to obtain a product such as fish meat.

The startup is entering the growing plant-based market, estimated to reach 15 billion Euros.

“With the help of our team of Chefs, we have a bottom-up molecular gastronomy approach while using natural only ingredients.

Bluana Foods is working on plant-based seafood alternative products for tuna and salmon with a molecular gastronomy approach. Image: Bluana Foods

Currently, we have a founding team, an MVP, and more than 700 people giving positive feedback,” Florin Irimescu, Founder and CEO of Bluana Foods, explains their product development.

The team is working on their market strategy and participating in various high profile accelerator programs such as the Black Sea ClimAccelerator, organised with the support of EIT Climate-KIC (Knowledge and Innovation Centre) and Proveg Incubator program in Berlin, the world’s leading incubator of plant-based and cultured food startups.

Zero impact aquafeed

By adopting Circular Economy principles, enterprise Ittinsect uses insects and agricultural by-products to replace traditional aquaculture and ornamental fish feeds containing fishmeal and fish oils.

As a member of the Impact Hub Siracusa community in Italy, this startup is dedicated to developing and producing innovative fish food with zero fish meal and oil content.

Ittinsect is developing innovative fish food with zero fish meal and oil content. Image: Pexels

“The product is based on a special recipe of enriched insect proteins with the same nutritional properties as fish meal, but with a higher biologic efficiency,”

says Alessandro Romano, CEO of Ittinsect.

They won the EIT Food “Challenge Lab” in 2020, and their concept also impressed the judges at the BlueInvest Awards 2021, as they became finalists in the "Sustainable Food and Feed from the Ocean" category.

The value proposition of Ittinsect is built on the three pillars of product characteristics, being flexible, sustainable and healthy.

By avoiding ocean resources, they contribute to sustainability and stop the chain of microplastics, mercury, fertilisers and other contaminants that generally accumulate in the organisms that are fed with traditional fishmeal.

The Dopper changemaker challenge

The ‘ocean saving bottle’ company, Dopper, organised the third edition of its Changemaker Challenge to find the most innovative student ideas for a plastic-free future with crystal-clear waters.

They teamed up with Impact Hub King’s Cross, UK, Impact Hub Amsterdam and Impact Hub Berlin to engage third-level students from various locations.

Applications poured in from the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Nepal for a chance to win a £5,000 research grant, promotional support and valuable contacts.

Dopper is a social enterprise based in the UK, widely recognised as an activist company encouraging people to see the whole picture about ocean protection and water usage.

The three best ideas from the UK included projects focusing on recycling ghost fishing nets, utilising sea kelps and replacing plastic food packaging with a sustainable alternative.

The Dopper Changemaker Challenge is organised in collaboration with several Impact Hubs to find innovative student ideas for a plastic-free future with crystal-clear waters. Image: Dopper

Lab of tomorrow

The Lab of Tomorrow is a business development program to solve specific challenges in emerging markets. It aims to inspire European and local businesses to jointly create new sustainable and profitable business models, products, and services in emerging markets.

It is an open innovation process based on adopting Design Thinking and Business Design methodologies with strong stakeholder engagement.

In 2022 they brought together European and Thai companies, startups, NGOs, policymakers and researchers to address the challenge of plastic waste reduction in Thailand.

The Lab of Tomorrow is a business development programme to solve specific challenges in emerging markets, such as plastic waste or renewable energy. Image: Pexels

More than half of land-based plastic waste leakage comes from just five countries: China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

The challenge of reducing, reusing and replacing single-use plastic in Thailand thus goes far beyond the country’s borders.

The program is managed in collaboration with Impact Hub Berlin, and it runs in partnership with government organisations.

Participants are asked to answer questions like: How might we reduce, reuse or substitute single-use plastic to decrease plastic waste ending up in rivers and oceans in Thailand?

The big issue is divided into sub-challenges like promoting plastic-reduced products and services, increasing plastic and littering awareness of customers, and reducing plastic bottles or promoting the use of a zero-waste kit.

So far, 330 participants have joined seven previous Lab of Tomorrow innovation processes, and 47 promising business ideas have been developed, of which twelve business models are currently in the pilot phase.

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