SDG Alpha - Issue 24
Hello friend, and welcome to SDG Alpha, a fortnightly newsletter about Innovation, Impact Investing, and Sustainability in Ireland.
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As ever, thank you for reading; now, let's begin.
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As I was preparing this issue, I was struck by how many of the articles I had gathered together were focused on the area of skills training, and education - so I thought it was worth sharing some thoughts on this. The area of education has featured quite regularly since I started writing these newsletters, but it's something I've become particularly focused on during the past few weeks as we've begun delivering the Accelerate Green programme.
So, what's happening in the space? We had a big announcement this week from the Minister of Education, with the news that Climate Action and Sustainability will be added as a new Leaving Cert topic from 2024 - it's going to be interesting to see how this is structured, and whether it will replicate or replace the existing curriculum in Geography, Politics & Society, and the sciences: https://www.gov.ie/en/press-release/f7bf7-minister-foley-announces-plan-for-reform-of-senior-cycle-education-equity-and-excellence-for-all/
Following on from this, there's a dizzying array of 3rd-level courses available, covering everything from social sciences and activism, to environmental sciences, materials, meteorology - the folks at CARO have put together a comprehensive list at https://www.caro.ie/training-events/academic-courses.
In terms of career development, how different is the experience of working in the "green" versus "traditional" economy? Are there fundamental differences in how the required skills are acquired, and applied? Silicon Republic have an interesting piece exploring the working life of a senior manager in the offshore wind industry, which is worth a look: https://www.siliconrepublic.com/people/offshore-wind-farms-renewable-energy
And finally, from a policy perspective, Skillnet Ireland this week published the findings of a comprehensive research project exploring the skills needs to support the transition to a green economy - here's the tl;dr, the highest demand / lowest supply skill identified by Irish companies is with "Climate Change and Sustainability Strategy". Here's the thing - I have strong doubts about the effectiveness of "teaching" someone strategy.
A business strategy is developed on insights; insights are built on robust, efficient experiments exploring market need, and innovation capability; and these experiments are most effective when designed, monitored, and adapted in a setting that promotes accountability. This is something we're attempting to do in real-time with the Accelerate Green cohort, as our cohort attempt to build pathways towards sustainable scale, in a deeply uncertain world.Â
Stay tuned, as we will be sharing insights from our group of business leaders as the programme progresses, and we'll hopefully be able to share more about their learnings and insights as they go.
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Here's the news round-up for Issue 24 of SDG Alpha:
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let's kick off with some enormous funding news: Mainstream Renewable Power, a 14 year old Irish company specialising in the development of wind and solar energy sites, has raised an additional âŹ575M of equity investment from Mitsui. Mainstream broke the $1B valuation mark last following investment from Aker Horizons, and according to CEO Mary Quaney, are positioned now to become a "global renewable energy major this decade" - https://www.power-technology.com/news/mitsui-mainstream-renewable/
and in acquisition news, Irish environmental monitoring company Biome announced that it's been snapped up by EcoOnline, a Norwegian HQ'd Environmental, Health & Safety solutions provider: https://www.ecoonline.com/news/ecoonline-acquires-biome-an-irish-environmental-software-specialist
While Zipp Mobility have been busy rolling out their electric micromobility solution across the UK and Poland, there hadn't yet been any activity from them here on their native soil - that's why it's great to see the recent launch of a pilot scheme to run an e-bike sharing service in partnership with DĂșn Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council - see https://irishtechnews.ie/zipp-mobility-e-bike-service-in-dublin/Â
Silicon Republic had an interesting piece looking at the results of a large European-wide survey by the European Investment Bank regarding attitudes towards climate policies, and economic development - interesting to see that Ireland (in keeping with the rest of Europe) is less optimistic than our Chinese and US counterparts that the transition to a green, low-carbon economy will create more employment opportunities than it might eliminate. Should we be paying more attention to European skepticism, versus pessimism here? And given that the survey was conducted in Sept 2021, how will this outlook be impacted in the face of Europe's rise in spirit in response to the monstrous actions of Putin's Russia? We continue to live in interesting times - https://www.siliconrepublic.com/careers/majority-irish-people-climate-action-policies-create-jobs-eib-survey
while I do tend to focus primarily on Irish-based resources, here's two useful looking programmes that are open to Irish founders, but funded and supported by overseas organisations: first programme, which underlines the importance of promoting JEDI within the broader sustainability community, Google for Startups are seeking Black-identifying entrepreneurs for their Black Founders Fund https://www.campus.co/europe/black-founders-fund/; second, Royal London and the School for Social Entrepreneurs are seeking to support UK and Irish startups who are working to promote financial resilience - https://www.the-sse.org/courses/royal-london-changemakers-programme/
here's an exciting opportunity for data scientists and climate activists to collaborate: the Dublin Region Climate Action Open Data Challenge 2022 is designed to support and promote innovative ideas and applications that use open data to drive and support climate action. There's a tonne of smart people driving the challenge (partners include Smart Dublin, CARO, Codema, and all the relevant local authorities), and there's some cash prizes available for the winning proposals. Applications close on Apr 26th https://smartdublin.ie/dublin-region-climate-action-open-data-challenge-2022/
while there's been a huge uptick in the number of new coworking / remote working hubs over the past two years, it's great to see the recent announcement of Ireland's first purpose-built hub for people with disabilities; while a 17-desk space in Ballincollig is a small first step, it will encourage other hubs to think about how they can also serve the needs of all members of their communities: https://connectedhubs.ie/blog/post/first-purpose-build-remote-working-hub-for-people-with-disabilities-opens-in-cork
quick run-through of some upcoming events: our friends at Fifty Shades Greener are running a webinar on April 5th on designing sustainable menus - https://www.linkedin.com/events/ep2-fsgliveshow-howtodesignasus6912792370191216640/; on April 6th, TCD's Department of Civil, Structural, & Environmental Engineering are hosting a webinar on "Engineering for Climate Action", focused on wind energy in Ireland - https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/engineering-for-climate-action-lunchtime-lecture-webinar-series-tickets-275945308847?keep_tld=1; and finally, on April 4th, Friends of the Earth are running a free webinar on addressing climate anxiety - there's a really strong speaker line-up, including author Daniel Sherrell, climate activist Ăine OâGorman, and clinical psychologist Dr Eoin Galavan - https://www.foe.ie/events/learning-hub-2022.
and, last but not least, here's a fascinating project from the School of Looking, an art + architecture team: taking a creative approach to the zero-carbon transition, this husband and wife team are developing an "ecological floating arts lab", that will be touring our inland waterways over the coming months, to engage and connect communities around the climate crisis. this is, without a doubt, the ugliest website I have ever seen, and simultaneously a truly intriguing approach to raising awareness, and sparking conversations about the climate and biodiversity crises. Honestly, the website is a never-ending rabbit-hole of whimsy and wonder - it takes a lot of work to make something that eye-wateringly offensive :) http://www.schooloflooking.org/SoL/home.html
To close out the issue, it's time for "Three, Sixty", where we pose three questions on the theme of sustainability to an impact entrepreneur or innovator, to get a better understanding in sixty seconds of how they're working to achieve the SDG targets. For this issue, I'm excited to profile MalĂș ColorĂn, founder of TalĂș Earth, an early stage company I've been mentoring over the past few months as part of the TUS Limerick New Frontiers programme.Â
On a personal level, what impacts of the climate crisis are you most concerned about?
To me, soil health is one of the most pressing matters to help mitigate the climate and biodiversity crisis. Iâm convinced that if we can take action to improve soil health at a large scale, we can not only sequester carbon, but also boost the quality of the food we eat and the textiles that clothe us. A 2019 study by the University of California - Davis demonstrated that by adding compost to soils and using cover crops, itâs possible to increase the soil carbon content by up to 0.07% annually. This doesnât cost a lot of money! So why arenât we doing it as a standard in farming and in our own gardens?
Which of the UN SDGs did you start TalĂș to address?
Primarily, the main SDG we aim to address is #12: Responsible consumption and production. As a slow fashion brand with an educational offering, we are committed to helping our customers have a more mindful wardrobe and extend the life of their clothes for as long as possible. We also set out to address goals 14 & 15: Life below water & Life on land. Our upcoming capsule collection and all future offerings of our brand will be made of 100% natural, local fibres and dyes, inspired by the Fibershed philosophy. This helps us ensure that our clothes wonât be polluting the water or leaking dangerous chemicals into the soil: from the production stage to the end of their usable life. One of our medium-term goals is to work exclusively with textile farms that use regenerative practices for growing their fibres. This ties back to my concern with improving soil health as a matter of urgency.
How does your business model enable the transition to a low carbon, or more sustainable future?
We want to help fashion-aware environmentalists keep their clothes in play for as long as possible, and this in itself already contributes to lowering carbon emissions! A 2021 study published by The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment proves that increasing wears from 109 to 400 per garment has the potential to decrease that garmentâs carbon footprint from 60% - 68%. Furthermore, if we are to have a future, it needs to be circular. We canât be relying on linear extractive processes, much less to fulfil our basic needs. Our business model consists of creating an infinite fashion cycle where we produce on-demand, using natural fibres and dyes, we also provide options and education for our customers to mend and re-dye their own clothes. At the end of their long life, all our pieces are safe to be composted, returning precious nutrients back to the soil from where they came from.
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And, that's a wrap for Issue 24 of SDG Alpha! I hope you found it useful, and as always, if you did, please let us know, and don't forget to share! :)
Stay safe.
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