SDG Alpha - Issue 8
SDG Alpha - Issue 8
Hello friend, and welcome to SDG Alpha, a fortnightly newsletter about Innovation, Impact Investing, and Sustainability in Ireland.
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Thank you for reading; now, on with the show...
Lies, damned lies, and climate statistics: over the past fortnight there's been a flurry of activity from a wide range of organisations who have taken the temperature of the public and commercial spheres with regards to the climate crisis - and there's been some curious findings. I'll include links to each of the published findings, but here's a few things that jumped out at me...
The Irish public is, in the main, very concerned about the climate crisis:
Nearly 80pc of those asked in the Aviva poll said they were concerned or very concerned about climate change, a response highest among 18 to 24-year-olds.
This figure is taken from a recent item published by the Independent; a very similar theme came through in an article from Green News covering a Eurobarometer survey on "Citizen support for climate action". Here, 31% of Irish respondents to the survey ranked climate crisis as the single biggest threat to humanity - almost double the EU average (18%).
Some Irish business seems to be behind the curve, however - according to this SSE Airtricity survey:
A quarter of businesses (26%) outside of Dublin do not agree that being ‘greener’ attracts more customers, versus a third of Dublin businesses (down 8 points from July 2020)
And an EPA/Yale survey (again, from the Independent) seems that at least some consumers mightn't see the connection between taking action to address the climate crisis, and putting pressure on the businesses they opt to spend their money with.
Shopping decisions were influenced by various factors, however. Shopping local was most important factor in choosing which businesses to buy from, followed by a firm’s reputation on data protection, while their environmental impact was in third place.
Given the above, raising public awareness of the issues and solutions to the climate crisis is critical:
In total, 59pc said the media should play a greater role in educating the public on climate change.
But, major publishers like The Irish Times don't seem to be stepping into this role - the example below might seem trivial, but it doesn't speak to a strong editorial policy at the Irish Times to take a positive stand on the issue.
So, where do we stand as a nation? Across all four surveys, the need for strong Government action is clear, with businesses and consumers alike seeing a role for government in policy, regulation, and education. While Cabinet is certainly signalling its intent, what we have seen so far is slow, piecemeal, and often confused - an approach echoed by both the media and the corporate world, as the survey results above show.
But as individuals, are we entirely without agency? As consumers, and business owners, we often don't realise how powerful our own ability is to change the status quo. All we need to do is change the story... Those with an ability to change how our system works need to hear more and more individual voices, voices that are educated, and hopeful - and thankfully, there are more and more platforms available for those voices. Just looking at Ireland alone, here's four startups working to help consumers get educated, and turn anxiety into action: Evocco, Ethicart, OneStepCloser, and The Green Tick.
If there's been other recent surveys covering these topics I'd love to see them - please get in touch!
Now, on to the regular round-up...
Since we're on the topic of surveys, here's one more: the Purpose Disruptors are a fascinating group, representing people in the advertising industry who are working to educate their clients on the climate crisis - to "change the brief", in their own words. It's an interesting example of an industry coming to terms with their own responsibilities - would we have the same degree of mass consumerism without an advertising industry creating the need for it? Anyway, the Irish chapter of Purpose Disruptors is running a survey as part of their "Great Reset" campaign, and is seeking the views of communication professionals regarding sustainability. Closes July 20th, so please share with your network!
Some funding news: I've written about Thriftify previously, the Irish startup helping consumers make more ethical and sustainable choices by connecting them with charity shops online; now, a Belfast-based startup called Haru has entered the market, with the announcement of a £450K seed-funding round. The market for solutions that make it easier to source, buy, and sell second-hand goods is absolutely flying right now (cf Etsy acquiring Depop for $1.6B last month), so it's great to see more local startups scaling into this space.
Smart Dublin have a really interesting looking event on next week: on July 14th, they're hosting a showcase of 12 data-driven demonstrator projects, that support and promote "active travel", a topic that has gained huge popularity in our lockdown-constrained lives. There's a really broad range of applications on show, so something for everyone in there - and one of the things I most admire about Smart Dublin's mission is how action-oriented they are, so we may yet see some of these demonstrators right across our rural and urban environment.
Next, a couple of education-related items: UCC are seeking applicants for their HDip Sustainability in Enterprise programme - second year they're run the course, looks like a super curriculum; second, the Climate Ready Skillnet have two Masterclass events taking place in July and August - the first on Carbon Management, the second on Transport - both sessions are delivered via free webinar; third, Enterprise Ireland are running a webinar on July 20th to promote awareness of their Climate Enterprise Action Fund, and how it particularly applies to the IT and Services industries; and, finally, ECO-UNESCO are inviting applications for their July summer camp in Dublin - the camp's goal is to educate and involve Irish teens on the UN Sustainable Development Goals, which (as you may have guessed), I'm a bit of a fan of...
Last, and with my eyes firmly fixed on the upcoming weekend, it's BEER time: specifically, a wonderful example of circular economy innovation and symbiosis, where surplus bread is turned to beer. Miraculous!
This webinar (from Irish Manufacturing Research) discussed the system developed by Panelto Foods, and St. Mel's Brewery to produce SymbioBeer - I can't comment on the quality, as I haven't tried it, but if anyone involved in the project were to send on some free samples I'd be happy to share my thoughts :)
Now, it's on to our "Three, Sixty" section, 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. This issue, we're thrilled to feature Sarah-Marie Rust, CEO and Co-Founder at EVE.
Which of the UN SDGs did you start EVE to address?
We started EVE to empower the transition to electric, sustainable mobility. We are mainly focussed on SDG 13 - Climate Action, supporting companies to electrify their fleets. However, at EVE, we don’t stop there. We know that an electric car can only be as green as the electricity it is consuming. This is why we are actively empowering our customers to charge the EVs as sustainable as possible to ensure their fleet is not only electric but also carbon neutral.
We’ve recently started to see and understand the importance of SDG 17 - Partnership for the Goals. Our aim is to build a sustainable ecosystem, involving the players of the energy and e-mobility sector to foster innovation and sustainability.
How does your business model enable the transition to a low carbon, or more sustainable future?
With our solution, companies can electrify their fleets faster and at lesser cost. Our software constantly optimizes the charging transactions for cost and energy efficiency and empowers our customers to achieve their net zero sustainability goals. With EVE, a fleet's L2 emissions can be reduced by 36%, without dramatically changing the driver’s charging behaviour, solely based on the fact that they choose better and greener charging options. Companies who have more drastic sustainability goals are able to decrease their fleet’s emissions by over 60%, with EVE’s software being key to helping drivers develop a greener charging profile over time. We want to be that crucial partner that helps companies achieve a new, sustainable way of mobility.
How does your business model enable the transition to a low carbon, or more sustainable future?
With our solution, companies can electrify their fleets faster and at lesser cost. Our software constantly optimizes the charging transactions for cost and energy efficiency and empowers our customers to achieve their net zero sustainability goals. With EVE, a fleet's L2 emissions can be reduced by 36%, without dramatically changing the driver’s charging behaviour, solely based on the fact that they choose better and greener charging options. Companies who have more drastic sustainability goals are able to decrease their fleet’s emissions by over 60%, with EVE’s software being key to helping drivers develop a greener charging profile over time. We want to be that crucial partner that helps companies achieve a new, sustainable way of mobility.
And, that's a wrap for Issue 8 of SDG Alpha! Hope you found it useful, and if you did, please share :)
Stay safe!
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