Companies in the Irish funds and asset management industry will take part in a pilot climate challenge - the first such national challenge for Irish businesses.
Organised by the funds sector’s Green Team Network, in partnership with the environmental NGO Global Action Plan, the Funds Industry Climate Challenge will see companies across the sector engage their employees on topics of behavioural change and climate change. The team-based challenge engages employees, enabling them to discover how small differences in our day-to-day behaviour can have a big impact on our carbon footprint.
“We are thrilled to be able to offer Ireland’s first ever national climate competition for businesses,” said Jack Lee of the Green Team Network, a forum bringing together companies and individuals in the funds industry.
“People taking part in the Climate Challenge will try to carry out as many climate-positive activities as they can. Each activity is registered on an online platform and converted into CO2 emissions saved. The team and company that have saved the greatest amount of greenhouse gas emissions are the inaugural winners of what we hope will become an annual competition,” continued Lee.
Powered by the Ducky online platform, the competition will run for 2 weeks, from 17 until 28 April, and the winners will be announced at the Irish Funds Industry Association’s annual conference on 18 May.
The Funds Industry Climate Challenge provides a unique combination of encouragement, education and real life climate impact, offering participants a menu of 30+ activities, based on the four main areas of individual greenhouse gas emissions: Transport, Food, Consumption and Energy.
Using aggregated climate data and Life Cycle Assessment analysis per activity, the challenge provides a gamified, research based engagement platform that aims to engage employees, create awareness and build a sustainable culture within companies and organisations.
“By participating in the competition, people can discover practical ways to reduce their CO₂ emissions and make climate action part of their everyday lives,” said Hans Zomer, CEO of Global Action Plan, the organisation hosting the competition.
“Companies in the Irish funds industry have been advising clients for many years on how their investment decisions can make a big difference for the planet. By launching the Climate Challenge we are now offering staff in the sector the opportunity to discover their own power, and see how the small everyday lifestyle decisions we all make can also have an enormous collective impact,” Zomer said.
“Climate change is the greatest challenge of our time and if we are to address it effectively we will need to make changes at all levels of society. It’s not an either-or situation. By helping people to discover their power to make small climate positive changes at home, we are also enabling them to discover their power as agents of change in their places of work and in wider society,” concluded Zomer.
The Funds Industry Climate Challenge was formally launched at an event in the Museum of Literature Ireland on 28 February, and is open to teams of employees of companies in the Irish investment funds and assets management industry.
More information about the Funds IndustryClimate Challenge is available via https://www.greenteamnetwork.ie/climatechallenge