Sowing the Seeds of a Sustainable Future
Spielfeld is a place for innovation. Not only are our members transforming their respective industries, they’re taking actionable steps to create a future that is more sustainable. To kick-start the new year, we’ve compiled a list of the most exciting sustainability-focused initiatives from our community.
Roland Berger
After achieving climate neutrality in 2020, Spielfeld co-founder Roland Berger is setting themselves further ambitious goals and are aiming for net zero emissions by 2028.
They also released a new Climate Change Combat Radar, a tool that helps companies learn how climate policies affect their business with the goal of helping them develop targeted and forward-looking climate strategies and actions.
Roland Berger’s Think:Act Magazine published an issue related totally to Sustainability, which features a look at the “Four key elements of a successful sustainability strategy.” Read the full edition here.
They’re also looking to expand their team and are looking for consultants with an intrinsic motivation to combat climate change and help contribute to some of the most complex challenges we face today. Learn more about the open position: Senior Consultant Sustainability/ Climate Action Center (m/w/d).
VISA
Spielfeld co-Founder Visa is committed to expanding sustainability solutions for clients as part of the company’s climate positive goal. They have committed to a Net-zero Pledge by 2040.
In 2020, Visa in partnership with Spielfeld Innovation Research conducted a research “Mind the sustainabilty gap,” which investigated what expectations consumers have for brands developing sustainable strategies and products.
Based on this research Visa developed new sustainability features for Visa cardholders: Visa Eco Benefits. The package enables card-issuing banks to add sustainability-oriented benefits to existing credit and debit products.
Visa also committed to the Eco-Skies Alliance. The alliance aims to collectively contribute towards the purchase of approximately 3.4 million gallons of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) this year. “With its nearly 80 percent emissions reductions on a lifecycle basis compared to conventional jet fuel, this is enough SAF to eliminate approximately 31,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, or enough to fly passengers over 220 million miles [BioDiesel Magazine].
ECO.MIO
In January 2022, we were pleased to welcome eco.mio to the Spielfeld community. eco.mio believes that conscious consumption is key to a company’s profitability and is focused on making business travel more sustainable. Their end-to-end integrated software solution incentivizes employees to travel consciously, enabling companies to reach their climate targets while realizing significant savings. Their co-Founder Kathi is a Roland Berger alumni — another Spielfeld community success story.
Environmental Jusice Foundation
The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) is working to secure a world where natural habitats and environments can sustain, and be sustained by, the communities that depend upon them for their basic needs and livelihoods.
The EJF works with, and for, those on the frontlines of environmental destruction to investigate, document and expose environmental and human rights abuses. They take local fights to the very heart of governments and business across the world to secure lasting, global change.
The team produces hard-hitting reports and investigations to target decision makers and work to change laws and policies with a positive impact for people and planet. By combining our investigations with bespoke training and community support they also help to build local capacity, give a voice to new environmental defenders and strengthen the global call for change.
N3xtcoder
N3xtcoder’s mission is to help impact-driven projects succeed through technology and aim to work only on projects or with partners that contribute to one or more of the United Nation Sustainable Development Goals.This year they’ve driven exciting projects that helped drive climate action.
N3xtcoder worked with ProjectTogether to host UpdateDeutschland, Germany’s largest social impact program. The event was streamed from the stage at Spielfeld and included an introduction from German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The team then hosted the German portion of the European Space Data Hackathon Connecting the Arctic. The event aimed to leverage data to understand Arctic climate change by leveraging European Space Data. The German team #PolarBearings represented Germany at the CASSINI Hackathon demo day.
The team concluded the year with the Green4Europe Hackathon, which aimed to accelerate sustainable tech solutions beyond borders in Ukraine, Georgia and Germany.
Organization for Sustainable Consumption
(OfNK)
The OfNK is on a mission to make the sustainability of products transparent, measurable and comparable throughout the EU. Launched in 2020, the EU Open Sustainability Register (EU-OSR) enables EU stakeholders to review the goals set by business and government and measure their progress.
The team is working with experts in the fields of data analytics, finance, commercial law, data protection, corporate governance, sustainability, software development, design, media & communications to create the leading collaborative, free and transparent sustainability data knowledge network to connect the political, economic, academic and civil society actors.
Leaders for Climate Action (LFCA)
It’s already in the name. With more than 1590 members, the LFCA is hoping to position the tech and startup industries as leaders in the fight against climate change. As of January 2022 the LFCA has more than 1590 members including some of the leading names in tech in Europe including Spotify, Universal, Klarna, Delivery Hero and more. See the full list here.
Since launching in 2020, the VC Sustainability Clause has been adopted by some of the leading venture capital firms in Europe.
Their 2021 Time for Climate Action campaign reached over 43 million people who were encouraged to “Take Climate Action in less than 5 minutes.” Register for the 2022 Time for Climate Action campaign and help spread the word.
Further reading:
- MotionTag aims to make transportation more sustainable through data analytics
- Tradelink’s solutions help organizations adhere to the new EU Supply Chain Act and help cut logistics-related CO2 emissions by ensuring 30% shorter truck standing times.
- Talentspace’s online solutions bring recruiters, employers and talent together without the need for travel
(Research support provided by Ishita Sehgal, January 2022)
