Image credits: HumanForest
Every year on April 22, the world celebrates “Earth Day” to display support for environmental protection. The first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970, when US Senator Gaylord Nelson from Wisconsin, organised a national demonstration to raise awareness about environmental issues.
What was started initially in the United States has now become a global phenomenon to promote and push sustainable habits across the world. Currently, Earth Day is observed in more than 190 countries globally.
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According to Earthday.org, this year’s theme is ‘Invest In Our Planet’ — a move to instigate businesses globally to shift toward sustainable practices.
“We need to act (boldly), innovate (broadly), and implement (equitably). It’s going to take all of us. All in. Businesses, governments, and citizens — everyone accounted for, and everyone accountable. A partnership for the planet,” says Earthday.org.
In this regard, we have compiled a list of 8 European tech companies that have come up with their own unique way to celebrate Earth Day 2022.
Einride creates a bespoke musical composition
Founder/s: Filip Lilja, Linnea Kornehed and Robert Falck
HQ: Stockholm
Einride is a freight technology company that provides end-to-end solutions for electric and autonomous shipping. In 2019, the Swedish company became the world’s first company to operate an autonomous, electric freight vehicle on a public road.
To celebrate Earth Day 2022, Einride has collaborated with Swedish composer Jacob Mühlrad and visual artist Alexander Wessely to combine the frequency of the Einride Pod’s lidar system with the frequency of Earth, transposing the two into a bespoke musical
composition.
“I couldn’t resist trying to imagine how the sound of Earth and the sound of the Einride Pod would harmonise together, so I transposed those frequencies both from the Einride Pod lidar system and
the sound of Earth into the audible spectrum of the human ear. One of the cellos was playing the pitch of the Earth, and the other two cellos were playing the frequencies of the lidar system”, says composer Jacob Mühlrad.
Gorillas encourage responsible shopping
Founder/s: Kağan Sümer
HQ: Berlin
Gorillas is a grocery delivery provider that claims to deliver goods to its customers’ doorstep in just 10 minutes. The users can access more than 2,000 essential products at supermarket prices for a delivery fee of €1.80.
In just over a year, the German unicorn has expanded to more than 60 cities, including Amsterdam, London, Paris, Madrid, New York, Milan, and Munich, and opened more than 200 warehouses in 9 countries.
On Earth Day 2022, Gorillas encourages customers to shop more consciously. As a result, the company has added a new category to the app “Gorillas x Earth,” which has sustainable and organic products from (local) partners. The category features vegan, vegetarian, eco-friendly, fair trade, and local products that can be delivered within minutes.
Recently, the company announced that it has offset all emissions generated under direct management (Scope 1, 2, and 3.3) since its inception. As per the company’s claims, around 4,960 tons of CO2 have been saved from refrigerants, electricity, heating, and cooling of warehouses and offices.
Plan A expands emissions coverage
Founder/s: Lubomila Jordanova, Nathan Bonnisseau
HQ: Berlin
Founded in 2017, Plan A is a corporate carbon accounting and decarbonisation software solutions, provider. The company’s SaaS platform automates CO2 emissions calculation, carbon reduction planning, and ESG reporting for businesses.
According to Plan A, companies and traditional reporting toolings focuses on Scopes 1 and 2 of emissions that calculate direct and indirect emissions.
However, the lesser-known third scope, relating to indirect emissions in the upstream and downstream supply chain, represents between 60 per cent and 90 per cent of a business’ emissions.
To measure the third scope, Plan A has launched new modules for emissions management of events, waste, and business travel into its SaaS platform. You can
Lubomila Jordanova, CEO of Plan A says, “The absolute bulk of corporate emissions is hidden in Scope 3, yet the quality of reporting in this emissions area – if disclosed at all – leaves much to be desired. Therefore, we are pleased to announce the launch of three new modules today. They enable our clients to scientifically track, decarbonise, and transparently report their Scope 3 emissions even more comprehensively.”
HumanForest partners with 22 Bishopsgate
Founder/s: Agustin Guilisasti
HQ: London
HumanForest is a dockless, shared, and ad-supported e-bike service company. The company is on a mission to provide sustainable and affordable micro-mobility for Londoners, helping to reduce CO2 emissions, improve air quality and limit congestion across the city.
The platform offers users 10 minutes of free usage per day, followed by rates of £0.15 per minute, as a result of its advertising revenue model where users receive one advert through the app before and after their journey.
To celebrate Earth Day 2022, HumanForest has partnered with 22 Bishopsgate to encourage the community to move around the city healthily and sustainably.
Starting today, the UK company will install a ‘Green Bay’ outside 22 Bishopsgate for one month for occupiers to have easy access to a supply of e-bikes. The Green Bays are entirely virtual and can be found within the HumanForest app, says the company.
Laura Elms, Head of Partnerships for HumanForest, says, “We’re delighted to have 22 Bishopsgate join HumanForest as a partner around Earth Day 2022. This partnership will help encourage 22 Bishopsgate occupiers to find environmentally friendly ways of moving to and from the building, encouraging more people to move in a sustainable, healthy, and fun way. The building’s offer of HumanForest codes to its community is a strong signal that 22B is committed to providing the best solutions for its occupiers as well as the planet.”
Klarna launches a series of initiatives with Milkywire
Founder/s: Niklas Adalberth, Sebastian Siemiatkowski and Victor Jacobsson
HQ: Stockholm
Klarna, a Stockholm-based fintech company, has announced a series of initiatives dedicated to supporting the planet’s health.
Last year, Klarna launched the ‘Give One’ initiative in partnership with impact platform Milkywire, to support conservation, mitigation, and restoration efforts for climate and biodiversity.
Since its launch, the company has allocated $9M to locally rooted organizations protecting nature and fighting climate change. Klarna says that the funding has been distributed to 9 organisations to scale their impact.
During Earth Week, Klarna consumers can donate to four-planet health causes – wildlife, ocean, planet, and forest in the Klarna App, and the company will match the consumer donations made during Earth Week.
Secondly, the company is upgrading its CO2 emission tracker as well.
“In addition to showcasing the estimated carbon footprint of each purchase in the Klarna App, the tracker will provide consumers shopping fashion products with a rich breakdown of the emissions released along with every step of the product lifecycle and offer educational tips to help consumers use and recycle the purchased products more sustainably,” writes the company.
The tracker will additionally offer consumers the opportunity to donate to the “Klarna and Milkywire Climate Transformation Fund,” focusing on high-impact solutions to mitigate climate change.
Thirdly, the fintech company will release a new shoppable Conscious Collection “the Earth Day Edit,” building on its recently launched partnership with Good On You.
The collection will feature products from brands that excel in resource use and waste management and their policies to address energy usage and carbon emissions.
David Sandström, Chief Marketing Officer at Klarna says, “Our vision is to empower consumers to vote with their wallets to enact change. With the help of our enhanced CO2 Emissions Tracker, consumers can now gain detailed insights into the environmental impact of their shopping. Combined with our donation features and Conscious Collections, we’re excited to give consumers powerful tools to act on this knowledge and inform their shopping choices”.
Ecoflow partners with One Tree Planted
Founder/s: NA
HQ: Berlin
Ecoflow, a provider of portable power and renewable energy solutions, has announced a partnership with the reforestation non-profit platform One Tree Planted to launch the ‘Make the change’ initiative.
From now on, EcoFlow will donate €1 to One Tree Planted to plant a tree for every customer who registers for the ‘Make the Change’ program. EcoFlow will also plant a tree for every purchase made during Earth Day celebrations.
To date, One Tree Planted has planted over 40M trees since its inception.
Jenny Zhang, Marketing Director at EcoFlow says, “Whether it is by planting trees or offering sustainable energy solutions, we both envision an eco-friendly future owned by every individual but we need everyone to take action, starting from Earth Day 2022.”
ChainCargo partners with JustDiggit to regreen lands in Africa
Founder/s: Giovanni Gubbels, Jeroen Kemp, Coen van Boxtel
HQ: Eindhoven
ChainCargo is a digital road freight forwarder, that aims to make logistics more efficient and sustainable through technology.
By knowing exactly where the available capacity is, goods are transported more efficiently and existing transport movements are used optimally. It reduces empty kilometers and CO2 emissions and also enables competitive rates.
To commemorate Earth Day 2022, the Dutch company has announced a partnership with JustDiggit, a non-profit organisation to regreen degraded land and offset CO2 emissions
For every kilometre driven, ChainCargo will donate a sum to Justdiggit which aims to combat climate change by regreening degraded land in Africa.
According to ChainCargo, it will be offsetting the emissions of every transport booked via the platform. The donations will go to a regreening project in Tanzania, where Justdiggit is restoring trees through Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR).
Giovanni Gubbels, co-founder of ChainCargo says, “The transport sector has a significant impact on the climate. By 2050, the sector’s CO2 emissions must fall by 90 per cent compared to 1990. In the meantime, we do not want to sit still at ChainCargo. By partnering with Justdiggit, we take responsibility for our impact on the environment and take an extra step towards a greener world.”
GreenChoice launching on Earth Day 2022
Founder/s: Galen Karlan-Mason
GreenChoice is a data-driven carbon-negative marketplace for climate-friendly grocery shopping.
The platform allows users to search and purchase thousands of natural & organic foods based on sustainability, dietary needs, and values–with health & climate ratings.
The company combines scientific research, Natural Language Processing (NLP), and hundreds of evidence-based public and private data sources to analyse products’ various attributes at scale.
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