Climate action at work: the untapped power of employees ??

The theme of this year’s World Environment Day: Only One Earth, reminds us of the irreplaceable treasure we hold beneath our feet and the impending need to protect it from its single greatest threat: climate change.

The impacts of rising temperatures - wildfires, drought, flooding, and cyclones - are now irreversible and could only get worse, deeply affecting our economies, wellbeing, and risking the people and places we love.

Society is growing increasingly aware of this reality. Climate denialism has significantly waned, even in markets where less than a decade ago the number of people who dismissed the issue was nearly on par with those concerned or alarmed about it.

Businesses too are awakening to the challenge and doing their part. Many have aligned with science-based targets and determined clear paths to net-zero, joining initiatives like the Race to Zero. Their strategy and operations to achieve these goals are moving at record speed. And now, they are seeing that their scope of influence can be significantly expanded.

Employees: the key to business sustainability

The adage tells us that individuals hold no power in driving changes that matter. But this couldn’t be farther from the truth. In fact, citizen action, when taken collectively, could drive between 25-30% of the global emissions reductions needed to avoid the worst of climate change. And the collective climate action of 100 million individual employees by 2025 could be at the forefront of this shift. According to Count Us In partner and carbon footprint experts Giki Zero, if 100 million employees took effective climate action by 2025, this could potentially match the carbon cuts required by the entire global shipping and chemicals industry to be on a net zero pathway by 2030, or the entire emissions of Switzerland from now until 2025!*

But individual carbon cuts are only one of the advantages of employee mobilization around climate action. Employees’ participation, innovation, and ownership are essential for all businesses to deliver their net zero plans. By leveraging the existing community of the workplace, businesses are in a game-changing position to mitigate and tackle climate change. Engaged workforces increase the likelihood that businesses will be able to deliver their net zero commitments and transition their business to operate successfully in a net zero economy.?

Kate and Jane are?innocent Sustainability Pirates: a group of employees passionate about sustainability, who get together every quarter to share ideas about how to make their offices more sustainable.

216 have joined the challenge and in a short period, they saved 8.5 tonnes of carbon which is the equivalent of planting 420 trees and letting them grow for one whole year.

innocent Drinks launched the Pawprint Challenge [part of the Count Us In Employee Challenge], at the start of 2022 to encourage all innocent employees to take action against climate change.?

216 have joined the challenge and in a short period, they saved 8.5 tonnes of carbon which is the equivalent of planting 420 trees and letting them grow for one whole year.

Change is needed, but effecting it alone can be difficult

Organizations taking on the challenge to engage their employees with climate action are becoming powerful driving forces for the transition to a low carbon - cleaner, healthier, thriving - future. Those who stay on the sidelines will increasingly stand out and miss out on leveraging employee energy to be part of the climate solution.

To support organizations in their efforts, last year, on World Environment Day, Count Us In launched the Count Us In Employee Challenge – a global initiative to help employers inspire their employees to take climate action, and build momentum for wider transformation. The aim: to inspire 100 million employees to take climate action by 2025 and make employee engagement on climate a standard practice. It is powered by Count Us In, in partnership with AWorld, BrightAction, Do Nation, Deedster, eevie, Giki Zero, Joulebug, and Pawprint.

Mallory Byrd - Associate Consultant - Dalberg

The Count Us In Employee Challenge supports businesses in their journey of employee engagement with climate action through:

1. IMPACT: Making changes that matter, together. This strong messaging framework motivates employees to take action that adds up to something bigger and helps businesses communicate and celebrate their contribution to a broader global movement.
2. COMMUNITY: A growing network of pioneering businesses where organizations can:

• Learn from peers in our monthly Learning Series sessions.
• Get support from credible advisors to navigate the space and build capacity internally.?
• Join leading initiatives to help their business raise its ambition and accelerate its impact.

3. TOOLS: Access actionable resources.

• Platform solutions to empower employees & measure individual and collective impact.
• Ready-to-use creative ideas to spark creativity and keep up momentum.

Over the last year, 32 global organizations, including Torchbox, Ooni, Goldman Sachs, Bloomberg, and NatWest Group have signed up to the Count Us In Employee Challenge.

Can we count YOU in?

The Count Us In Employee Challenge welcomes organizations committed to net-zero with employee engagement strategies. Excited to learn more or get started? Visit count-us-in.org/employee-challenge or contact Count Us In Business and Employee Engagement Lead Ipsita Bhatia at [email protected]

*Assumptions:

• Calculations are based on the annual carbon reductions made to date by employees participating in workplace climate action initiatives on the Giki Zero platform, and assuming the Count Us In Employee Challenge successfully achieves its objective to inspire 100m employees to take similarly impactful actions by 2025.
• Comparison to industry reductions are from “Net Zero by 2050 – A Roadmap for the Global Energy Sector” IEA 2021, country level emissions are from ourworldindata.org.