Three, Sixty: With Emmy Coffey Nguyen

This is an extract from Issue 71 of SDG Alpha, my newsletter that casts an Irish lens on the world of Impact Investment, Innovation, and Sustainability. In these regular features, I 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.

For Issue 71, I spoke with Emmy Coffey Nguyen , the co-founder of ProudPlanet? , an early-stage Irish company building an AI Climate Assistant to make climate action easier.

On a personal level, what impacts of the climate crisis are you most concerned about?

Climate change is a threat multiplier, so admittedly, there is a lengthy list of impacts I am concerned about. As a woman in my 30s, I find myself thinking about whether having children is such a good idea given our current trajectory. It seems rather dramatic but I would be denying the seriousness of the situation if I did not ask myself this existential question.

Today’s real world policies and actions will bring global temperature to +2.7 degrees Celsius. This creates a world that we as humans will not be able to physiologically withstand. The recent events during the annual Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca when temperatures soared to 51.8 degrees Celsius killing over 1,300 Muslim pilgrims is one such example that I can regrettably give. This is not normal, it’s happening right now and we are willingly, as a species, creating a furnace for self-cremation. It concerns me that this generation may be the last generation that can do anything about it but distraction, delay and dissonance of world leaders is ensuring our potential demise. I have progressed through all stages of grief but now I realise that operating from a place of fear is an unhelpful tool and that hope, despite all odds, has the power to overcome tremendous adversity because let’s face it living in an increasingly volatile environment with reduced resources, more conflict, and greater health implications doesn't sound like a lot of fun!

I demand a different future.

Which of the UN SDGs did you start ProudPlanet to address?

It goes without saying that SDG13: Climate Action is the primary sustainable development goal that ProudPlanet is addressing by supporting businesses with their climate action.

It is underpinned by SDG:17 Partnerships because we believe aggressive collaboration and coordination within markets/communities is needed to respond to the climate emergency in a timely and just manner.

How does your business model enable the transition to a low carbon, or more sustainable future?

Adopting sustainability/low carbon pathways is a slow, siloed, and complex endeavour. Most businesses have a hard time knowing where to start, what to prioritise, and where the budget will come from before they do anything. As it stands 86% of Irish businesses have not set a commitment to decarbonize which is a very basic environmental requirement.

Yet we cannot reasonably expect 98% of our economy to find enough talent or budget to hire Chief Sustainability Officers (CSO) in each of their operations to fulfil this gap. Not to mention finding the right service providers and solutions, while ensuring compliance with regulation such as the EU Green Claims Code and Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (which has an eye watering +1K metrics associated with it, with another 4K metrics on top of that when you consider other global frameworks if you are a larger business).

This is where ProudPlanet steps in. Our Climate Action Management Platform increases your time-to-action by alleviating administrative burdens and charts personalised pathways by recommending industry relevant actions, solutions and experts based on budget, job function, expertise and timelines. It’s not only convenient and user specific but it reinforces the green economy and strongly recommends localised partners in taking climate action.