Sustainability

To coincide with National Volunteer Week, Volunteer Ireland CEO Nina Arwitz discusses the growing interest in employee volunteering in Ireland. This week is National Volunteering Week, our big campaign in Volunteer Ireland to help raise awareness of how people can volunteer and to highlight just how many diverse opportunities are available for people to get involved in their local community. It’s estimated that between 25pc and 40pc of the Irish population regularly volunteers. Economically, volunteering is estimated to be 2.7pc of GDP of developed countries – which in Ireland’s case equates to over €3bn. Volunteering is the engine that powers over 12,000 volunteer-involving organisations in Ireland, whose very purpose is…

The first free online training courses in the Kurdish language have been officially launched on Alison.com this week. The self-paced courses cover food safety, tourism studies, human resource management and customer service and were developed in collaboration with USAID/Foras, Silatech, a regional social initiative promoting employment opportunities for Arab youth, and Cihan University in Irbil, Iraq. The courses are designed assist the development of modern workplace skills in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq. The Kurdish translation of the resources was completed by Cihan University. The resources have also been translated into Arabic. “Free online learning has a hugely influential role to play in upskilling people in regions of the…

Investing in sustainability usually meets and often exceeds the performance of comparable traditional investments, both on an absolute and risk-adjusted basis, across asset classes and over time, according to a new report from the Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing. The Sustainable Reality report reviewed 10,228 open-end mutual funds and 2,874 separately managed accounts over the last seven years. It found that sustainable equity mutual funds met or exceeded the median return of traditional equity funds for 64pc of the time periods examined.  Sustainable equity mutual funds also had equal or lower median volatility for 64pc of the time periods examined. For the longest time period (seven years trailing, 2008-2014),…

A new guide for private and public sector organisations aimed at overcoming common challenges around issuing green bonds has been published by KPMG. Valued at $37bn in 2014, the market for green bonds is expected to reach $100bn this year, with a third of the market comprising organisations in the energy and utilities, consumer goods and real estate sectors. Green bonds are typically used to raise capital to fund green activities with an environmental benefit, such as renewable energy, low carbon transport or forestry projects. The publication ‘ Gearing up for Green Bonds ’ provides an overview of evolving green bond frameworks and standards including the Green Bond Principles, Climate Bonds Standard and green bond…

New investment in the global clean energy sector totalled US$67.9bn in Q4 2014, up 4pc on the same quarter in 2013 (US$65.2bn), according to new figures. Online financial news and data service Clean Energy Pipeline said total investment for 2014 increased 12pc year-on-year to US$274.2bn, the highest annual investment volume since 2011. “Last year the clean energy industry really demonstrated its resilience,” said Douglas Lloyd, CEO of Clean Energy Pipeline. “Despite a reduction in subsidies in Europe’s major renewable energy markets and very competitive natural gas prices in the US, investment in the global clean energy sector registered its first annual increase since 2011.”The figures reveal that clean energy project…

Great news, Sweden’s economy as emerged from its recession and the outlook is positive across all financial factors. Man Up, an Irish-created campaign to highlight the positive role that men can play in ending violence against women, has been adapted, translated and is being launched in Sweden to mark International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. The Swedish rollout is the first country ‘syndication’ of Man Up, which has been gaining global attention since it was launched by Safe Ireland last month. The online Man Up film has attracted over 80,000 views from nearly 80 countries in just a few weeks. Following international interest, Safe Ireland has now…

A bus powered on human waste took to the road in the UK this week with engineers believing it could provide a sustainable way of fuelling public transport and cutting carbon emissions. The 40-seater Bio-Bus, which runs on gas generated through the treatment of sewage and food waste that’s unfit for human consumption, helps to improve urban air quality as it produces fewer emissions than traditional diesel engines. The bus can travel up to 300km on a full tank of gas generated at Bristol sewage treatment works – a plant run by Geneco, a subsidiary of Wessex Water. This week Geneco became the first company in the UK to start…

The Coca-Cola Zero Bikes scheme is to be rolled out in Galway, Limerick and Cork between now and Christmas. The Galway launch will take place on Monday 24 November and will be followed by Limerick going live on Monday 8 December and the Cork on Thursday 18 December. The National Transport Authority said today that people can pre-register now so they can use the bikes as soon as they are live on the streets. Customers who pre-register will also get a 50pc discount, receiving a special offer of €5 for an annual subscription.  This special offer will be available until the end of 2014. When a customer registers for an…

Increasing business resilience through supply chain risk mitigation at CentricaPictured: David Wylie In 2011, UK energy company Centrica – which bought Bord Gáis Energy for €1.1bn earlier this year – introduced a responsible procurement programme that seeks to mitigate the potentially adverse impacts of social and environmental risks within its growing supply chain. According to the procurement director, David Wylie, through the programme the company works with its suppliers to get a granular understanding of their supply chains and their key risk areas, and to put processes in place to improve operating standards. “We work with the ethos that it’s not about finding gaps in the supply chain, it’s about…

Five organisations have received a total of €125,000 of funding from the Coca-Cola Thank You Fund. They are Canoeing Ireland, Killarney Rugby Football Club, Omagh Wheelers Cycling Club, Spraoi agus Spórt and Swim Ireland, each receiving €25,000. In existence since 2011, the fund awards grants to organisations for new initiatives aimed at encouraging people to incorporate physical activity into their day to day lives. The fund has reached the milestone of €500,000 in total funding with this latest round of grants. “Thousands of people stand to benefit from programmes that will variously: train a range of new kayak instructors to introduce young people to the sport; equip Kerry with its…