Issustainability the responsibility of the individual, or big business? Accordingto LiveTiles and My Net Zero, it’s both; and they’ve found a way to make it easier for everyone.
‘Net zero’ is the target of negating the amount of greenhousegases produced by human activity, by reducing emissions and implementingmethods of absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
At Microsoft, we’re proud that we have been carbon neutralacross the world since 2012 and are committed to being carbon negative by 2030.
My Net Zero is a wholly owned subsidiary of LiveTiles. Theyare working together to help the world get to net zero; and it’s not just inthe boardroom or at home – it’s both – and Microsoft technology is instrumentalin this.
My Net Zero is a pioneering organisation, sittingcomfortably in the gap between environmental sustainability and employeeengagement. It offers a practical pathway for organisations to support climate-consciousemployees to get involved, be a part of the solution, and accelerate theworld’s path to net zero.
My Net Zero’s Climate Engagement Tracker shows that over 75%of employees are motivated to take climate action personally to combatenvironmental sustainability challenges. However, the data also shows that oftenpeople don’t know where to start.
“We connect people with planet and technology to tackle what is undoubtably the biggest challenge of our lifetime.” Karl Redenbach, Founder and CEO LiveTiles
Empowering employees to accelerate the world’s path to Net Zero
You may ask – why employees? Organisations hold the key toactivating their employees through leadership, culture, communications,employee benefits, support, incentives and the sense of belonging. This thendrives greater employee engagement and contributes to incremental environmentalaction. With climate action and employee engagement as two key global challenges,the opportunity is now to support our peoples’ concerns, drive incrementalsupport to the planet, and report additional ESG outcomes.
My Net Zero is building the bridge by providing employerswith consulting advice, products and a global and flexible tech platformdesigned to connect, engage and support their employees in positive climateaction.
It’s a win-win. The organisation works towards their ESGgoals while helping the employees become more actively engaged. The closer theemployees get to net zero in their own personal life, the more they will share withand inspire their networks. Helping organisations activate this sphere ofinfluence is what My Net Zero calls ‘Scope X’.
“If employers can engage their employees, who then share this with their friends and family, the opportunity to use organisational structures to reach a significant part of the global population is massive – and that’s where we see the chance to make a real impact on the emissions gap.” Tim Hodgson, Founder & CEO, My Net Zero.
Unlocking individual barriers to climate action not only supportsthe planet but also empowers people to become a part of the broader solution,engendering greater feelings of hope, and a reduction in eco-anxiety. Thisassistance is a key employee engagement strategy in a time when the state ofthe climate is a key concern of 82% of employees[1]. “Ourwork to date has found that climate change fear and frustration are much higherin individuals that are less engaged in personal climate action,” says Tim.
How Microsoft Teams, Azure and AI are contributing to My Net Zero’s mission
One of the tools My Net Zero offers is the ClimateEngagement Tracker. The Tracker is the first step on a journey to listen to,involve and support employees to deliver on their personal climate actionaspirations, leveraging and aligning to existing organisational plans.
The data from the Tracker provides the foundation for aseries of workshops to develop a tailored and impactful Employee Climate ActionPlan for each organisation. Microsoft technologies are helping drive the servicesthat My Net Zero provides, with Microsoft Azure machine learning and AI helpingto make the most of that data.
“The great thing about Microsoft products, particularly Teams, is that it’s very accessible to everyone. We can deliver our road map technology and engagement tracker through the Teams platform. It’s backed by Azure, and we’ve got machine learning and AI that we’re building into the software, that will allow us to be able to track trends and provide a benchmarking tool.” Karl Redenbach, Founder and CEO LiveTiles
Social responsibility is good for business
Expectations around ESG are starting to skyrocket as theeffects of climate change become more apparent. Customers, stakeholders andfuture partners are going to be looking for more than just an ESG policy, butevidence of real goals and real actions. This applies both to companies, butalso the partners they want to work with.
LiveTiles and My Net Zero encourage partners wanting to workin an environmentally responsible area to simply get started. “Whilst it can bea daunting and confusing space, and every business is on a different part ofthe journey, all businesses can make an impact. There are usually some quickwins, alongside longer-term opportunities. Taking time to build a plan that isrelevant to your business is critical, ensuring impact is front and centre of alldecision making”, says Tim.
Start at home, Karl advises. “Partners can start in theirown backyard, their own families, their own people – these discussions can’tjust be held in the boardroom. Then hopefully that transitions into practicesand profits that you may not have thought of otherwise.”
What’s next?
The team from LiveTiles and My Net Zero are both hopeful andexcited about the future.
“My vision is that we have a platform where people feel theybelong, like they’ve got support, that simplifies everything that they need todo, and also drives a bit of accountability,” says Tim.
“We want to help create better connectivity betweengovernment, corporate and people – get into a ‘one planet, one team’ mode andstart supporting each other. People and corporates need to be working together,and governments also need to support corporates to be able to help their people,”adds Karl.
Karl notes that we do not have the luxury of time on thisissue. “The time is now; we don’t have time to mess around. That’s why if wecan work with companies and get companies to get their people on board, thosepeople can start to get their communities to take action too.”
[1] My Net Zero Climate Engagement Index
