From plant-based beef burgers to pay-as-you-go solar energy, it’s evident that tomorrow’s world is already here. These are just two of the ten most innovative solution finalists which will be celebrated at the annual Sustainia Award Ceremony, taking place on 3 November in Copenhagen.

Now in its fifth year, the Sustainia Award Ceremony is an international event that showcases and celebrates outstanding performance within sustainability. It is hosted by leading sustainability firm Sustainia, which has tracked more than 4,500 solutions to date from all over the world.

The ten finalists have been selected from the 2016 Sustainia100, published earlier this year, which showcases 100 solutions for a cleaner, greener and fairer future. The final nominees represent ten sectors, ranging from food to fashion, and are also mapped against the impact they make on the Sustainable Development Goals. The final solutions represent the new global context of sustainable innovation, as they are developed and deployed in five continents including countries like Peru, Korea and Afghanistan.

Morten Nielsen, Managing Director of Sustainia, said:

“As the world’s leaders have dispersed from the United Nations General Assembly, and we gear up for COP22, these finalists are a vital reminder that sustainable action is already underway. We, rightly, demand more from our politicians, but we must also focus our energy on the difference we can all make. These ten solutions show that innovation isn’t limited by geography, age, power or passion – these are the things that will help us realize our sustainable future.

All ten finalists are eligible for two award categories. The Sustainia Award is selected by the Sustainia Award Committee, led by Arnold Schwarzenegger; and the Community Award is selected by public vote. Anyone can vote for their favourite Community Award finalist, by visiting the Sustainia website.

This year’s Sustainia Award Ceremony comes at a time of mounting interest amongst global leaders for solutions to the world’s biggest challenges, across all sectors. This is something Sustainia seeks to consolidate through a new partnership with the UN Global Compact. Building on the five-year success of the Sustainia100, the two organizations have made a commitment to build a dynamic digital platform for global sustainable solutions, called the Global Solutions Platform. The new platform will launch in early 2017 and will provide a single access point to the most innovative solutions, through the click of a button.

For more information about the ten finalists for the Sustainia Award Ceremony, and for the chance to vote for the Community Award winner, visit http://www.sustainia.me/sustainia-action-forum/vote/

For more information and interview requests:

Katie McCrory / km@mm.dk / +4591405026

Daily more video are being submitted from around the world

Already the Flim4Climate Global Video Competition has more than 250 entries from 100 countries and counting. Each video is telling a story of how skyrocketing carbon emissions and the activities that feed those emissions are having impacts across the globe.

[video: https://youtu.be/DlYo4sq34Ew]

Each story is its own. Some films focus on the individual, others focus on groups, a few focus on countries as a whole, and others don’t focus on humans at all -instead choosing to examine animals, plants or oceans. Individually, these films leave a viewer with a unique experience, but collectively these films combine to create a wonderful mosaic of some of the biggest issues related to climate change today.

We have two weeks left to the deadline for video submissions (enter your story by September 15th), and it is already clear that the stories told through Film4Climate hit the big issues, and draw light on the often untold implications of the climate crisis. Here are three takeaways.

Take 1: Consumption junctions

Rio de Janeiro. Photo Credit: Max Edkins

If you were to blindly click on the Film4Climate gallery where all the videos are displayed (vote for your favorite), there’s a good chance you would find a film addressing consumption habits. Perhaps this increased emphasis on the electricity we use, the food we eat and the water we require, is indicative of a “post-Paris” climate movement that is beyond merely making noise directed at heads of state and obscure United Nations committees, and is instead focused on actions that drive the transition away from fossil fuels.

Of course, meeting the targets agreed upon at Paris will require governments and heads of state to keep stepping up, but as seen in so many of the Film4Climate entries, it’s the individual who really holds the power, especially when it comes to consumption. The film entries relating to electricity usage and the consequences our diets have on the planet, talk as much about the food and electricity that we don’t use as much as the food and electricity we do use. And for good reason.

When it comes to electricity use, there are a few films that simply emphasize the difference in use by telling the stories of a few people. In the developed world there are huge differences when it comes to personal energy use. In the US and Canada, for example, the average person uses about 4,500 kWh each year while a person in the UK or Germany will come in way under that by using under 2,000 kWh each year.

But variations don’t just exist in the developed world, emerging economies show wide ranges in energy use. The average person in Brazil, Mexico and China uses about 500 kWh, but in Brazil residential use per person has been the same for almost 20 years, while in Mexico it is up 50% and in China it has increased 600%. There are film submissions from all these countries devoted to consumption habits.

Of course there are a number of positive stories of innovation that lead to smarter ways of consuming electricity and energy. Many of these films are incredibly inspiring and focus on very local solutions. When it comes to reducing pollution, being smarter about energy and rethinking our diets, there are a number of films highlighting champions that we can all learn from.

Beyond energy there is a major emphasis on food in the Film4Climate competition. Again, the films are complimented well by the facts on the ground. In the United States alone, approximately 40 percent of food goes to waste. Globally, about one third of the food produced for human consumption every year - approximately 1.3 billion tons - gets lost or wasted.

Unsurprisingly, much of the food-focused films in this contest so far are devoted to exposing the damage caused by the global meat industry. The World Resources Institute studied the impact of meat consumption on the planet and found that, “reducing heavy red meat consumption — primarily beef and lamb — would lead to a per capita food and land use-related greenhouse gas emissions reduction of between 15 and 35 percent by 2050.” According to that same World Resources Institute report, “Beef uses more land and freshwater and generates more greenhouse gas emissions per unit of protein than any other commonly consumed food.”

A growing global beef industry requires more land for grazing, and that has resulted in massive clear cutting of the world’s largest rainforest. Thus, the beef consumption issue is a deforestation issue. Which brings us to...

“Everybody recognizes that if you can make very efficient electric motors, you can make a quantum leap forward”. - James Dyson

"The electric motor has become a little more well-known and appreciated over the past few years with its improving integration into our cars. With most people understanding and appreciating the impact that their pollution has on the climate, there has been a greater demand for auto manufacturers to create cars that can help to improve our environment, or at the very least, do less harm."

"It is through this demand for growth and development that some of the world’s greatest inventors have refined the electric motor to now work better and be more efficient than it ever was before."

B Corporations ClimateCare and Carbon Analytics have pooled their expertise to develop a new Carbon Calculator.

The online calculator is powered by measurement experts Carbon Analytics and provides users with a tool to calculate their carbon emissions. Users can then immediately offset these carbon emissions through ClimateCare’s award winning portfolio of climate and sustainable development projects. 

The calculator helps you measure the impact of specific activities like travel, attending an event or energy use.  For example, the image below shows a calculation of the carbon impact of a return economy flight from London Heathrow to New York – a distance of over 6800 miles. It shows that each passenger is responsible for 1.54 tonnes of CO2 emissions, and gives the opportunity to offset this for £11.53.

After purchase users receive an email confirmation which includes a certificate detailing the amount of carbon offset, information about the projects they have supported and guidance on how to reduce their carbon footprint further. There’s even the option opportunity to purchase offsets as a gift.

Everyone who measures and offsets emissions through the calculator will support projects that both cut global carbon emissions and make a real difference to people’s lives, including the award winning LifeStraw Carbon for Water project – that provides safe drinking water to 4 million people in Western Kenya - and the Gyapa Project, which provides clean efficient cookstoves to families in Ghana.

“Every organisation and every household has a climate impact. Most of us are aware of the issue, but while calculating your exact carbon footprint and taking steps to address it can seem complicated, it doesn’t have to be” explains ClimateCare’s Head of Corporate Partnerships, Rob Stevens.

“With our Carbon Calculator we want to help people take action. We hope that our simple, positive process will help everyone understand and take responsibility for their carbon emissions – both by identifying opportunities to reduce their footprint and offsetting what remains.“ But it doesn’t stop there. For organisations further along their carbon management journey, there is the opportunity to use the business tab to delve into the detail and carry out in depth measurements of business, supply chain and product impacts. And, once people are engaged, ClimateCare and Carbon Analytics are committed to supporting them on a journey towards carbon neutrality – or even beyond, to become carbon positive.

“Most people and businesses want to reduce their direct energy emissions (what we call Scope 1 emissions) but they often underestimate their indirect emissions, which include the source of their electricity and transportation (Scopes 2 and 3 emissions). The good news is that there are ways to see, understand and reduce all your energy consumption and emissions,” says Michael Thornton, co-founder and CEO of Carbon Analytics. 

See the ClimateCare Calculator here.