12 Gifts for Climate Action

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Last editedMar 20228 min read

From resources, prizes and expert tips - we're giving back in a meaningful way

This December, we decided that we wanted to give back to businesses in a unique and meaningful way. Sustainability has been a big focus for GoCardless over the past year, with us welcoming our first-ever Head of Environmental Sustainability, Ben Knight, and becoming founding members of Tech Zero. Therefore, it felt fitting for us to launch 12 Gifts for Climate Action! Throughout the month, we’re going to be giving you the opportunity to win prizes from sustainable small businesses, access resources that will help you to develop a climate action plan, and share exclusive advice and tips for leading environmental experts.

We will be revealing each gift on this blog and our social media channels - so make sure to bookmark this page and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or TikTok.

“The need for businesses and individuals to take climate action has never been clearer. For businesses, the need to measure your impact, set short and long term targets, and reduce in line with climate science is essential. As an individual, what can you commit to? Can you aim to reduce your own emissions by 50% by 2030? Over the next month, we will share resources and gifts to help reduce your climate impact and share what we are doing here at GoCardless.“
Ben Knight, Head of Environmental Sustainability, GoCardless

Gift 12: Couch to Carbon Zero

In our 2021 internal sustainability survey, a common theme from our team was that they would like to know how to take action to become more sustainable in their personal lives. So, on the 17th January 2022, we are partnering with Couch to Carbon Zero! Couch to Carbon Zero is a fantastic programme put together by Every One Of Us that asks people to take part in a 10-day sustainability sprint. Couch to Carbon Zero pre-decide the challenges and everyone who signs up is sent specific daily tasks to help encourage regular sustainable action.

If you would also like to join in and take action, then the next public sprint also starts on the 17th January and you can sign up now! Simply head to the Couch to Carbon Zero page, and start 2022 with a sprint for climate action!

Gift 11: Win a Solivus Arc

Energy is the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, from the energy we use as electricity or heating in our homes and offices, to the energy needed in transportation. Electricity and heating produced 31.9% of emissions in 2019 with 11.4% of the total coming from residential homes alone - the second-highest end-use activity behind road transport.

For our 11th gift, we are excited to announce that one lucky person will be able to win the latest innovation in at-home solar energy; the Solvis Arc. The unique curved panels have been designed to capture maximum energy from the sun’s rays throughout the course of the day whilst using organic, thin-film solar to be fully recyclable and using no rare earth materials.

To enter, simply head over to our social media channels and see the details on our latest post. You can find the post here:

Good luck! You can find the full competition terms and conditions here.

Gift 10: Join us for and #GoBeyond

Earlier this year, a group of GoCardless colleagues came together for our first Environmental Action Day. As part of this day we planted 350 native trees to form hedgerows and 300 wildflower plants; all with the aim of creating habitats and providing food for local wildlife. It's vital for businesses to consider the impact of biodiversity in their climate action plans, something which we heard about in detail during our Climate Action Workshop.

We will be organising lots more Environmental Action Days in 2022, and we would love for other businesses to join us in creating a positive impact. So, for our 10th Gift for Climate Action, we are asking you to email us if you would like to be part of an Environmental Action Day with GoCardless next year.

Gift Nine: Sustainability resources

A key part of our sustainability strategy is helping others on their own journey as no one can become sustainable in isolation; we are all interconnected! With that in mind, for our ninth gift, we are sharing handy resources to help others take action. From our own GoCardless reports and plans to external webinars and informative groups that you can collaborate with.

Resources:

Collaboration, Coalitions and other businesses:

On-demand webinars and recorded events from 2021:

CogX: Global Leadership: Tech Zero Taskforce

Startup Grind: Reaching Tech Zero: the Tech Companies Fighting the Climate Crisis

Edie: Better Business Roundtable

Climate Action Tech - Carbon Footprinting Panel Session

Sage x ACCA: Enabling SMBs to take climate action

Cop26: Catherine Birkett - The innovators, SMEs, corporates and net zero

Cop26: Ben Knight - Collaboration for Net Zero

GoCardless Climate Action Day:

Session 1: GC Sustainability Focus

Session 2: GoCardless and TechZero Roundtable

Session 3: Nature and biodiversity in climate action panel

Session 4: GC Climate Workshop Hackathon

London Tech Summit: How Tech Leaders are Tackling the Climate Crisis

Pleo Forward: “The secret to doing well by doing good: Why social responsibility is a business imperative”

Gift Eight: Ailuna vouchers

As we look to embed sustainability and help our GoCardless colleagues on their own journey to personal sustainability, we are delighted to partner with Ailuna - a digital platform that enables people to take sustainability challenges, or “dares. ”

From challenges on water and energy, to waste and plastic waste, Ailuna helps people take simple steps and collaborate with others on the same journey. For our eighth gift, we are giving 10 lucky winners vouchers that they can use towards Ailuna, helping you to take the next step on your climate action journey.

To take part, simply comment #Ailuna on our latest gift eight social media post. You can find the latest post here:

Full terms and conditions can be found here.

Update: Thank you for all of your entries - this competition is now closed.

Gift Seven: IEMA membership

Earlier this year - to help us engage and upskill our teams - we became corporate members of IEMA, the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment. This gives GoCardless team members the opportunity to learn new skills and feel empowered to make decisions in their day-to-day work through the lens of sustainability, whether through training courses, or access to IEMA membership.

We want to share the knowledge and support that the IMEA offers, so for our seventh Gift For Climate Action, we are delighted to offer the gift of Corporate Membership for one lucky SME, giving them access to the fantastic resources that IEMA provides.

For the opportunity to win this fantastic prize, simply head to our social media channels, and comment on our latest post, telling us what is the one thing you want to know more about when it comes to sustainability and climate action for your business.

Full terms and conditions here. Good luck!

Update: Thank you for all of your entries - this competition is now closed.

Gift Six: Adopt an acre

Here at GoCardless, we are committed to not only reducing our impact but to going beyond and creating a positive impact on the natural world and communities. We are all interconnected with the natural world around us, and so as we build our climate-action plans, it is really important we also consider the role of nature and biodiversity.

Earlier this year, we became proud corporate partners of Plantlife - a charity focussed on protecting and enhancing some of the crucial natural habitats in the UK and across the globe. These habitats not only provide homes and food for wildlife, but landscapes such as meadows, grasslands, and peatlands all play a role in climate action through absorbing carbon dioxide emissions.

For gift six, we are delighted to give a gift that helps Plantlife to continue on this aim. We are giving two lucky people the gift of “adopt-an-acre” - giving each person an adopted acre of a nature reserve (such as meadows or peatlands), which will help Plantlife to continue to protect these vital ecosystems. We will also be offering two annual memberships to Plantlife as runners-up prizes!

To take part, head over to our social media channels and simply reply to the day six post with your favourite green space #12GiftsForClimateAction. You can find the full competition terms and conditions here.

Update: Thank you for all of your entries - this competition is now closed.

Gift Five: ReBalance Earth Gabonese Forest Elephants

As part of our recent Climate Action Day, we were delighted to be joined by Rebalance Earth and The Woodland Trust to discuss the role of nature and biodiversity in climate action. ReBalance Earth value the services that Gabonese elephants provide to their ecosystem, giving supporters the chance to buy tokens for the elephants "services". This helps to offset carbon and fund the local community.

This year, as a gift to our GoCardless customers, we’ve agreed to pre-purchase 100 “elephant days” tokens, equal to one minute for each of our 70,000 customers. We’re also matching each minute, bringing the total to 140,000 “elephant minutes”. You can find the full details of what we have purchased and why here - we think this is a great way to show our appreciation for each of our 70,000 customers.

If you'd like to catch up on ReBalance Earth and The Woodland Trust panel discussion, then you can now watch it on-demand.

Update: Thank you for all of your entries - this competition is now closed.

Gift Four: Collaborating for Climate Action

GoCardless are proud members of the TechZero task force, a coalition of 200+ businesses of all sizes working together to drive climate action. Climate and wider sustainability challenges cannot be resolved in isolation, and so it is crucial that businesses collaborate through initiatives like TechZero. In fact, we recently held a roundtable discussion with some of the other TechZero members which you can now watch on-demand.

For many SMEs, taking the first steps on their sustainability journey can feel challenging. And so for our 4th Gift, we are delighted to offer the opportunity for three SME’s to join us and TechZero in the New Year for a bespoke, one-day collaborative workshop. As part of the workshop, we will work together to help the winners understand their climate impact, set out an action plan, and develop wider sustainability goals.

To be in with a chance of attending the bespoke workshop, simply email us before the 31st December 2021 using the subject line “Collaborating for climate action”. Make sure to include your full name and organisation in the email.

Please note: By entering you are giving us permission to email you about other relevant climate action opportunities.

Update: Thank you for all of your entries - this competition is now closed.

Gift Three: Win one of three Toast Ale hampers

Did you know that 1 in every 3 mouthfuls of food is wasted and that if food waste were a country, it would rank as the 3rd highest emitter of greenhouse gases? Around the world, nearly a billion people do not have enough food, but they could be fed on <¼ of the food waste in the US, UK and Europe alone.

At Christmas time this problem often gets worse, as people over-shop and cook without making use of the leftovers. In the UK we waste 5 million Christmas puddings, 2 million turkeys, and 74 million mince pies each year. Not to mention huge amounts of vegetables, fruit and snacks. However, there are some great initiatives and businesses looking to challenge this. Toast Ale, a UK based brewery on a climate saving mission, have developed a planet-saving beer that is made from surplus bread that would have otherwise gone to waste.

To help you get in the Christmas mood with some planet-friendly beer, we are delighted to give away three of Toast Ale’s Companion Series hampers. To enter, simply head over to one of our social channels (you can find us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok) and comment ‘Cheers’ on our Toast Ale post.

Full competition terms and conditions can be read here.

Update: This competition has now closed - huge thank you to everyone who entered.

Gift Two: GoCardless’ Greenhouse Gas Calculator

The first step to taking climate action (and reducing your emissions) is measuring your impact. But did you know that - according to the British Chambers Of Commerce - 90% of SMEs do not measure their emissions due to a lack of time or financial resources. We are delighted to share our free-to-use greenhouse gas emissions calculator! Our brand new calculator will ask you a series of practical questions about your business, with the results helping you to have a good understanding of your scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions in line with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol.

Give the calculator a try now!

Gift One: Climate Action Workshop

Earlier this year, we became co-founders of Tech Zero - a #RaceToZero Partner - where we committed to measuring and reducing our climate impact. Since then, we have launched our first Climate Impact Report and became signatories of Business Ambition for 1.5deg. This signals our ambition to set science-based targets in line with climate science.

One of the most important areas for us is helping our GoCardless colleagues, customers, suppliers, and the wider economy become more sustainable. This is why our first gift GoCardless’ first Climate Action Workshop! Taking place on 3rd December, the workshop will have a packed agenda with panel discussions, a hackathon, Q&A with sustainability experts and sustainable small businesses. Special guests include other members of Tech Zero, carbon-neutral brewers Toast Ale, Rebalance Earth and The Woodland Trust.

Find the full details here.