“Anything else you’re interested in is not going to happen if you can’t breathe the air and drink the water. Don’t sit this one out. Do something. You are by accident of fate alive at an absolutely critical moment in the history of our planet.” — Carl SaganIn May 2022, we at VOIS set out to create a brand around our purpose of Planet – The VOIS of Sustainability. A movement which not just talks about sustainability and uses fancy jargons, but a movement that includes our employees, requires participation, engages and educates them, whilst having an impact on society and environment with measurable results.The beginnings…The journey to lead The VOIS of Sustainability starts with my passion for Art. In my free time I draw & through art I try to create awareness about nature (mostly animals and endangered species), the world around us, thought experiments and planet.Merge this with power of the disruptive department, The EDGE, where innovative ideas are fostered and an organisation that allows me to Experiment, Learn fast. It’s a powerful combination for a subject like Sustainability.So what happens next…Starting a movement like this required lots and lots of research - what’s our differentiator, how we can make an impact to society & to the environment as a service and people centric organisation, understanding of the UNSDGs, ESG and finally what would be those initiatives itself. In parallel I also got certified on ‘Sustainable Strategies and Circular Economy’ to have a deeper understanding of the subject.Our pilot programs5 workstreams were created, each with a specific outcome in mind. You can refer to the earlier post from VOIS about it and which UNSDGs they link to.Creating strong partnerships and teamwork is the key ingredient for any success. I’ll talk about two of our workstreams in today’s post and the results so far. Employee Footprint workstream We partnered with Pawprint, a B corp organization, who provide a science based behavioural change platform, wherein employees measure their carbon footprint, and then make small changes in their daily life to make lasting, positive impact on the environment. It’s a great way to see how small things make a difference - how much CO2e can be saved by turning off water while brushing your teeth, or by taking your own cloth bag for grocery shopping, or switching to a vegetarian meal instead of meat, or taking the stairs instead of an elevator. There are hundreds of actions to choose from, track them and create habits.Results - so far 400 of our Green Ambassadors across Europe, India and Egypt together have saved 150,000 Kgs of CO2e, which is equal to the weight of about 21 male African Elephants.Circular Economy workstreamWe partnered with our CSR team and an innovative company, COMPOCITY. Compocity provides an indoor IoT composting robot for urban offices where each employee can become an active member of the circular society by smartly disposing food waste and track their impact on the environment via the gamified app.Results - In just one month our employees in Hungary created enough compost to plant 250 flowers, which is great for the bee population and bio-diversity!With such fabulous achievements in few short months, this is just the beginning and there’s so much more to share in our sustainability journey. More on that in my next post. I hope this gives you a flavour of how in EDGE we’re testing new ideas, incubating them & bringing them to life. Appreciate you for being with me so far and hope each of us takes one positive step towards our Planet everyday, after all there is indeed no Planet B. “We don’t have to engage in grand, heroic actions to participate in change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world”. - Howard Zinn