"What is the essence of life? – To serve others and do good.” In other words, we want to leave this world better than when we entered it. That quote from Aristotle can seem overwhelming, considering the urgent challenges we need to deal with today.
At Impact Hero, though, we like to remember the butterfly effect: Change one thing, change everything!
Any slight difference we make can ripple outwards and lead to even more significant changes elsewhere. And there is no better place to start than making a positive impact yourself. This is why we aim to create environmental awareness and invest to save our planet.
We’ll explain In this article how you can use our impact products to achieve a positive influence on the planet and society, and also sustainably improve key areas of your business.
We believe that businesses can help fight climate change and create a sustainable economy. With our impact products, we aim to support them with the tools to do so.
How is it done? For starters, all our products pursue ecological, economic as well as social goals. To give you a short overview of our product portfolio:
As an "impact-tech for good" company, at Impact Hero we are furthermore committed to advancing the global goals outlined in UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Each of our impact products supports several of them. We take great care in selecting projects that meet our quality criteria and go beyond the goal of planting trees, collecting plastic or restoring coral reefs.
This means: All of our impact products are also about social concerns, not one-off impacts, but long-term ones. These include involving local communities and individuals in the projects, providing them with long-term work and income - especially for women. They also include supporting education, as this leads to promoting the idea of sustainable development for all people. Our products are therefore in line with the SDG motto "Leave no one behind".
On the one hand, our Impact products can engage your employees and customers in your sustainability efforts and reinforce them through your own actions. On the other hand, they can also improve the performance of several key business areas.
Here's how it works: Companies gift our impact products (like trees planted or plastic collected) to their customers or employees as part of their business transactions. For example, they might plant a tree for every contract they sign or collect a certain amount of plastic for every new employee they hire.
When redeeming their gifts we inspire the recipients to give away or purchase an impact product themselves. Thus, more and more people are won to participate in this action and spread awareness for the cause.
So, how can we help boost the success indicators of key business units?
We take great pride in supporting livelihoods with work and income in the Global South. So we focus our projects on these regions, as here the economic, social, and environmental impact of our actions is most needed.
Together with our partners, we place great emphasis on projects that are aligned with the SDGs to ensure they focus on restoring ecosystems on land and in the sea as well as focus on said social issues such as job creation, equitable long-term income, and the provision of education.
In the following, we introduce you to the four ways to make a positive impact on the planet, together with Impact Hero.
GROW MY TREE, now one of the impact products by Impact Hero, is the action that started everything. Until today, we planted a fabulous number of 1.55 million trees! We are thrilled to say that this also means:
So, a big and warmhearted THANK YOU to all the businesses, big or small, and all individuals who took part in this.
Why plant trees? Because we uphold the long-term goal of planting new forests that will remain sustainable. Reforestation helps biodiversity by providing habitats and food for various species of wildlife. It also helps prevent soil erosion and protects water sources.
Forests also play a vital role in maintaining the Earth's ecological balance by absorbing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and storing it in the trees, soil, and other organic matter. At maturity, a tree can convert about 22 kg of CO2 into oxygen per year through photosynthesis.
This process, known as carbon sequestration, helps reduce the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere, which is a major contributor to global warming.
Together with our partners, we are planting trees and thus supporting local communities in Nepal, Madagascar, Haiti, Ethiopia, Malawi, Uganda, India, and Tanzania.
We plant trees by collaborating with local villagers and farmers. As the trees remain the property of the local communities, we “help to self-help” due to ongoing work and income. Their assignment contains planting the seedlings and ensuring long-term care and monitoring of the growing trees. We then release the young trees into sustainable growing reforestation projects.
Even though the awareness of the harmful consequences of plastic use grows, plastic pollution is rising relentlessly, because waste management and recycling fall short, says OECD. The mass of un-recycled plastic is estimated at over 6 billion metric tonnes. It is harming the environment, wildlife, marine life, and local communities alike. Most of the waste produced in the EU is exported to the Global South, where waste systems are inefficient.
Knowing that plastic collection, recycling, and reuse can save up to 30% of carbon emissions, we quickly defined this as one of our impact products. Together with local partners, specialized in sustainably collecting plastic and re-integrating them into the recycling process, we are supporting actions in Egypt, Kenya, Cambodia, and Vietnam.
Together with our partners, we collect plastic from rivers and the sea in Egypt, Kenya, Cambodia and Vietnam. We always make sure that our actions not only benefit ecology, biodiversity and habitats, but also support the communities and individuals involved in the process to improve their livelihoods: All workers receive a fair wage for every kilo of plastic collected, which enables them to feed their families.
The plastic waste is then sent to the recycling process in other regions. Some of the plastic is recycled as an alternative to fossil fuels, and some is used as material for yarns, for example.
The plastic waste is then sent to the recycling process in other regions. Some of the plastic is reprocessed as an alternative to fossil fuels, and some is used as material for yarns, for example.
Coral reefs are crucial ecosystems, hosting 25% of all marine species. However, 50% of the world's coral reefs have been lost in the past 50 years. 90% of the world's coral reefs are projected to experience severe bleaching events each year by 2030. This puts 1 million species at risk of extinction.
It is especially human activities such as pollution, overfishing, coral harvesting, temperature increase, and ocean acidification, leading to coral reef loss.
If we don't act now and restore them, the global coral reef system could be gone by 2050.
Fortunately, it is possible to grow new corals. We work with local partners in Indonesia and Seychelles that support the restoration of declined and endangered coral reefs. 18% of the world's coral reef systems are in Indonesia and 85% of these reefs are under constant threat from tourism, especially in Bali.
Reefs can be regrown by using fragments that can still be found in the sea, or by restoring and protecting still-existing reefs. In restoring coral reefs, we also support livelihoods by opening sustainable possibilities for fishing, harvesting, and tourism opportunities while raising awareness about the importance of a healthy coral reef ecosystem.
Knowledge is power. Acquiring knowledge is a powerful tool for personal and societal advancement. Unfortunately, there are still 58 million children globally who are unable to access education, with a disproportionate number located in developing nations.
Education offers opportunities for socioeconomic advancement and is an important aspect of breaking the cycle of poverty. Children and women, who are often the most vulnerable to limited educational opportunities, can benefit greatly from improved access to education. Investing in women's formal and non-formal education, as well as their technical and vocational training, can help them increase their independence and improve their quality of life. That is why we support programs to empower women, especially in rural areas. In this way, we can help reduce inequalities and promote gender equality.
We work closely with local partners in Uganda and Tanzania to support quality education programs for secondary schools that teach teenagers, especially girls.
Sources: UN SDGs; Our World in Data
We make sure that all students receive a quality education by avoiding overcrowding within each group. In selecting our partners, we are mindful of the local social conditions and the content of the projects.
Fully trained teachers are conducting the educational activities. The classes are hands-on, creative, and practical. When needed, our projects also help to supply nutritious meals during school hours to make sure students are in optimal shape for learning.
To return to Impact Hero's butterfly effect. As we have seen, our butterflies are fluttering in many areas: We are proud to contribute to several of the SDGs, for example, land and wildlife conservation, community-led ownership of ecosystems, ethical project selection, youth education, and gender equality through employment, income, and education for especially women and girls.
Our impact products also bring ripple down effects that benefit your business, including attracting top talent, retaining employees, improving marketing strategies and communication, and supporting corporate social responsibility and sustainability initiatives.
We think it is fair to say that when introducing our products to your business, everyone wins: The environment, social issues and your company.
