Could your project win part of the USD 5.9million awarded by Zayed Sustainability Prize?

24 April 2024

CBASS jointly organised a live webinar with ERM and the Zayed Sustainability Prize today to introduce the prize with the aim of increasing qualified projects applying for the USD 5.9 million fund. Deadline for submission is 23 June 2024.

The Zayed Sustainability Prize has positively impacted the lives of over 378 million people in 151 countries for over 15 years. Recognising and rewarding organisations that are delivering innovative sustainable solutions across the world. The Prize has a USD 5.9 million fund aimed at helping winners scale their solutions. Notable figures in the jury include Mr. Richard Branson (Founder of Virgin Group), Mr. Wang Chuan Fu (CEO of BYD), Dr Andreas Jacob (Chairman of INSEAD), among others. (https://zayedsustainabilityprize.com/en/about-us-page)

We were joined by Ms. Suzy Giles and Ms. Jakeline Ardon from ERM who introduced the prize and its objectives as well as clarified on the key criteria for each category. ERM is a global sustainability consultancy who has been selected to support the Prize in its outreach to potential applicants.

Attendees could ask questions to quickly check if their project qualifies, clarify on categories and how to go about applying. Examples of past winners of the prize were also shared during the session to help attendees better understand types of projects are of interest to the prize. Read more about past winners at: https://zayedsustainabilityprize.com/en/winners/winners

Some key highlights from the information shared:

• The prize award for categories applicable to businesses is not intended for startups and pilots that are only at ideation or prototyping phase. The projects submitted need to have solutions that are commercially available and adopted in the market.

• If there are multiple categories you could apply for, choose only ONE where you can demonstrate your biggest impact. Applicants will need to evidence their impact.

• Applicants will also need to have a detailed plan of how the prize money will be used to increase the intended impact.

• You can download the application forms for each category in advance to help decide which category best suites you application.

For more details about the prize criteria, download this FAQ document.

ZSP_FAQ_Doc

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Download PDF • 291KB

Need more support?

Contact us so you can be put in touch with the ERM team.

Missed the webinar?

Access this session's webinar presentation deck and recording here.

Are circular economy businesses DISQUALIFIED from voluntary carbon markets by default?

Carbon markets are a powerful tool to accelerate climate action ...and enable businesses offering solutions to avoid, reduce and remove GHG emission to stay afloat while they grow (think Tesla who had earned more from carbon markets than from its EV sales ).

It is therefore no surprise that there is interest among circular economy players to tap into this revenue stream. After all, by implementing circularity, they would be avoiding, reducing or removing emissions.... So, it should qualify as being able to earn from carbon markets, right?

Sorry, but NO.

Gatekeepers to Voluntary Carbon Markets

The way that carbon market are set up and the principles they follow means that monetising from the carbon markets is a bit more sophisticated than just knowing that your solution could avoid, reduce or remove emission. There is the verification of your measurements, additionality, permanence, leakages etc etc etc ... And above all, an ultimate gatekeeper that decide if your solution can monetise from carbon markets or not is.... Accepted Methodology.

So is circular economy practices and business models recognised in the existing Accepted Methodology? Or are they already disqualified from the carbon market from the get go?

CBASS inspires study on CE representation in VCM methodologies

Circular Business Association inspired a Masters Thesis student in 2022/2023 from Cranfield University (United Kingdom) to study the circular economy representation in Voluntary Carbon Market methodologies. The student studied the Verra and Gold standard methodologies to shed light on the two questions above.

The study team will be co-authoring a paper with the association based on this thesis for journal submission in coming months.

Read the abstract with main findings at:

Tejas Rajput_ Cranfield MSc Thesis_Abstract_Assessing the current representartion of circu

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Download • 27KB

Article by: Lijin Chin

Updated: 2 November 2023

Are you perpetuating greenwashing in your work? - How to know? What to do about it?

Greenwashing happens when a company makes an environmental claim about something the organisation is doing that is intended to promote a sense of environmental impact that doesn't exist. The green claim is typically about some form of positive effect on the environment.

But how do you know if you are actually doing greenwashing in the work you do?

Use this quick checklist to check for the 3 signs that you may be greenwashing and the 5 things you can do about it.

Greenwashing Radar Checklist

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Download PDF • 141KB

If you haven't seen our snippet videos on this topic and how Circular Economy is a useful 'radar', check out these LinkedIn posts.

Greenwashing Radar #1

Greenwashing Radar #2

Circular Economy as a Super Radar

Greenwashing Radar #3

More Story without Action or Accelerated Action with Story? - Touching base with Marketing Professionals on the topic of Greenwashing

We had the pleasure of delving deeper into this topic with a webinar titled: "Circular Economy in Marketing: The Power to Accelerate Sustainability and Avoid Greenwashing" in a webinar co-organised with the Indonesia Marketing Association (IMA) on Sep 1, 2023. This is part of an on-going CBASS Taskforce Project efforts to draw in more talents and grow the Marketing, Communications and Engagement ecosystem domain that support circular players in accelerating climate action.

Speakers :

Samuel E. Pranata, Vice President (Sustainable) of Indonesia Marketing Association (IMA)

Lijin Chin, Chairperson of Circular Business Association (CBASS)

Lewis Chong, Senior Managing Partner of ACMF International Private Fundraising

Suzy Giles, Associate Partner, ESG Communication of ERM

Lee Ali, Founder of Expo Stars Interactive

Moderator:

Dr Andi Nur Bau Massepe, Lecture of Hasanuddin University

See our next webinars at Events