Companies: Øya Barnehage, Bergans, Eplehuset, RiksTV, Kommunalbanken, Holte Consulting, E.C Dahls, Solid Square, Netlight and Sweco.
Total number of employees: 1501
A kindergarten took first place in Norway’s first unofficial Climate Championship for companies and beat both Eplehuset and Sweco in emission reductions.
On the 30th of August, thousands of people around Norway roared for political action for the climate. For ten companies this wasn’t enough. They followed the roar with a two-week Climate Championship.
«We will continue to inspire both customers and employees to contribute as much as possible for a sustainable everyday life, and use this opportunity to challenge all companies that don’t have this on their agenda to wake up!», says brand director and co-owner Marius Brevik in Eplehuset.
Norway’s first Climate Championship for companies
The companies have competed internally and externally in cutting their CO2-emissions with simple actions every day. Through choosing vegetarian instead of meat, bike instead of car, services instead of products 1501 participants managed to save an incredible 88 423 kilo of CO2e.
«This is probably the first time a competition like this have been arranged in Norway,» says Mads Simonsen in Ducky, who organized the Championship in close collaboration with Klimabrølet.
And the winner is…
Øya kindergarten from Trondheim pulled off a solid win with 120 kilos of CO2e saved per person during the two week long competition. This was the second time they participated in a Climate Championship and had 100 percent participation.
«It’s definitely been extra motivating to compete against other climate engaged companies in Norway. Most of us recognize that the savings and activities reported during the competition, is roughly the same as the routines and habits we already have, and that’s a great feeling,» says Anette Marie Syvertsen-Wiig, who describes the Championship as a great success.
She continues to tell that several employees have challenged themselves even more in this period by cutting all meat from their diet, replacing public transport with bike and fixing broken things.
Kommunalbanken and Solidsquare secured second and third place.
3736 Co2e- reducing activities
The Championship was engaging says adm. dir. Gunnar Heesch Holmen in Holte Consulting.
«During the Championship we registered an incredible 3736 CO2-reducing activities. We have gained an insight into how we can make more climate-friendly choices every day, which contributes positively to our work on reducing climate emissions. The internal competition has been though, and the results actually turned during the last hour of the competition!
1501
122 663
88 423
10 companies competed to reduce their CO2e-emissions in 2 weeks.
Wide participation
Sweco participated with a total of 600 participants:
«In my time in Sweco, this has been the biggest multidisciplinary activity that we have ever done. This means that, I as a sustainability manager, have 600 engaged coworkers that I can involve when we will implement further initiatives in our sustainability manager,» says Ørjan Aall, Sustainability manager in Sweco.
Clothes swap and vegetarian food
«People talk about sustainability and climate-friendly activities all the time. KBN-employees have shown huge engagement in the Championship, and I am really proud of my work place,» says Julie Berg, Communication Advisor in KBN, who at the same time want to challenge every Norwegian financial institution to run their own Ducky-Challenge.
Participants in the Championship was Sweco Norway, Bergans, Øya Barnehage, Kommunalbanken, Holte Consulting, Solidsquare, Eplehuset, RiksTV, Netlight and Eplehuset.
See articles about the Climate Challenge here:
More success stories
The National School Climate Championship 2020
The National Schools Championship this January saw eleven counties, fifty one schools and over 11,000 students compete. Participants saved enough CO2e in two weeks to roughly equal to driving a fossil car 2.5 round trips from the Earth to Moon. But most importantly the championship once again proved that no matter how young or old you are, you can do something to help with climate change.
The Plastic Challenge
If all Norwegians copied what the participants in The Plastic Challenge did, we would have reduced plastic bags by more than 10 million, single use coffee cups (and lids) by more than 1 million and picked up more than 260 tons of plastic – in just two weeks.
Alcoa Climate Championship 2019
FEE Norway and Green Flag ran the Alcoa-Klimamesterskap 2019. In two weeks pupils at 7 high schools in Agder and Nordland reduced Co2e-emissions equivalent to a passenger flight flying 3 times around the earth.
NTNU Travel Pledge 2019
Night-train to Oslo? Bike to work? Or on foot home from a fotball match? Some took things further than others when NTNU started their one year Ducky Campaign this spring, to motivate their employees to travel less and more environmentally-friendly.
Firda High School
More than 100 pupils at Firda VGS participated in a Climate Challenge. Because the pilot was so successful, the school will now join 10 other schools in Sogn & Fjordane County to compete in the first National Climate Championship in January 2020.
Telemark and Trøndelag County
More than 6 000 students in Telemark and Trøndelag show how powerful individual actions can be when it comes to reducing carbon emissions. Their savings would be equivalent to 40% of Norway’s total annual carbon emissions!
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