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Hermes Group, with over 16 years of experience in event management, has always aimed not just to create successful events, but also to have a positive impact on people and the environment. The company was founded with a vision that entrepreneurship means more than just running a business – it’s about making a difference in the world.

Sustainability has always been a central part of Hermes Group’s operations. Anna Hermes, who founded the company, runs the business today together with Vianei Hermes. Both have a strong connection to nature; Anna from Småland, Sweden, and Vianei from rural Brazil. Their shared interest in living in harmony with nature and striving to improve people’s well-being has shaped the company’s sustainability efforts.

“We realized early on how strongly an event can impact both people and the planet, both positively and negatively,” Anna says.

Key factors for sustainable events

Over time, Hermes Group has identified the factors that are crucial for creating sustainable events and corporate travel. By making well-informed decisions from the planning stage, they ensure that every event has a positive impact. For instance, they choose destinations that can be reached with low or no emissions, prioritize local and sustainable suppliers, and advocate for physical activities in nature. Food choices are also central, focusing on locally produced, organic, and seasonal ingredients.

Another important aspect of Hermes Group’s work is spreading knowledge and inspiring clients who are not yet engaged in sustainability. Anna explains that they always start by raising awareness about carbon emissions and suggesting alternative ways to travel and organize events.

“We show the difference, often in the form of CO2 emission estimates. For example, we might suggest replacing red meat with more sustainable options or swapping a speedboat tour for kayaking,” she says.

The event industry faces several challenges when it comes to sustainability, and one of the biggest is the lack of knowledge. Anna believes that if companies knew more about sustainability, it would be easier to implement more sustainable events. Another challenge is the traditional ways in which many events are still organized, something Hermes Group wants to change.

“The best thing for us is when sustainability starts from within”

An example of how Hermes Group has successfully made an event more sustainable is when they replaced a 4-hour flight to Athens with a 2-hour bus ride to Dalarna. This change resulted in a reduction of 75 tons of CO2 emissions. Hermes Group worked closely with the client, who also wanted to raise awareness about sustainability among their employees. Meetings were held outdoors, with the forest and lake as the workplace. Local food from the farm was served in a beautiful greenhouse, followed by a party in the barn. Employees also attended a one-hour talk on the planetary boundaries and what has led us to the climate crisis we are in. Additionally, the event overall delivered a cheaper, more economically sustainable outcome.

“The best thing for us is when sustainability starts from within. For us, it’s a true passion and it has an immediate effect,” Anna concludes.

Learn more about Hermes Group.

Renting is often both cheaper and easier. Hygglo offers a modern and sustainable solution to access the items you need, without having to own them. The platform handles payments securely, and insurance is always included when you rent, allowing you to focus on using the item without worrying about potential damage. The selection is wide – from trailers to party supplies, outdoor gear, tools, and electronics.

 In recent years, the rental market has changed significantly. Previously, around 2016 to 2018, many large retail companies attempted to enter the rental market, from Clas Ohlson to Filippa K. However, most of these companies have withdrawn their efforts.

“I hope this is only temporary and that more major players will try to adopt more circular models again,” says Axel Hellström, Head of Growth at Hygglo. 

The renting business expands

At the same time, the growth of specialized rental providers, such as car, boat, and general item rentals like Hygglo, has increased significantly.

“The average person rents more today than in 2016, but this growth has primarily occurred through specialized platform providers instead of larger companies,” explains Axel. 

One of the biggest challenges is to break the consumption pattern. For many, buying something feels easier, even though renting is often both cheaper and easier. Hygglo wants to show how much cheaper it is per usage hour to rent instead of buying and owning.

Big costs associated with ownership

There are many costs associated with ownership, both direct such as purchase cost and maintenance, and indirect such as storage space.

“This is why it is almost always cheaper to rent, even if it is an item you use several times a year,” Axel Hellström points out.

Many people also do not realize how rarely they actually use the things they own. Hygglo strives to make it clear how easy it is to rent. The items are often close at hand, and the process is smooth. 

Try Hygglo!

Ratius Mässbyrå is a full-service provider of exhibition stands, with expertise in design and project management, from idea to final delivery. The company, with its 15 employees, is based in Norrtälje, Sweden, and works domestically as well as internationally. They also handle everything post production, such as dismantling and storage of stand materials, which allows for reuse at the next event.

Ratius has long been committed to sustainability issues. In the early 2000s, they built new premises that enabled the storage of customers’ materials. This circular thinking is crucial in an industry that produces materials for short-term exposure, which requires sustainable and high-quality materials.

“We have always strived to minimize our environmental impact, from recycling of residual products to sustainable transport solutions,” says Helena Ericsson, CEO of Ratius.

Important with economical and social sustainability

For Ratius, sustainability encompasses more than just environmental issues; it also includes financial and social sustainability.

“Without a sustainable financial situation, we cannot invest in sustainable production and modern machinery. And without financial sustainability, we cannot ensure adequate conditions for everyone who works for us and our customers,” Helena explains.

Social sustainability also means working with reasonable lead times and ensuring that all involved parties collaborate effectively.

Hållbarhetskollen makes the sustainability work easier

The collaboration with Hållbarhetskollen has significantly helped Ratius’ sustainability work.

“Hållbarhetskollen makes it clear what impact our purchases have, and it gives us concrete areas to focus on for a sustainable future” says Helena.

She emphasizes the importance of collaboration with customers to achieve sustainability goals, as many decisions and choices affect Ratius’ purchases and operations.

Helena recommends Hållbarhetskollen to other companies:

“It provides concrete grounds for discussing sustainability at many levels – internally, with customers, as well as in the boardroom. These dialogues must lead to decisions and actions for us to make a real difference and create change.”

Try Hållbarhetskollen!

Check out Ratius Mässbyrå here.

Nora Bavey, a dedicated mother of three and former edtech founder, unexpectedly transitioned into a prominent impact investor four years back. “I decided to become the investor I had been hoping to meet while fundraising for my own startup,” says Nora.

Unconventional Ventures (UV) was founded in Denmark in 2018, and is Europe’s first impact fund focused on underrepresented founders (identifying as women, LGBTQ+, POC, and/or immigrant) building scalable tech companies with impact at the core.

“We like to see that the founding team has a deep understanding of the specific problem”

When it comes to the investment selection process, UV has a clear investment thesis. Companies must first have impact at the core of their business model, targeting environmental or social solutions.

Secondly, the founders must be part of a historically underfunded group.

“We like to see that the founding team has a deep understanding of the specific problem, either through personal experience or through someone close to them,” explains Nora.

This ensures that solutions come from people with a deep understanding of the problem, its context, and dependencies, as well as a strong drive to develop effective solutions. 

Big potential in climate solutions

In the realm of climate solutions, Nora observes promising trends.

“It’s great to see that impact investing is a rapidly growing segment of the financial industry worldwide,” she notes.

This growth is evident in the Nordics, where over €100 billion was invested into impact tech companies between 2017-2021.

“More than 70% of this was allocated to those tackling the UN’s SDG number 13, Climate Action, but there is still a huge untapped potential in impact investing with many potential future winners along the journey,” Nora highlights.

Nora sees significant gaps in current investment practices, particularly in recognizing the potential of combining diversity and impact.

“Very few are open to accepting the data-backed fact that teams with a high degree of perspectives lead to higher levels of innovation and have also proven to generate greater returns,” says Nora.

Looking for new underrepresented founders

Unconventional Ventures will launch its sixth annual report on the funding gap in the Nordics and beyond this year.

“We have decided to create our own dataset to visualize this gap,” she reveals. If you know an underrepresented founder building a tech startup, encourage them to take part in our survey launching mid-September.

For those interested in exploring how we can harness the power of culture and technology to drive meaningful impact, Unconventional Ventures is opening up part of its ecosystem for the first time and invites you to join them at the House of Culture in Copenhagen on September 10th.

Cities are filled with parked cars. They remain unused 96% of the time, and on average, each car is used by only 1.3 people. If we become better at sharing cars in our cities, we could quickly halve the number of cars while taking better care of our planet. That’s why GoMore wants to help people share cars. 

In recent years, there has been a clear change in the car rental market, according to Anders Jelstrup Besenbacher, who runs GoMore Sweden. Due to inflation, more people want to save money, and car owners are becoming more aware of the costs of owning a car. GoMore offers a solution where car owners can make money from their cars but keep them when needed.

“Additionally, it has become trendy to rent instead of own, which contributes to a more sustainable use of resources,” says Anders Jelstrup Besenbacher.

Insurance during the whole rental period

For those skeptical about renting out their car to strangers, GoMore wants to emphasize that their partnership with an insurance company offers comprehensive protection throughout the rental period. Additionally, car owners can decline requests if they feel unsure, and many cars are equipped with GoMore Keyless, making the whole process smooth and easy. 

Looking ahead, GoMore has recently expanded to its seventh country, Estonia, and plans for continued expansion. In Sweden, the goal is to reach more cities so that even more people can benefit from the opportunities to rent out and rent cars via GoMore. This expansion will help more people experience the benefits of the sharing economy while promoting more sustainable and economical car use. 

See if GoMore is available in your city!

GoClimate team members send their postcards from different vacation spots and activities, sharing their best sustainability tips for this summer.

Greetings from Öland, a large island in the Baltic Sea
For as long as I can remember, I’ve returned to the same spots in nature around my family’s summer house. When I was a kid, my grandparents brought us there, now it’s my parents who lead the way and one day maybe I’ll bring my grandchildren there.

Every time I come back to the same views, the same sounds of birds and insects and the same smells in the air, I’m reminded of how precious these places are to me. Their beauty powers my will to keep on fighting climate change.

– Pia, GoClimate team

Greetings from Dalsland in the western part of Sweden

During summertime, I love visiting all the flea markets and second hand stores that pop up for the season. Whether it’s in a barn in the countryside or at a parking lot in the city. The last couple of years my family and I have been renovating an old country house, built in the 18th century, and we made it a sport to only use second hand materials and furniture doing so. 

While discovering original materials like beautiful hardwood floors and updating the worn-out kitchen with a second hand one given to us by a neighbor, we make the old house shine up and hopefully last another hundred years.

– Desirée, GoClimate team

Greetings from Abisko National Park!

It is easy to forget the hidden gems near you.

A couple of years ago I wanted to find places to visit without needing to travel far away, yet see something completely different from my day to day surroundings. That’s when I decided to visit all national parks in Sweden. 

One of them is Abisko. The trail Kungsleden starts right at the train station. We followed the trail through the whole national park and then went off-trail for a couple of days. The early July days gave us rushing streams, newly minted flowers, lots of snow and majestic sceneries.

– Carl, GoClimate team

I’m doing three trips this summer that I’m super excited about – all to destinations easily accessible by train; beautiful scenic Lofoten, and (hopefully) sunny city breaks to Berlin and Copenhagen. To explore and have new experiences doesn’t have to take a toll on the climate – and as an added bonus, I can easily bring my dogs!

– Tove, GoClimate team

Biking is one of my favorite activities. I get to spend time outdoors, it offers a great way of slow traveling ensuring I don’t miss out on a nice spot due to passing too fast and still it’s much faster than walking. 

There are also many fun bike parks in Sweden that my whole family can enjoy without having to travel that far.

– Cissi, GoClimate team

Keeping track of money is one of the most important measures a company can take to reduce its climate impact. We spoke with Ingmar Rentzhog from the media platform We Don’t Have Time, which works for climate action and advocates making a difference for the climate by moving money.

“What many companies don’t realize is that their biggest climate footprint doesn’t come from their own operations, but from the company’s bank accounts and pension funds for their employees, as well as from other financial investments. This doesn’t apply to companies in the steel and concrete industries, for example, but for many other companies, it’s actually the money that is the culprit,” says Ingmar Rentzhog, We Don’t Have Time.

Ingmar refers to the latest Carbon Bankroll report, which shows that the total carbon emissions for some companies in the service and ICT sectors would more than double if emissions from cash in the bank were included.

“The main reason is probably that the knowledge about the climate impact of money is far too low, both among companies, politicians, and individuals. That’s why We Don’t Have Time launched the Move The Money campaign, to raise awareness and increase knowledge about this. The more large established organisations that move their money away from companies that refuse to transition, the more it opens up for political regulation. It is much easier for politicians to regulate something when large financial institutions do not have a financial interest in that activity,” continues Ingmar Rentzhog.

Ingmar Rentzhog’s top three tips for those who want to climate-proof their company’s money management:

1. Make the company’s cash sustainable by moving the money to a bank that has phased out or is about to phase out lending and investments in fossil fuels.
2. Do the same with your employees’ pension funds.
3. Communicate widely that you have done this and why it is so important.

At wedonthavetime.org/movethemoney, you can find concrete help on how your company can proceed, and there is also a database of how much banks have invested in fossil assets.

“I wish everyone realized how deep the climate crisis actually is and how little time we have to act to prevent the worst scenarios. I also wish everyone knew how incredibly easy it is to make a big impact by simply moving money,” concludes Ingmar Rentzhog.

Conapto offers secure and flexible data center colocation as well as cloud connectivity – all with a focus on sustainability. Switching to renewable electricity, recycling heat from data centers, and recycling electronics are just some of the initiatives Conapto is pursuing to become a more sustainable company.

“Prioritizing sustainability is not only important for Conapto but also for our customers and society at large. Thanks to our great partnership with GoClimate, which enables us to become even more knowledgeable about sustainability issues, we can become CO2 transparent and together create a more sustainable colocation industry with a healthy future mindset,” says Christoffer Linder, Sustainability Project Manager at Conapto.

Strive to reduce emissions

Since the beginning of its journey in 2008, with the establishment of the data center Stockholm 2 South and the decision to focus on sustainability issues, Conapto has continuously strived to reduce its emissions. This commitment led to a switch from Fortum to Vattenfall in 2021, which enables the use of 100% renewable energy from water and wind, as well as the ability to match energy consumption on an hourly basis through Vattenfall’s 24/7 matching system.

This system displays production hour by hour and not only increases transparency but also ensures that Conapto can fulfill its commitment to 100% renewable electricity every hour of the day, all year round. The only exception is during potential power cuts, where backup generators are used. Since 2022, the company has invested in new generators that enable the use of Ecopar diesel, a more environmentally friendly alternative to traditional diesel.

Energy in the data halls is being reused as heat

Another central part of Conapto’s sustainability work is their focus on heat recovery. The collaboration with Stockholm Exergi and Sollentuna Energi and Miljö enables the redirection of residual heat from the data center back to the local district heating network, which contributes to, among other things, recycled and cost-effective heat for residential homes. The goal is to reuse up to 90% of the energy fed into the data halls.

Conapto’s sustainability initiatives also extend to its environmental and energy management systems, which are certified according to ISO 14001 and ISO 50001. The certifications testify to Conapto’s systematic approach to integrating environmental and energy management into their operations, facilitating continuous improvement of energy performance.In addition to these measures, Conapto also recycles electronics in collaboration with Stena Recycling, which has saved more than 350 000 tons of CO2 since 2020. 

Conapto’s business model is an excellent example of how companies can operate sustainably by reducing their climate impact while offering high-quality services. We hope that their integration of environmentally friendly solutions across their operations can serve as inspiration for other companies in the industry!

Take a look at Conapto’s CO2-transparency page for more insight into how they work to reduce their emissions!

Aylen Bertlin’s travel habits have transformed dramatically – from being a passionate traveler to completely giving up air travel. She reflects on her previous travel frequency: “There was this one year when I was abroad at least 10 times. In hindsight, I wonder what it was I was actually searching for.”

Opting out of flying has proven to offer benefits such as the ability to explore multiple cities along the way to the final destination. Train journeys to Berlin often include a stop in Malmö to enjoy a falafel or two. Similarly, when Aylen and her partner Gurgin travel by motorhome to southern Europe, making both planned and spontaneous stops to enrich the travel experience with new discoveries is a priority.

Workes well with a full-time job

Despite the challenge of managing time constraints, especially at the beginning when traveling by train requires more travel days, Aylen has found a balance that works well even with a full-time job.

“Even though the thought of skipping a spring trip to Cape Verde might feel like a near-death experience for many, I can guarantee that the journey takes on a whole different value if you just open the doors to, for example, train travel.”

This shift has not only led to a more sustainable travel style but also to a deeper appreciation for the essence of traveling and the values it can embody.

Aylen’s best tips for more sustainable traveling

Aylen shares her best tips for those who want to explore the world in a more sustainable way:

• Start small: A short trip is an excellent first step. For example, a train journey to Berlin with Snälltåget is a perfect start.
• Explore the options: There are many ways to travel. Consider a sailing trip if it suits you better, or use carpool groups to find car-sharing opportunities. When Aylen and her partner travel with their motorhome, they often look for fellow travelers.
• Plan smart for long-distance train travel: Avoid journeys with many changes. Train delays are common and can lead to missed connections and involuntary overnight stays at train stations. Instead, plan sightseeing stops along the way.
• Travel comfortably: For a pleasant journey, make sure to bring something to keep yourself occupied, such as a book, knitting, or a Game Boy. On longer trips, a pillow and a small sleeping bag are invaluable accessories.
• Embrace the time: Many are deterred from sustainable travel due to the time it takes. Aylen emphasizes the importance of letting go of stress and seeing travel as a chance for contemplation, reflection, and making new acquaintances. A stressful vacation is not a real vacation.