To be honest it started more out of curiosity than it was a clear goal initially. Later, it became a necessity for me, as you cannot do everything at home, which is very far from what is done at work, to be aligned with your thoughts or convictions.

I started by building a community, to understand who showed interest around me and get ideas from my fellow colleagues.

The awareness of what sustainability means in the office has been raised, from employees to top management. The concept of doing things differently, with another parameter (environmental criteria) than cost, has been introduced.

We are working now more consciously to minimize our impact on the environment, make our employees feel good and sometimes even increase our own well being.

Mainly to find people who understand you, who trust you and also how to work towards the interest of the company. Then, you need sponsorship from management and finally draw a detailed plan to executives and motivate people.

Having a team of volunteers with limited budget is a challenge (how to keep people motivated over time, the frustration of having a limited impact).

We have overcomed the challenge by recruiting new green team members, earning trust from the management and the community, and by showing real, measurable impacts from the implementation of the initiatives. Definitely, a big part is commitment and learning. Innovating and increasing our network also helped a lot to overcome difficulties.

In 2019, we organized an Environment Week (upcycling workshop - talk about climate change, fast fashion - raise awareness about electronic waste, green market). We recycled newspapers, screened a documentary about the plastic issue and led our first beach cleanup.

‍

In 2020, 

• we recommended several good books and movies about different sustainable topics (ocean, plastic waste, farming, climate change…), 
• shared good tips on how to reduce electricity consumption, 
• introduced an alternative browser with good impact, 
• informed about food impact on the environment,
• participated in the Earth hour, 
• organized 2 Webinars about DIY plants and hygiene/care products, 
• became aware of the problem with disposable masks,

‍

• we also partnered with barePack to fight single-use plastic while dining, 
• planted about 1,000 trees in a forest in India to fight climate change,
• avoided 2,000 sheets of paper being printed, by making a change within an internal admin process,
• introduced 100% recycled paper in our office,
• and we collected 200 pairs of shoes from our employees that were given to a local association.

In early 2021, I became officially Animator of “the Climate collage” and I  conducted workshops with my colleagues to raise awareness towards the climate change issue.

‍

In 2023, I created a new framework that helps project teams to apply new ways of coding with respect to the environment. This should help my company to reduce its impact and contribute to train and sensitise all colleagues to Green IT. I also help to sensitise my department to Green IT and reduce the impact on emails for example.