The European Outdoor Group (EOG) will be funding an ambitious renewable energy project in Taiwan under the aegis of its Impact Accelerator Fund (IAF) initiative.
- The project is being led by an organisation called Act Renewable and has the potential to benefit many outdoor brands.
THE FUND: Launched by the EOG in 2023, the IAF is a collaborative approach funded by membership and other fundraising activities, which is dedicated to supporting decarbonisation projects and climate change mitigation actions in outdoor industry supply chains.
- The Fund recognises that the scale of action and investment required for the outdoor sector to meet net zero requirements is so large that objectives can only be achieved by companies working together, with required resources above and beyond firms’ standard CSR and sustainability budgets.
- Collectively, businesses in the outdoor industry have already demonstrated a commitment to achieve decarbonisation with better sustainability practices and through innovation.
- The IAF aims to harness that and upscale it through collaboration. Alongside the EOG, the brands that have funded the work of the IAF so far are Ortovox, GORE-TEX, Icebug and Vaude.
THE CONTRIBUTIONS: The IAF accepts contributions from brands, retailers and other associated stakeholders throughout the value chain, and reviews nominations of projects to support, which are assessed against an agreed set of criteria.
- The proposal for Taiwan by Act Renewable is the first to complete this process. Act Renewable was established in 2018 as a joint venture between renewable energy developer BayWa r.e. and the environmental consulting firm RESET Carbon.
- The organisation’s aim is to educate, accelerate and transact renewable energy transition for businesses.
WHAT THEY SAID:
This is a really important moment for the Impact Accelerator Fund, and for the European outdoor sector. With support from our members, the EOG has led this new way to address the challenge of delivering the kind of impactful change that can help us achieve net zero. This "blended" financial approach really is giving our industry the best opportunity, taking what can be done through a firm's annual CSR budgets to a much higher level. The level of engagement that the IAF has generated so far is very encouraging, but to achieve proper critical mass, we need more companies to get involved.
— Katy Stevens
Head of CSR and Sustainability
European Outdoor Group
At Ortovox our aim is to responsibly reduce our negative impacts within the supply chain. Many of the projects that can significantly decrease, for example, carbon emissions are cost intensive, whereas CSR budgets are limited. As a small player in the industry, we can only really foster big change when we cooperate with others. We believe that, if we all find ways to financially contribute, our leverage is much larger to achieve our common climate action goals. This is how the idea for the Impact Accelerator Fund was born.
— Katrin Bauer
Director (CSR)
Ortovox
