The team-based climate competition will begin on Earth Day.

Nominate your community’s Climate Hero

Community groups all over Ireland are being invited to take part in a new and innovative climate competition - the first such national challenge for community groups.

Funded by Irish Aid at the Department of Foreign Affairs and organised by environmental NGO Global Action Plan, the ‘Climate Heroes’ competition will see local groups across the country try to minimise their carbon footprints.

The team-based climate competition will begin on Earth Day 2023, April 22, and last for two weeks.

“We are inviting local community groups to take part in the Climate Heroes challenge. Everyone taking part will try to carry out as many climate-positive activities as they can, and our online app will translate the activities logged by participants into CO2 emissions saved. The team that has saved the greatest amount of greenhouse gas emissions are the winners of this exciting competition,” said Hans Zomer, CEO of Global Action Plan, the organisation organising the challenge.

The Climate Heroes Challenge provides a unique combination of encouragement, education and real life climate impact, offering participants a menu of 40 climate smart activities, based on the four main areas of individual greenhouse gas emissions: Transport, Food, Consumption and Energy.

Using aggregated climate data and Life Cycle Assessment analysis per activity, the challenge provides a gamified, research-based platform that aims to engage people and create awareness about the big difference that small actions can achieve. The Challenge will be supported by workshops that build participants’ competencies for global citizenship.

“The Climate Heroes challenge is a friendly competition, but it is also a serious tool for climate education. It’s a powerful way to explore how people can respond to climate change, as consumers and active global citizens. Participants will discover practical ways to reduce their CO₂ emissions and make climate action part of their everyday lives,” said Alex Whyatt, who co-ordinates the Global Citizenship programme at Global Action Plan.

“In our workshops, we see that people are often overwhelmed by the interlinked dimensions of sustainability - for example, when something makes environmental sense, but is financially unsustainable. The Climate Heroes competition supports small actions that can have a positive benefit, and opens a discussion about bigger actions we can take for sustainable communities,” continued Mr Whyatt.

FURTHER INFORMATION

More details on the challenge is available at www.climateheroes.ie/en-ie/challenge.