Sustainability Content Agency is now ambassador of Impact Day, the largest impact and sustainability festival in the Baltics and Nordics. Last week, from 10-12 October, I was there for the first time, in beautiful Tallinn. Organized for the third time, the main topic of this year was ‘Less Is More’.

It took little effort to get into it, as the first two sessions on the main stage were presented by fellow Dutch countrymen, Jos De Blok of Buurtzorg Nederland and Kim Schoppink of the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). The name Buurtzorg was familiar to me, but I didn’t know it was such a success story. It was great to hear insights about how — basically anti-manager — Jos has built such a huge but still flat organization.

Next came Jeremy Schwartz, who, as former CEO of The Body Shop and others, knows very well how to market a sustainable brand, so we dove into the marketing and development side of it.

📷 Rasmus Kooskora, Kiur Kaasik, and Silver Gutmann

Anders Larsson of SEB emphasized the importance of water management, with large companies taking this more and more seriously now and having already significantly reduced their water use in various ways.

Next was a panel session on the textile industry. There is an incredible amount of work to be done to make the industry circular, and Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is essential. Fast fashion needs to be stopped and repair models are becoming important.

The IT sector may have been underexposed in the news about sustainability until now. Meelis Lang of Helmes – Software Development Company mentioned in another panel discussion that IT accounts for 5% of global emissions. The industry needs to make big green changes.

During breaks there was great coffee from Lykke Coffee Farms!

On the second day of Impact Day, the world public speaking champion of 2015, Mohammed Qahtani, kicked off. His talk was called The Power of Words, something that resonates with a linguist. He spoke about the concept of change, and that people are always preoccupied with what they don’t have. And when we are focused too much on what can go wrong, we accomplish so little.

Dmitrijs Juskovecs talked about hydropower, one of the cheapest ways of renewable energy. But as with offshore wind turbines, their impact on biodiversity must be carefully monitored.

Charles Ogilvie OBE of Ocean Energy Pathway stressed that politicians need to be much more aware of the need to change and stop taking half-measures.

The panel discussion Life in Full Bloom discussed what steps we can take for a sustainable future. Following nature is important, according to Loic van Cutsem. It makes do with available resources, such as rain and the sun, and doesn’t need external suppliers.

Another panel discussion was led by Shu-Wen Chan of Swedbank, which no longer invests in fossil fuels. Companies stem largely from biodiversity, and need to contribute positively with the help of technology and NGOs, while keeping ROI just as much in the process.

Rain Vaana of KWOTA spoke about reusing materials. We produce an unbelievable amount of items each year, of which only about 10% are recycled. So climate crisis or not, that’s a huge problem in itself.

Led by Mark Skljarov, the discussion then turned to the construction industry. Building obviously causes huge emissions, but now with numerous tools and data, necessary changes can be made. More importantly, with tenders the focus is currently still focused solely on price, without weighting in the use of sustainable materials, so the long-term effects on the climate and subsequently costs are not considered. Something that’s essential to really change this massive industry.

Clover Hogan, climate activist and founder of Force of Nature, grew up in the bush in Australia, and already as a child she was confronted with waste in nature. Everyone needs to take responsibility and engage in dialogue. The problem is much bigger than ourselves.

Another environmental activist, Niklas Kaskeala, argued that traditional ways of thinking and green growth need to be abandoned quickly. We no longer have the luxury of being less bad. Or in other words, we don’t have to give up anything, we just have to do things differently and smarter.

I think this last sentence is a nice wrap-up.

This was a great event, and it had a similar vibe as Impact Fair NL, which I attended in April in Holland. The lineup of speakers was impressive, there were wonderful artists and the food was good too.

It was held in the Põhjala Factory, a former rubber factory. Today, the Põhjala Factory has become a hub for over 100 creative organizations, including a bar, bakery, bookstore, restaurants, and cafes. Evidently, it is more energy-efficient to renovate old buildings and give them a new function instead of building new ones. The apartments on the property include green roofs and rainwater collection, and newly created green areas like the urban garden have enriched the biodiversity of the former industrial area.

It’s not a coincidence Impact Day was organized here, because when selecting tenants, Põhjala follows the principle that everything done here represents green thinking. A similar approach is followed when organizing events.

This is an event that you don’t want to miss next time, if you want to hear about the latest developments in sustainability, social impact and health.

All my travelling could be done by public transport, no plane needed. Were there any negatives during my trip? I had a cold shower in my hotel on Friday morning…but hey, isn’t that a good thing from a sustainability and health perspective?

Next year the title will be Aiming Higher instead of Less is More. The good sustainability reader understands that both basically mean the same thing.

📢 Are you working in the sustainability, social impact or health space and sometimes need help with your content or visuals, in almost any European language? Just send an email to info@sustainabilitycontentagency.com.