Employee-powered climate action
May 05, 2022
Protecting our Earth is the collective challenge of our times, requiring global cooperation at every level of society: from cities and governments to businesses, academia, and individuals. Bloomberg is using the expertise of our business and decades of leading from the front to tackle the climate crisis from every angle.
Bloomberg employees are joining in this effort, too. Through our philanthropic partnerships and initiatives, volunteers take part in large-scale efforts to drive measurable climate actions all year round. We’re tracking our collective reductions in carbon emissions, generating real kilowatts of clean energy for non-profit partners, planting trees by the thousands, improving carbon-sequestering ecosystems like wetlands while preserving the natural beauty of our surrounding communities, and so much more.
Make it happen here.
Making action count
In the words of our founder, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” Our Corporate Philanthropy programs take a similarly data-minded approach, giving employees a platform to have a measurable effect on climate change, while measuring the effects of their actions on behalf of the planet.
In late 2021, Bloomberg joined the Count Us In Employee Challenge, an initiative that encourages employees at leading businesses to take concrete everyday climate action to reduce carbon emissions. Count Us In is building the world’s largest community of people and organizations taking practical action on climate change, and hundreds of Bloomberg employees have already made minor changes in their everyday life and are tracking the resulting reduction in their own carbon footprint.
In just a few short months, 839 Bloomberg employees from over 39 cities have reduced the carbon equivalent of 178 flights from London to New York (22,345 KG), saved the equivalent of 34 25 meters-sized swimming pools worth of water (2,545,537 L), and eliminated 9,113 bins of waste in total (141,983 KG).
The project provides guidance on the most effective steps individuals can take, like eating less meat and avoiding plastic bottles. Organizers aim to engage 100 million employees by 2025, with volunteering activities planned globally to help the campaign expand in 2022.
In November 2021, more than 250 Bloomberg employees, clients and community members — including Olympic gold medalists Jason Kenny and Laura Kenny — participated in the inaugural Bloomberg Power Ride, held in the Bloomberg arcade outside our London office.
Cycling on 16 static Energym bikes hooked up to generators in a series of 30-minute sessions spread out over two days, Power Ride participants produced 32 kWh of green energy. This energy was then converted, stored in portable batteries, and donated to local non-profit partner Greenhouse Sports, where it will power three of the organization’s after-school sports clubs. Even short rides can add up to significant energy, and we’re planning to bring Bloomberg Power Ride to more Bloomberg offices in 2022.
Flora, fauna, friends & family
Bloomberg employees – and sometimes employees’ family members and friends – are environmental stewards in all the cities where we live and work.
In 2021, employee volunteers planted 11,390 trees and bulbs, and beautified outdoor public spaces through programs like New Jersey’s America’s Grow-A-Row, Day in the Dirt with Central Park Conservancy in New York, and clean-ups of the Thames with Thames21 and Kew Gardens in London. In Hong Kong, employee volunteers have supported partners like Rooftop Republic Foundation with watering, weeding and gardening our local urban garden. The produce grown as a result is donated to the Foodlink Foundation to reduce food waste and local hunger. We partner with more than 50 non-profit organizations focused on environment and sustainability.
Employee volunteers in Singapore recently cleared plastic and trash debris from the waters around Pulau Ubin by kayak as part of our philanthropic support of the World Wildlife Fund.
Wetland conservation is a major theme throughout this year’s environmental volunteering. From marshes and peatlands to bogs and mangroves, seagrass ecosystems are significant carbon sinks that can sequester carbon 10 times faster than tropical forests. They are home to an incredible biodiversity of birds, animal and plant species and support the livelihoods of many coastal communities by providing clean water, a source of food and income.
With our partners at New York Restoration Project (NYRP), employees recently helped care for and replant native shore grasses. They installed temporary fencing to protect the grasses from geese and other wildlife and helped NYRP clear debris that had gathered in the intertidal zone in the Harlem River at low tide.
When employees volunteer 25 or 50 hours through the company or on their own time, they become eligible to direct a donation of $2,500 or $5,000 to support a cause they care about from the company’s hundreds of non-profit partners, making environmental stewardship count in more ways than one.