Sustainability is at the core of Broadpeak’s values. We believe that raising awareness about environmental issues and the ways to protect the planet will lead to more of us contributing to its conservation, and therefore to a greater impact! As part of our Corporate Social Responsibility policy, we propose concrete internal actions to get our collaborators involved.
This year we wanted to make Earth Day (which takes place on April 22nd every year) an important date in the Broadpeak agenda, as a not-to-be-missed event. Celebrated for the first time in 1970 in the United States, Earth Day has now become one of the global largest participatory environmental movements, with over 193 countries participating every year.
With 330 Broadpeakers worldwide, it was a good occasion for us to offer a platform to our teammates for participating, at their own scale, in the collective efforts to reduce CO2 emissions and have a good time together!
Broadpeak’s Earth Day Challenge
Individual commitment. Teambuilding. Positive impact.
These 3 keywords supported our project all the way. In collaboration with the CSR leads, the communication team, and the corporate services department, we created an Earth Day Challenge for all broadpeakers.
The goal? Develop awareness amongst Broadpeakers of some of the individual actions they could perform to participate in the reduction of CO2 and other GHG emissions, and do it as a team because together we have more impact and can inspire each other to do more.
How? We designed an “eco-friendly bingo”. Broadpeakers were part of a team in which everyone had to perform individual actions to score points over 3 weeks, starting on Earth Day. The actions varied from bringing their own bag to the market, by eating a vegan meal, to composting or second-hand shopping.
Our motto? Every little bit counts, so, let’s all get motivated to have a positive impact while having fun together.
By gamifying some eco-friendly practices, we could raise awareness, hopefully generate new habits, show how simple some actions can be, inspire others, and share tips between us.
We included actions that could virtually be carried out by anyone, wherever they are located, as well as ”free & original actions” to give the possibility to our team to use their creativity and inspire other participants too.
How did the Earth Day Challenge go?
During these three weeks, we counted almost 300 actions. The most popular actions were:
- Plant something
- Delete as many emails as possible
- Eat a vegetarian meal
- Compost food scraps
- Use Ecosia – an eco-friendly search engine
- Refuse paper advertising in the mailbox.
The “free & original actions” were a hit. Clearly, our team likes to innovate: over 50 free actions were performed this year, showing Broadpeakers have a real commitment to protecting the environment and some great ideas on how to do it at an individual level. From using bee wraps to store food, to some creative upcycling, building various types of water collectors, or having a shower in less than 2 minutes to save water (yes, it is possible!).
What did we learn from the Earth Day Challenge?
We discovered that many of our collaborators are already personally very committed to reducing their carbon footprint daily. Nathalie Giraud, QA Manager, said:
“Although I am already environmentally aware, I loved participating in the challenge because by sharing with like-minded people, I gained awareness and learned other amazing practices. I also hope to have inspired other participants, that sustainable habits will be created and that more of us will participate next year.”
Olivier Roger, R&D Engineer, also shared this opinion: “I found the theme of the Challenge interesting and appealing. Most of the actions/goals have already been part of my life for a long time, but it was nice to see several colleagues sharing the same ideas and discovering each other’s “secrets”.
Thus, it was also an occasion for those who have been active for a while to share what they do with the Broadpeakers, like a list of eco-responsible restaurants on Instagram, which you can find here.
It was also a way to introduce sustainable practices to those who might be less knowledgeable about the matter. As Fran Dossin, Digital Communication Manager, said:
“with a busy daily routine, sustainability is not always a top priority. But with the challenge, I could get many nice ideas from colleagues that are quite easy to do daily and transform them into real habits”.
What’s next?
To support further the efforts of the teammates, Broadpeak has decided to convert the points won for each action into Euros that will shortly be donated to WWF France, a non-profit whose mission is to conserve nature and reduce the most pressing threats to the diversity of life on Earth.
It was an inspiring adventure for all and seeing the level of involvement encourages us to make it a recurring event on our agenda. We are already thinking of how to involve more colleagues and of other actions for next year.
Obviously, saving the planet isn’t a one-time-a-year challenge. As Broadpeak keeps growing, we are currently working on strengthening our CSR policies, evaluating our carbon emissions, and building a plan to reduce them, continuously reviewing and improving our environmental practices. We are also working on bringing solutions to the industry to make streaming more energy efficient.
Written by Maeva Laurent
Laurent is responsible for Internal Communication & Employer Brand at Broadpeak. She has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Research, studies and consulting in Information-Communication & Media at Aix-Marseille School of Journalism and Communication (2019-2020). Last year of Master’s degree at Institute of political studies (Sciences Po Aix-en-Provence) : Master 2 Communication, Lobbying and media- Professions in consulting, influential communications and public relations option (2021-2022)
