“ESG is a framework. It was never designed to save the planet. At the same time, the way climate emergency is transforming our economies demands everyone’s participation with concrete actions and solutions, including informed and engaged employees at work. Employees can become the main drivers for ambitious and concrete action by their companies,” Sophie Lambin, the founder of the app HURD, says.

“For many years, sustainability has been a personal passion of mine. Since founding Kite Insights over a decade ago, I’ve been dedicated to helping individuals and organisations understand and take action on the issues that matter most,” she adds.

A recent survey by Kite Insights found that 83 per cent of employees want to act on climate at work.

“The urgency to address climate change is growing and many companies across the board genuinely want to do more but their pace of change is not yet fast enough. The intentions are there but they don’t know how to voice this willingness,” Lambin continues.

“This is why we launched HURD. Because we believe that only informed and fully engaged employees can drive ambitious commitment and action on the part of companies and achieve the best outcomes in corporate ESG.”

HURD is a new app through which companies give their employees a voice and a platform to learn and align them better with their ESG benchmarks more concretely. Through the HURD app, employees anonymously rate their company’s efforts to tackle the climate crisis, share success stories from their workplace and learn from the platform’s e-learning resources.

Lambin explains that while ESG benchmarks already act as a guide to companies in reaching their environmental targets, the HURD app allows companies to learn more from their employees who might feel uncomfortable voicing their opinions.

“Through HURD, companies and employees also learn what other companies are doing and this may entice them to take more action. ESG benchmarks are what they are – just benchmarks. Because there is always more companies can do and every action counts.”

Transformation is difficult and companies need to ensure their staff are fully engaged

If 83% of employees want to act on climate at work, what is stopping them?

Lambin notes that there are quite quite a few reasons for this inertia.

“There is a lack of visibility of what other employees could be doing, not knowing the scale of the issue and not knowing where to start,” she says.

“Secondly, what is holding people back from action is a lack of agency. Everyone is waiting for someone else to act first. Action and beliefs are closely tied and the more we do and the more we care, the more we learn about our ability to make things happen.”

Another interesting outcome from Kite Insight’s survey was that 70 per cent of employees felt that their ability to act on climate at work is important to their motivation and well-being.

“This willingness to act at work shows people’s personal feelings and experiences related to the Earth’s changing climate. 67 per cent of survey respondents agreed that climate change could have a major negative impact on them or their loved ones within their lifetimes.”

Sophie Lambin, the founder of HURD

Closing the gap 

When it comes to climate, people are unsure of their knowledge. More interestingly, the more people think they know about the climate, the more likely they are to think they lack knowledge. Conversely, people with less knowledge claim to know more than they do.

“I think this shows a big gap between wanting to act and having the tools and means to do so. If we can close this gap across companies and sectors, we can unleash people’s power to impact the climate at work,” Lambin says.

While companies devise their environmental strategy in line with their operations and projections, a third-party app could disrupt the way a company might want to devise its environmental strategy or support it.

“Many businesses are doing great work in the area, but there are also many falling short. It is in all companies’ interest to understand, address and embrace the views of the people who work for them. HURD gives employees the platform where to speak out and this will help their respective companies act faster and more effectively. After all, it is the employees who implement their company’s strategy and who can bring fresh and innovative ideas. So who better to help devise a strategy than the employees?”

Lambin points out how besides attracting more environmentally conscious employees, high ratings on HURD’s Climate Empowerment Score also benefit companies.

“Transformation is difficult, and companies need to ensure their staff are fully engaged. HURD supports and accelerates this change, helping companies reach their objectives and targets faster. Secondly, HURD’s availability to all employees helps break down silos and encourages every department to support the needed transformation. The learning content we provide on HURD supports everyone’s ability to act,” she says.

“And from a financial perspective, HURD satisfies investors’ expectations for more growth since a more engaged workforce is an excellent indicator of the potential for positive change.”

“Ultimately, it all boils down to ownership. When employees embrace HURD, their values become aligned with those of the company, motivation increases and everyone benefits from better, more effective productivity,”  Lambin concludes.