Today, 22nd April, the world is celebrating Earth Day, but what is it exactly?
Earth Day is an annual event that began in 1970 designed to celebrate the birth of the modern environmental movement. It helps shine a light on the importance of our planet and raise awareness of the climate crisis and other issues surrounding the destruction of our environment.
For 55 years, Earth Day has led the world in raising awareness and taking action on critically important environmental issues.
Every Earth Day has a theme, and this year’s is Our Power, Our Planet.
What Does this ‘Our Power, Our Planet’ Mean?
‘Our Power, Our Planet’ is about renewable energy, focusing on clean energy generation in order to build a healthy, sustainable, equitable and successful future for us all.
This Earth Day, there are calls to triple renewable energy generation globally by 2030. Switching to renewable energy sources is crucial for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and preventing the escalation of climate change.
Already countries worldwide are using solar and wind energy at increasingly growing rates. In the US in 2023, the US produced more solar power than ever before.
Uruguay has transformed its energy sector, moving from being dependent on oil imports to generating 98% of its electricity from renewable sources. India has set ambitious goals for renewable energy, aiming to achieve 50% of its energy requirements from renewable sources by 2030. Kenya is a leader in Africa, with geothermal power accounting for nearly half of its electricity generation, and a third of all homes in Australia use solar power.
In Denmark, over 50% of the country’s electricity is generated from wind turbines (and has already provided 100% of its power over a 24 hour period) and by 2026, wind energy will power 30% of Spain, 17% of the Netherlands and 23% of the electricity needs of Germany.
Earth Day 2025 is calling for industries globally to “support and adopt the rapid transition to renewable energy sources now, be it solar, wind, hydro-electric, tidal or geothermal.”
If you would like to learn more please read earthday.org’s article.
How Can Your Organisation Make A Difference This Earth Day?
Organisations should consider undertaking their own climate risk management, exploring how their organisation might be able to combat the climate crisis.
Reducing the dependency and use of fossil fuels can help organisations achieve those important ESG goals, and focus on tripling renewable energy usage. Still, it can be more complex than simply switching to cleaner energy.
No matter the challenge, reaching emissions goals comes down to gathering and understanding the data. It is crucial for organisations to monitor and evaluate all carbon-emitting assets. Without this data, it is impossible to efficiently control energy usage and environmental footprint.
Creating a quality ESG report is crucial for demonstrating your organisation’s commitment to the environment, and the data found in these reports helps organisations align their ESG plans for a better and more sustainable future.
Coming up with a comprehensive sustainability action plan for your organisation is vital and ESG reports are a key way that you can achieve this.
How Can Convene Help Your Organisation’s ESG Journey?
We are in the midst of an ever changing ESG landscape. From the evolving regulatory requirements to the increase in public and investor scrutiny, maintaining a resilient foothold in your organisation’s ESG efforts is challenging.
That’s why we created Convene ESG, our own reporting tool to help your organisation on its ESG transformation journey.
Convene ESG takes an end-to-end approach that will allow your organisation to spend more time on moving towards net zero, by alleviating the challenges of ESG data gathering, performance tracking and reporting.
Learn more about Convene ESG and how it can help your organisation in investing in our planet here. As Earth Day says, “people power is the driving force behind this transformation.”
