Challenge Accepted!

Spain seems to be a place where a particular kind of engagement for sustainable development is taking place: partnering up with employers or educational institutions to track user activities and reward them accordingly. Today I'll present two apps that do just that!

DoGood is a "gamification app" that lets organizations choose the challenges they want, to complete to reach the organization's goals. As evidence for completed challenges, users post pictures on their timeline and get points, which rank them and can earn them prices. This way companies and educational institutions can actively contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda while gathering data for their sustainability reports. But having something to show for in terms of SDGs is not the only reason why firms should have a measurable CSR strategy. DoGood shows that only 22% of companies have publicly taken concrete and measurable action to further the SDGs, meaning there are still many out there for which this innovative solution could finally enable a concrete CSR strategy.

Furthermore, a study published in Harvard Business Review shows that 90% of respondents would trade money (more specifically: 23% of their lifelong earnings), for a job that is meaningful all the time. A very interesting side note of the HBR article is that Americans spend about 21% of their income on housing, meaning that when asked to put a monetary value on a meaningful job, it ranks as an absolutely essential aspect of their lives. Finally, employees who experience higher job satisfaction, strongly correlated with viewing one's profession as meaningful, are also more productive. Clearly, there is a real incentive for companies to be a driver of positive change, as this will enable them to retain and attract talent, as well as having a more motivated workforce. Do Good also donates 5% of its profits a social impact project, “Baloncesto sin Rasgos”, which helps people with disabilities engage in sports and helps build a more inclusive society.

Another app is Ciclogreen, which focuses on movement as the primary avenue users can progress. Ciclogreen enables users to track his or her "sustainable activity", be it walking or skating around the city or using public transport or a shared ride. Crucially, this can also be set up by collaborating with universities and companies who want to encourage more sustainable commutes. Your movement is tracked via GPS until you stop recording. The more you exercise or travel sustainably within your city, the more "cycles" you collect, which can be exchanged for discounts and gifts from the app's catalog.

Personally, I do not think more environmentally friendly life choices should be based on rewards, but every it definitely helps being incentivized, especially at the beginning. What I especially found important is that companies and other organizations such as universities can leverage their workforce to increase social impact while becoming more attractive for investors and talent.