The Carbon Cliff: Scope 3 emissions and how to manage them
Small Steps Vol. 93: Giant Leap’s take on the Cut Through Ventures report 🗞️; what women want in the workplace 👩🏽💻; and staring into the void with Elmo 👀.
Kick start
🌱 How well do you understand your business’s carbon footprint? It’s a question you’ll likely have to answer this year, as pressure heats up on all companies to report more detailed metrics on their emissions. Reporting on Scope 3 emissions is already mandatory in Europe, and a global roll-out is just around the corner.
Whether you're a scale-up with global offices, or a remote-led startup, sooner rather than later, companies in your supply chain will be requesting information regarding your operating emissions. This is part of their commitment to measure Scope 3 emissions -- or those generated via their supply chain.
So how to stay ahead of this massive shift in the business landscape? We spoke to expert Cat Long, co-founder and CEO of Trace, for her advice.
What we’re thinking about
🎯 The State of Australian Startup Funding. If your LinkedIn feed is anything like ours, you’ve no doubt seen that Cut Through Ventures’ latest report on the state of Australian startup funding went live this week. While the overall figures show a significant drop in funding from the highs of 2021, the Giant Leap team remains optimistic about the resilience of impact startups.
For example, despite a 40.5% decline in global private market funding for climate tech in 2023 compared to 2022, this dip was milder than the over 50% contraction in the overall VC market. This comparative strength suggests a growing recognition among capital allocators of the scale and urgency inherent in addressing the climate crisis and underscores the weight of the capital committed by investors in the sector over the last five years.
We’re also seeing great opportunities in education, with generative AI increasing access to affordable, high-quality education standards, and in health through the continued transition from reactive to preventative healthcare models.
Check out page 56 for the Giant Leap team’s thoughts on the evolving landscape of climate, health and education startups 👀.
✊🏽 What women want. WORK180’s much awaited 2024 ‘What Women Want Report’ is set for release in a few short weeks, and we have a sneak preview! The report outlines what women and marginalised groups want and need to thrive in the workplace - it’s a must-read for any HR professionals out there wanting a red-hot read of the market.
86% of all respondents want to know what employers are doing to remove and/or maintain zero gender pay gap (+5% versus last year) 🤷♀️
The most-wanted employer policy is flexible working, with ¾ of respondents still prioritising it over top-of-market salaries ⭐
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the demand for transparency is extra strong among Gen Z employees, who are set to represent 24% of all employees by 2025 🔎
Sign up here for a copy sent straight to your inbox once its officially released later this month!
New paths
✅ Dream job alert! Could you be Trace’s new Channel Partnerships Manager (Remote)?
💻 Mindset Health is expanding – check out their open roles for a Head of Marketing, Performance Marketer, Video Editor & Videographer, and Software Engineer (Melbourne, hybrid).
⚡ Amber Electric is on the hunt for a Senior PR Manager (Melbourne, Remote).
🤝 Applied is seeking a Customer Success Manager (UK).
🔥 Also, check out our Giant Leap Fund jobs board for over 45+ available positions or fill out our expression of interest form. There’s even more jobs at ethical companies on the global B-Work job board.
Giant leaps
🔋 Congrats to Amber Electric for closing its $29 million round! Next stop: world domination (for its fantastic home battery tech).
🎓 HEX is bringing innovation and entrepreneurship education to even more students, thanks to the major partnership the team has landed with the University of Sydney. HEX students can now gain academic credit before arriving at USyd - that’s pretty damn cool.
For the road
😁 Maybe 2023 wasn’t so bad after all? Decade-high interest rates and near recession conditions may have left us in low spirits, but it wasn’t all bad. In fact, humanity made significant strides. Last year, we made major headway in treating malaria, cancer and hepatitis B; clean energy production and solar installations had a bumper year; and we also saw an increase in global reforestation and a push to ban plastics. Nice.
🗣️ Saving languages with coding and AI. Indigenous languages are at risk, with at least half of the world’s languages set to vanish by the end of the century – but, in the US, Indigenous youth are using coding and AI to keep their endangered languages alive. Read this Teen Vogue piece for a good-news story on how tech is playing a part in saving culture.
👩⚕️ A second opinion, Dr AI? Keeping on AI, Google's DeepMind unit has developed AMIE, an AI designed to improve medical consultations. It’s being positioned as a second-opinion for medical professionals and translator for patients, providing them with grounded, detailed explanations on medical terms and conditions.
🤖 Surprise, surprise… companies are still bullish on AI. Per Canva’s latest report, 94% of CIOs plan to increase their investment in AI this year. However, there’s a wrinkle – 72% are concerned about app sprawl adding to their complexity and security risks. As a result, many are planning to consolidate the number of work-based apps their organisation uses.
🏃 Notion founders show the value of not giving up. You might not guess it from the success story they’ve become, but Notion nearly went bankrupt two years after launch. Instead of folding, they doubled down on the core mission, moving to Japan and continuing to build. Later, when they launched a successful product, they harassed a community-led strategy to create viral content for growth. Now they’re worth $10 billion. Lots to learn from this great summary of the startup’s inspirational history.
📱 Is that a TikTok accent I hear? Has the app created its own language and could it be the future of English? Researchers have identified a distinct “TikTok'' voice, characterised by increased “uptalk” and “vocal fry” – both of which are correlated to increased engagement metics on the app. Check out this BBC article for more.
🌱 Victoria’s new AgTech fund. The Hugh Victor McKay Fund, initiated by LaunchVic with support from Agriculture Victoria, aims to invigorate the Victorian AgTech sector. This sidecar fund will co-invest up to $200,000 in at least five early-stage AgTech startups within the next year, leveraging over $3 million in total capital through matching private investments. Named after the inventor of the combine harvester, this fund seeks to boost on-farm productivity and sustainability innovations.
🐶 Be more like Bluey! In a world driven by the need to be useful and productive at all times, academic Max Jeganathan argues we need to seek fun in all things rather than use it as a means to fill time. His inspiration for this argument: everyone’s favourite blue cartoon dog, Bluey.
🪱 The right to switch off. The federal government is currently considering a suite of reforms to industrial relations legislation, including a ‘right to disconnect’ – giving employees the right to switch off and ignore emails and messages outside of their agreed working hours. However, if this change passes, it would need to be reflected in your award or employment agreement to apply. This could go a long way for work life balance… but should it go both ways? 👀
Meme sourced here.
❤️ And finally… Elmo and the need for mental health resource funding. On January 30, Elmo asked their X followers the simple question: “Elmo is just checking in! How is everybody doing?” Maybe not surprisingly, the thousands of responses revealed that, thanks Elmo, but we aren’t doing too great. This NY Times article touches on how Elmo unwittingly has us peering into the void and how the need for global mental health support is as important as ever.
Save the date
📅 February 16: Small Giants kicks off its first Journey to Impact program for 2024. The six-week program aims to arm investors with the skills to assess impact investing opportunities and assess the overall impact of their portfolio. Applications are now open.
📅 February 22: The launch of the official State of StartUp Funding report. It’s being held at The Wade Institute of Entrepreneurship, attendance by request only - sign up here. Our very own Rachel Yang will be speaking, so come say hi!
📅 February 26: Applications close for the Startmate Climate Fellowship.The eight-week course aims to help applicants gain the skills they need to turn their climate tech idea into a viable startup - we’d highly recommend! Scholarships are available, so apply now.
📅 February 27: Tune into the Entrepreneurship World Cup’s Australian National Final. Tickets are on sale now. The event pits startups of all sizes against one another for the opportunity to represent Australia in an international competition in Saudi Arabia later this year. Interested in pitching? Applications close February 15.
📅 February 28: Applications close for Climate Salad’s 2nd Global Growth Program. It’s a nine-month accelerator for climate tech startups, aiming to help position companies for global growth. This one’s great for established startups looking to scale internationally. Apply now!
📅 February 29: Applications close for EnergyLab’s 2024 ScaleUp Program. It’s aimed at helping accelerate startups focused on decarbonising the energy sector. The program runs for about five months, starting in May. You can apply here.