HOW WE MAKE CHANGE HAPPEN
At Outspaces, helping others push environmental and social sustainability forward is our purpose. And while our own business operation impacts are small, we try to make conscious choices that continually lessen our negative impacts and build upon our positive ones.
Here are just a few examples how:
Our Footprint
We’re based in SoCentral, a non-profit, collectively owned social entrepreneur coworking space. Located in the heart of Oslo, it’s also fully-equipped with secondhand furniture and office equipment.
Our Oslo-operations and local transport are powered by renewable energy. Emissions that remain are calculated annually, and are offset using the United Nations Carbon Offset Platform.
Our website is hosted by GreenGeeks, which matches 300% of the energy it uses with renewable energy credits.
Our Money
In the right hands, we believe that money can be a force for good. And in the annual Ethical Bank Guide, one Norwegian financial institution always takes first place: Cultura Bank.
Cultura only invests in social and environmental projects – aka our future. These values align perfectly with ours, and Cultura has been the obvious choice since day one.
Our second-largest financial lever is our employee pensions. We have therefore opted for funds with Storebrand Pension‘s highest sustainability ratings and strictest exclusion list.
Our Friends
It’s said that “it’s better to be alone than in bad company.” We couldn’t agree more, which is why we are very careful in deciding who our friends are.
We only work with the best, and do our best to help sustainability leaders achieve more. But as there’s only so much we can do ourselves, we support our friends in other ways where we can.
Since our founding, we’ve supported Naturvernforbundet (Friends of the Earth Norway), whose expert staff works tirelessly to protect nature, combat climate change, and advocate sustainable policies.
Our Selves
We believe that humans need nature. And for a many reasons (the list seems to get longer by the day), we are cut off from it on a day-to-day basis. In our case, one of the main barriers to getting outdoors is of course working life, which is largely spent indoors. So rather than letting another sunny day pass by, we asked “why not bring our work outside?”
We’ve been experimenting with the concept of Outdoor Office since our founding – our company name is actually a combination of “Outdoor Workspaces.” You can get a better idea of what this looks like by reading this op-ed. But the short version: It’s incredible.
If you want to find out for yourself, just grab your laptop and step outside. Or check out Outdoor Office Day to see if a meetup is happening near you.