Climathon Pasig 2022: From competition to cooperation

What happens when students, professionals, climate experts, the academe, the government, and private citizens, come together to create solutions to fight climate change?

Climathon Pasig, the annual ideathon for climate action that is part of a wider global movement, has revitalized its format for this year, to promote a collaborative approach in solving the city’s most pressing environmental issues.

Apart from asking participants to pitch in their solutions for its two design challenges, they will be invited to join working groups, where coaches, mentors, and even fellow participants, can build on and refine the ideas, to improve their feasibility and maximize its local impact.

The winning idea will then receive funding from Climathon Pasig, thanks to its co-presenter, Union Bank of the Philippines.

This is different from previous years, where teams compete on the merit of their individual pitches.

“It’s already our fourth year of doing Climathon Pasig, and we’ve seen a lot of great ideas come up over the years. What we realize is that a lot of these ideas are complimentary, or that they can be combined to create an even stronger climate program for Pasig,” said Carla Mumar, CEO of Scale Solutions and one of the organizers of Climathon Pasig. “With the launch of the working groups, we hope to maximize this opportunity, where citizens are freely contributing their own ideas and expertise to build a more sustainable city,” she adds.

Climathon Pasig launched its two Design Challenges last June, which focuses on two perennial problems faced by Pasig City citizens. First is on Kitchen Waste: How might we turn kitchen waste into a useful resource for the community? The second one is on Renewable Energy: How might we be able to make renewable energy more affordable and accessible to each household?

Interested participants were asked to register and select which Design Challenge they wanted to pitch for, and on  Oct. 14 and 15, will take part in a Working Group for the Kitchen Waste design challenge and the Renewable Energy design challenge.

The Kitchen Waste working group will be facilitated by Erwin Lizarondo of Saliksik, while the Renewable Energy group will be led by Lei Sta. Maria of CROSS Education. Both will run Design Sprints to help the working group navigate and collaborate to come up with the best ideas. A team of coaches will also be available for consultations, to help the participants refine their ideas. Coaches include Von Payumo of Spayce, Leslie Anne Yasis of HKUST,  Edgardo de Jesus of the Business for Sustainable Development, Kath Khoo of Villgro Philippines, Jan Ralph Ebora of New Nexus Philippines, Karen Lee Hizola of Global Seed Savers Philippines, and former Climathon Pasig winners, Prisando Francisco of Saricycling, Ricardo Alindayu III of Cloop.

Each working group can submit two final outputs, to be presented during the Global Climathon Week in front of a jury panel, from Oct. 28-29. Winners will be announced live online, on Oct. 30, via the Climathon Pasig Facebook Page.

Apart from the winners’ presentation, Climathon Pasig will also stream free talks and messages from sustainability experts during Climathon Week.

This year’s jury panel consists of Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto, Pasig City Councilor Paolo Santiago, Allen Angeles of Pasig City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO), Engr. Isabelo Rebula of the University of San Carlos and ICLEI Resource for Renewable Energy, and a seat for the co-presenter, UnionBank.

The winning idea for each design challenge will get the chance to implement a pilot in one of the barangays in Pasig City. They will also get support and mentorship from experts in sustainability.

To watch the pitches on Oct. 28 and 29, tune in to the Climathon Pasig Facebook Page.

Climathon Pasig is organized by SCALE Solutions and Future Proof PH, and is made possible by the support of its co-presenter, Union Bank of the Philippines. The organizers would also like to thank its Media Partners, BusinessWorld and Manila Bulletin.

Spotlight is BusinessWorld’s sponsored section that allows advertisers to amplify their brand and connect with BusinessWorld’s audience by enabling them to publish their stories directly on the BusinessWorld Web site. For more information, send an email to online@bworldonline.com.

Join us on Viber to get more updates from BusinessWorld: https://bit.ly/3hv6bLA.