Assess Environmental Impact

Evaluating Your Idea’s Environmental Sustainability and Turning it into Action!

NEXT - Asses Cultural, Heritage and Building Impact

This section will guide you in designing and refining your Grassroots idea to embed environmental sustainability at its core. Here, you will find tailored activities and practical tools to evaluate the impact of your idea on both natural and built environments. From assessing potential risks to implementing actionable strategies, this section of our toolkit helps you navigate the journey toward creating an eco-conscious initiative. By the end, you will be equipped to confidently start implementing your idea with the help of powerful tools to ensure long-term environmental preservation and community benefits.

How this Works! 4 Steps

Explore the environmental impact questions, tools and resources provided to evaluate your environmental impact and develop eco-friendly strategies:

1 THINK with Questions 

Download our Questions which will guide you in identifying and minimising environmental impacts.

2WATCH the Videos

These expert videos break down complex sustainability concepts in a simple and engaging way, helping you understand key environmental issues more clearly.

3TRY the Ideas

They will help you to bring your eco-health idea to life with inspiration from practical, real-world examples. This section showcases sustainable ideas in eco-tourism, sport, health, food, and street art. 

4USE the Toolbox 

It will help you easily measure, educate, share, and digitally implement environmentally sustainable methods.

Step 1: THINK with Questions

Download the Environmental Impact Assessment Questions to guide you in identifying and minimising environmental impacts. Each question has an exercise and prompts to guide you with your response.

Sample teaser question/exercise:

Q. What natural areas and environments will your idea interact with?

Exercise: Think about where your idea will take place. Could your idea harm ecosystems or wildlife in natural forests or lakes?

  • Make a List: Write down the parks, forests, rivers, beaches, or other natural places your idea will use or affect.
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Step 2: WATCH the Videos

Watch these expert videos that break down complex sustainability concepts in a simple and engaging way, helping you understand key environmental issues more clearly.

Videos

6 Videos
Description
Description

This video gives an overview of how young entrepreneurs can start eco-friendly businesses and explains the significance of environmental entrepreneurship in reducing ecological footprints. It provides valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities for eco-entrepreneurs.

Step 3: TRY the Ideas

Explore innovative ideas with tailored tools that will help you bring your eco-health idea to life with inspiration from practical, real-world examples. This section showcases environmentally sustainable ideas in eco-tourism, sport, health, food, and street art. Learn how to integrate eco-friendly practices and use digital tools to make a positive impact. Get inspired and empowered to innovate while staying true to your vision!”

Eco-Tourism

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Sport / Adventure

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Food / Events

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Health

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Street Art

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Step 4: USE the Toolbox

Access our Environmental Toolbox which will help you to measure, educate, share, and digitally implement environmentally sustainable activities and methodologies.

This next section introduces practical and affordable tools designed to reduce environmental impact while enhancing your business efficiency. These tools will help you track your sustainability efforts, measure your environmental footprint, and operate your business in a more eco-friendly and responsible way.

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EarthSpeakr

EarthSpeakr is an interactive platform that empowers young people to create digital messages and voice concerns and solutions about the environment.  It invites kids and young people to speak up for the planet and adults to listen up to what they have to say. The artwork uses augmented reality and includes a free app and an interactive website available in 25 languages and accessible worldwide.

Through this app, youth can express their concerns, ideas, and hopes for the planet, making their voices heard in a creative and engaging way. Eco-entrepreneurs can use EarthSpeakr to design interactive community murals or art pieces, where young participants contribute their environmental messages. These murals can serve as powerful tools for raising awareness of sustainability issues and promoting community engagement. EarthSpeakr provides a dynamic, digital way to involve younger generations in environmental activism, promoting education and action for a sustainable future.

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OLIO

OLIO is a sharing app for local communities, with a mission to reduce waste. Everything from food to furniture to clothing. For example, this app reduces food waste by connecting users with local people to share surplus food.

For GRASSROOTS eco-health tourism initiatives, OLIO can be a great tool to minimize food waste at farm-to-table or street food events. By using OLIO, entrepreneurs can offer leftover food to the local community, reducing waste and promoting sustainability. This approach aligns with eco-friendly values, helping to create a circular economy by redistributing excess food rather than letting it go to waste. It’s an easy and effective way to engage participants and promote responsible consumption.

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Seek by iNaturalist

Seek by iNaturalist is a simplified version of iNaturalist. It is s an online community that allows you to publicly share and discuss natural observations (e.g., identify organisms) and create research-quality data for science and conservation.

It is ideal for eco-entrepreneurs looking to make educational stops more interactive and accessible. Participants can use the app to easily identify plant and animal species on the go by simply using their smartphone camera. This tool enhances eco-tourism activities by providing instant, hands-on learning experiences for participants of all ages, encouraging engagement with nature and enabling a deeper understanding of local ecosystems. Seek promotes conservation education in an accessible, fun, and interactive way, making it a perfect tool for eco-friendly tourism initiatives.

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iNaturalist

iNaturalist is an online social network of people sharing biodiversity information to help each other learn about nature.

It is a valuable app for eco-entrepreneurs to engage their audience in nature conservation and local biodiversity. During eco-tourism activities or nature walks, participants can use iNaturalist to identify local plant and animal species, making it an interactive way to connect with the environment. The app encourages community involvement, allowing users to upload observations, learn from experts, and deepen their understanding of local ecosystems. This free, community-driven tool enhances eco-tourism experiences by enabling environmental education, promoting conservation, and creating a sense of shared responsibility for protecting biodiversity.

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EcoTree

EcoTree is an online platform where people who care about trees come to support their sustainability across Europe.

It is a valuable platform for eco-entrepreneurs looking to integrate digital conservation and climate action into their initiatives. It allows entrepreneurs to fund tree-planting projects across Europe, providing an opportunity for community involvement through sponsorships for conservation campaigns. EcoTree enables users to track tree growth and share progress reports with supporters, creating ongoing engagement and accountability. This platform promotes environmental stewardship and strengthens the connection between eco-tourism ventures and sustainable, impactful climate action, making it a powerful tool for building eco-conscious tourism businesses.

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EcoCounter

EcoCounter is a tool designed to track foot traffic and estimate visitor numbers, monitoring pedestrians and cyclists in natural environments.

GRASSROOTS eco-health tourism initiatives can use EcoCounter, to efficiently measure foot traffic at events or eco-tourism sites, helping to assess the environmental footprint of your activities. This data allows for better resource management and helps you understand the impact of your events on the environment. It’s particularly useful for planning sustainable practices, ensuring that visitor numbers align with conservation goals, and optimizing event logistics in an eco-friendly way.

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The UNFCCC Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Calculator

The UNFCCC Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Calculator is a free GHG footprint calculator to help companies estimate their emissions by relevant emissions sources.

A valuable tool for Eco-entrepreneurs aiming to assess and reduce their carbon footprint. Developed by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), this user-friendly platform helps organisations estimate their greenhouse gas emissions, providing crucial data to support climate action efforts. By using the GHG Calculator, Eco-entrepreneurs can better understand their environmental impact, make informed decisions to reduce emissions, and ensure their initiatives are aligned with global sustainability goals in the eco-tourism sector.

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EcoChain

EcoChain is a life cycle assessment (LCA) product and footprint software for companies so they can design their products more sustainably.

The life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology enables eco-entrepreneurs to evaluate the environmental footprint of their projects. This tool helps measure the environmental impact of materials, processes, and products from start to finish, empowering businesses to make more sustainable choices. By using EcoChain, Eco-entrepreneurs can gain valuable insights to reduce their carbon footprint, enhance sustainability practices, and ensure that their tourism initiatives align with environmentally responsible standards.

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Too Good to Go

Too Good to Go: Too Good To Go is an innovative app designed to fight food waste by enabling local vendors to sell surplus food at discounted prices. It connects eco-conscious consumers with businesses like restaurants, bakeries, food events, and grocery stores that are committed to reducing food wastage.

This platform is especially valuable for eco-entrepreneurs, as it promotes a circular economy, helping food businesses minimize their environmental impact while offering sustainable food choices to consumers. Too Good To Go empowers users to access surplus food in real-time, making it easy to reduce food waste, save money, and support local businesses. By allowing users to purchase discounted food from a variety of vendors, the app helps save valuable resources, reduce waste, and promote smarter consumption habits. With its intuitive interface, it encourages participants to make eco-friendly decisions, while enabling a community focused on sustainability. Too Good To Go not only helps lower food-related carbon footprints but also empowers individuals to make environmentally responsible choices. It is an essential tool for anyone passionate about sustainability and reducing waste.

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Energy Elephant

Energy Elephant is a comprehensive sustainability energy management platform. It is an Energy Management System (EnMS) and targeting ISO 50001. Create, organise, analyse and report on continually improving energy performance by automating your data management.

It can greatly benefit eco-entrepreneurs by tracking critical environmental energy data. The platform allows entrepreneurs to effortlessly monitor energy consumption, helps them make renewable energy choices, understand energy upgrades, reduce energy usage, and reduce waste, water usage, transport, carbon emissions, and associated costs from anywhere in the world. With automated data capture, it provides real-time insights into a company’s sustainability and carbon footprint, helping Eco-entrepreneurs make data-driven decisions to reduce environmental impact. Energy Elephant’s platform offers valuable actions, results, and targets, making it an essential tool for businesses committed to sustainability and eco-friendly practices.

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ArcGIS

ArcGIS is a comprehensive online geographic information system (GIS) used to make maps, analyse data and share and collaborate.

Eco-entrepreneurs can use its powerful tools for mapping and analysing data and collaborating with others about natural, heritage, and built environments. For example, Eco-entrepreneurs can create, manage, share, and analyse spatial data to assess environmental impact, plan sustainable tourism routes, and preserve cultural heritage sites. This tool supports informed decision-making and enhances the ability to develop eco-friendly, culturally sensitive, and environmentally responsible tourism initiatives.

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QGIS

QGIS is a free, open-source software that allows users to create, edit, visualize, analyse, and publish geospatial information.

A powerful tool for GRASSROOTS with QGIS, young entrepreneurs can map natural resources, plan eco-tourism routes, and analyse spatial data—essential skills for sustainable tourism. Its cartographic tools allow users to create high-quality maps and visualizations across desktop, mobile, and print, making it ideal for eco-friendly ventures in fields like sports, tourism, culture, and street food. This GIS platform enables data-informed decision-making, enabling impactful, environmentally aware business planning.

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Climate Fresk

Climate Fresk is a 3-hour long workshop that summarises the Nobel prize-winning IPCC climate report in a fun, interactive group activity.

An engaging, collaborative activity workshop and knowledge exchange environment designed to raise awareness of climate change and inspire action. The workshop educates Eco-entrepreneurs on the scientific foundations of climate change and its human causes. Through interactive learning it empowers GRASSROOTS youth and teams to better understand environmental challenges and take meaningful action in their eco-health projects, enabling a more informed and climate-conscious approach to sustainable tourism and environmental stewardship.

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Actionbound

Actionbound is an app for playing digitally interactive scavenger hunts to lead the learner on a path of discovery. Called multimedia-based hunts ‘Bounds’.

An excellent tool for eco-entrepreneurs to create interactive and engaging experiences for their eco-tourism initiatives. By using Actionbound, entrepreneurs can design digital scavenger hunts or guided tour routes that include checkpoints, quizzes, and educational content. This makes nature walks more engaging and educational, encouraging participants to actively explore and learn about the local environment, biodiversity, and conservation efforts. Actionbound enhances the learning experience while promoting environmental awareness and enabling a deeper connection to nature, making it an ideal tool for eco-friendly tourism activities.

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Clean Swell

Clean Swell is a free App for volunteers to use during cleanups to capture important data about pollution and to track their volunteer efforts.

It is a valuable tool for eco-entrepreneurs organising water-based clean-ups. This app allows participants to track the trash they collect, logging types and quantities of waste. The data collected can be used to raise awareness about pollution and support local conservation efforts. By incorporating Clean Swell into your eco-tourism initiatives, you can engage participants in meaningful conservation actions while generating valuable data to inform future sustainability efforts and enable a deeper connection to environmental protection.

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Litterati

Litterati is an app empowering individuals to make a significant, measurable impact on the environment by not just picking up litter but creating a cleaner planet by turning crowd-sourced data and information into actionable insight.

It is an ideal tool for Eco-entrepreneurs organising hiking or eco-tours that include litter collection. This app allows participants to photograph and log each item they pick up, providing a detailed record of the trash collected. It tracks the amount of waste removed from the environment, helping to assess the impact of clean-ups on local ecosystems. By using Litterati, entrepreneurs can engage participants in meaningful conservation activities, generate valuable data on pollution, and promote greater awareness of environmental issues.

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EcoMatcher

EcoMatcher is a blockchain-based platform where you learn anything you need to know about tree planting. A Certified B Corporation that plants trees and complete forests with vetted foundations/NGOs from around the world specialized in planting trees.

A powerful tool for eco-entrepreneurs involved in tree planting or other conservation efforts. It allows you to track trees planted and connect them with participants, offering a unique way to engage supporters. Sponsors and participants can view “their” trees virtually, which strengthens their connection to the project and promotes ongoing involvement in conservation activities. By integrating EcoMatcher into your grassroots initiatives, you can create an interactive, transparent, and engaging experience for your community while contributing to sustainable environmental practices.

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Earth Hero

Earth Hero is an online marketplace that makes sustainable shopping easy. It brings climate action education, habit-building nudges and communities to the fingertips of its users through mobile technology.

A valuable app for GRASSROOTS eco-health tourism initiatives, helping participants understand and track their environmental impact. The app suggests actionable steps to reduce carbon footprints, making it an excellent tool for workshops or community programs focused on sustainability. ‘Each product on our site must meet our high sustainability standards, and we ship all our orders plastic-free and carbon-neutral. Simply put, we’re a bunch of earth-loving folks who are focused on making sustainability simple and accessible’. By using Earth Hero, eco-tourism entrepreneurs can encourage participants to adopt greener practices and actively engage in reducing their environmental impact. It empowers individuals to track their progress and make more informed decisions about their actions, promoting a community dedicated to environmental stewardship and sustainable practices.

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ChatGPT

ChatGPT is OpenAI’s AI-powered chatbot that answers questions and prompts and offers recommendations, explanations, strategies and any other format you request. Sustainable Practices and Impact Measurement: ChatGPT can share ideas on implementing sustainable practices in operations, such as waste reduction, eco-friendly sourcing, and low-cost energy-saving techniques.  Green Certifications & Resources: For businesses interested in eco-certifications, ChatGPT can provide guidance on affordable, locally recognised certifications and tips for compliance.

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This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. The author is solely responsible for this publication (communication) and the Commission accepts no responsibility for any use may be made of the information contained therein. In compliance of the new GDPR framework, please note that the Partnership will only process your personal data in the sole interest and purpose of the project and without any prejudice to your rights therein 2021-2-BE04-KA220-YOU-000050778

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