Long ago Ben & Jerry’s co-founder, Ben Cohen said:

‘Business has a responsibility to give back to the community in which it operates’

To which fellow co-founder Jerry Greenfield added ‘If it’s not fun,
why do it?’.

And that in essence laid the foundations for the Ben & Jerry’s Climate Change College - which aims to inspire 18-30 year olds to deliver business orientated solutions to Climate Change and have fun.

The College consists of a 9 month business mentoring programme (worth €21,000 per student) and a €7,000 monetary grant to launch a unique project. The programme is largely virtual with a 1-1 mentor, except for a 3 day workshop in Brussels in February and a two week scientific field trip to the Arctic in April. All travel is covered by Ben & Jerry’s and is offset through Cool Your Jets which invests in renewable energy projects.

Great projects will have the following attributes:

• Environmental Benefits - Reducing greenhouse gases (GHG)
• Social Benefits - Bringing about behavioural change, encouraging other people to become part of the movement.
• Economic Benefits - Saving money from energy cuts, which ideally can be reinvested to create social value.

To view examples of previous projects click here.