My name is Maurizio Liberante, I was born in Belfast and I am a passionate collaborator and ideator. I set up Sustain for a number of reasons. A few years ago soon after the pandemic, I felt an overwhelming anxiety (as many of us have) related to the climate crisis and a sense of helplessness.

In attempts to navigate this I began volunteering with a climate non-profit, but soon felt that their approach did not feel all-encompassing so left to found a non-profit called Climate Local. From Climate Local, my co-founder, Andrew O’Regan and I soon inadvertently developed a framework of thinking we call context to action. Through seeking contextualisation of news related to the climate crisis and subsequently linking relative actions from a hyper local through international level we formalised this thinking – only through context will individuals, communities, organisations and even government take action.

This thinking is not necessarily profound or innovative, but this simplicity is what makes the framework so transferable and accessible – if I understand, I am more likely to act. I have since taken this approach when I attended One Young World 2023 in Belfast, in my understanding of others in this space and their initiatives and experiences, which gave me a renewed passion for collaboration. Also I have used this thinking in the underpinning of an ESG programme at Factor Law launching a Global ESG Committee with focus areas spanning community, policy and messaging.

We look to use the “café” (see Cafés) concept to facilitate, in effect, context to action throughout the organisation on various topics of ESG as well as production of guidance for day-to-day work and informing policy, reporting and pledges related to ESG. Further I developed the initiative Responsible AI for Climate Action (RAICA) to explore the potential of expediency that AI can bring to climate action, but also need for consideration of responsible use. This aligns with my recent move into AI proper with Factor Law.