Pomegranate Global
Helping you ACT ON CLIMATE
We help the education sector act to tackle
climate change by putting students at the heart of the solution.
We raise awareness and build capacity within the sector to act.
We see climate action as an opportunity to help students develop valuable skills in complex problem-solving, teamwork and creative thinking.
About us
Why climate action
is so important
Pomegranate Global offers a range of training and events to build your capacity to tackle climate change and to make your operations more sustainable.
What we deliver
Innovation thrives on collaboration, so please get in touch if you would like to work with us or book one of our services.
Contact Pomegranate Global:
+61 (0) 407 128 462
[email protected]
Contact and collaborate
Contents
About Pomegranate Global
Pomegranate Global offers a range of practical solutions to help education providers make their operations more environmentally sustainable, and to equip their students and staff to take action on climate change.
Pomegranate’s range of services has been designed by drawing on our extensive experience in the international education sector, climate leadership training with former US Vice-President Al Gore, and input from students themselves on what action they expect from our sector.
Services include training and events: masterclasses, workshops, webinars, and innovation challenges, as well
as modules and support to introduce a sustainability framework to your leadership and global mobility programs.
Pomegranate Global can also help you with strategy development and advice to help your organisation lead on tackling climate breakdown.
At Pomegranate Global we believe that people learn best when they have real and meaningful problems to solve and are supported to think creatively.
The pomegranate represents infinite possibilities - a multitude of seeds, each of which can burst into life if nurtured under the right conditions. The pomegranate
also holds a powerful place in many
different cultures where it is seen as embodying prosperity, and as a symbol of life and rebirth.
Why a Pomegranate?
Ailsa Lamont
Founder
Pomegranate Global was founded in 2016 by Ailsa Lamont, an international education professional with 30 years of experience working in more than 70 countries around the world.
Her professional background ranges across capacity building, economic development and Russian interpreting to 16 years with Australian universities (JCU, RMIT, CQUniversity), including at senior level as International Director and Pro Vice-Chancellor International. At CQU she led their successful bid to become Australia’s first member of the Ashoka U global network of changemaker campuses.
At Pomegranate Global she has drawn on this global perspective and diverse experience to create a range of unique services for the education and business sectors, to help them do more to tackle climate change and to use climate action as a vehicle for transformational learning.
Ailsa is a graduate of US Vice-President Al Gore’s Climate Reality Leadership program and a former international student in the USSR, Germany and Papua New Guinea.
Pomegranate Global is all about supporting people and institutions in making practical steps to live and operate more sustainably, which is why we choose to align ourselves with organisations with the same ethos. eduKUDU helps institutions make the transition from paper-based to digital marketing through its cutting edge design and storage technology – making eduKUDU our perfect
strategic partner.
Pamela is an experienced international education consultant, having worked in senior positions in the UK, North America and South East Asia. Pamela delivers consulting projects and training activity for clients globally through her company, Barton Carlyle.
An Associate with KPMG, one of the global “Big Four” audit and advisory firms; Pamela is an international education expert providing insight for KPMG clients in the UK, Canada, Ireland and Australia. Pamela leads the team as providers of ICEF's research and consulting service, ICEF Achieve, and frequently attends and presents at ICEF events. For the past three years. Pamela has also presented at the annual WIEC conference.
For the past decade Dr Julie Roberts has worked within the entrepreneurial, social enterprise and developmental areas of a number of universities, a shift that beautifully complements her experience as a Deputy Dean, Learning & Teaching. Julie has led Work Integrated Learning projects in Vietnam. In 2017, Julie spent a year living in Oaxaca, Mexico, undertaking volunteer work, writing and learning more about the challenges facing communities with strong living indigenous cultures. At the end of 2017 she returned to Australia to work on Special Projects at Monash University and develop study tours to Oaxaca for students. Currently she is working with the Faculty of Art, Design & Architecture at Monash University to develop their strategies in entrepreneurship and innovation.
Pomegranate Global has a strong network of experts from across the higher education and environmental sectors to draw on and collaborate with to ensure delivery of the highest quality service utilising the most relevant expertise.
Associates and partners
Dr Julie Roberts
Innovation and Human Centred Design Specialist
Pamela K Barrett
CEO of Barton Carlyle
Pomegranate Global is all about supporting people and institutions in making practical steps to live and operate more sustainably, which is why we choose to align ourselves with organisations with the same ethos. eduKUDU helps institutions make the transition from paper-based to digital marketing through its cutting edge design and storage technology – making eduKUDU our perfect
strategic partner.
For the past decade Dr Julie Roberts has worked within the entrepreneurial, social enterprise and developmental areas of a number of universities, a shift that beautifully complements her experience as a Deputy Dean, Learning & Teaching. Julie has led Work Integrated Learning projects in Vietnam. In 2017, Julie spent
a year living in Oaxaca, Mexico, undertaking volunteer work, writing and learning more about the challenges facing communities with strong living indigenous cultures. At the end of 2017 she returned to Australia to work on Special Projects at Monash University and develop study tours to Oaxaca for students. Currently she is working with the Faculty of Art, Design & Architecture at Monash University to develop their strategies in entrepreneurship and innovation.
Pomegranate Global has a strong network of experts from across the higher education and environmental sectors to draw on and collaborate with to ensure delivery of the highest quality service utilising the most relevant expertise.
Associates and Partners
Dr Julie Roberts
Innovation and Human Centred Design Specialist
“A shout out to @pomegranglobal, who’s doing vital work sounding the alarm & helping universities & students combat #climatechange. We in #intled must do much more to offset the CO2 impacts of international air travel.”
Eddie West
Executive Director
International Programs, at
UC Berkeley Extension
Climate action has multiple benefits on top of the satisfaction that comes from doing your part to help the planet. Climate change is a wicked problem that requires international collaboration and multidisciplinary skills to solve so involving students in thinking about solutions helps to build core skills that employers value, including complex problem-solving, critical thinking and creativity (the top three skills needed for a successful career by 2020 according to a recent World Economic Forum Future of Jobs survey).
Why climate action is so important
81%
of millennials expect companies to be
environmentally responsible
Horizon Media Study, 2014
90%
will switch brand based on
green credentials
Cone Millenial Cause Study, 2006
Green Issues
International students factor
into choice of university
1.4 Million
young people around the world took part in school strikes for climate action
The Guardian, 2019
More than
In a study commissioned by Pomegranate Global in 2018, a team of international students conducted an online survey and focus groups to understand student attitudes to sustainability.
Study Result Highlights:
The study was part of the Study Melbourne LIVE program in July 2018. Focus groups and interviews were conducted with 20 students from RMIT University, Monash University, University of Melbourne, William Angliss Institute, La Trobe University and Deakin University, and the online survey attracted 116 valid responses from across Australia.
Students factor sustainability into their choices
Have considered to some extent / Have not considered at all the environmental sustainability when choosing their institutions
International education is both part of the problem and the solution. On the one hand,
greenhouse gas emissions associated with international student mobility are substantial and growing. On the other, climate change is the greatest wicked problem of our time, requiring a
global, inter-disciplinary, collaborative response; exactly the skills and mindset an international education develops.
At least 14 megatons of CO2 emissions per year are associated with international student mobility. Emissions per student are dropping but the number of internationally mobile students is increasing (from 1.4 million in 1999 to 4.8 million in 2016).
In 2014, more than 350,000 new international students flew to Australia to start a higher education program: you would need to plant enough trees (8,667,244) to fill the whole of Sydney harbor to offset those emissions.
The new Times Higher Education Impact and Innovation Ranking (2019) will shine
a spotlight on institutions’ green credentials.
THE is developing a new global university ranking to measure institutions’ success
in delivering the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. The 17 goals – which include providing inclusive and equitable quality education, achieving gender equality and fostering innovation – were adopted by the UN in 2016 and provide a framework for developing the world in a sustainable way.
From 2019 they will rank universities on their efforts to reduce their operating carbon footprint, to educate on environmental issues and to build climate change adaptation capability.
Why climate action is so important
‘’The webinar through IEAA was great, scary to see some of the facts but at the same time inspiring. I must admit that I had not really given the carbon footprint of international education much thought before, and certainly not how we in the industry can (or should I say must) act. This webinar changed that, and I now feel motivated to try and make an impact in reducing my own footprint further, as
well as find suitable actions for our office and institution.’’
Anna Ekstrand
Team Leader Student Mobility
University of Tasmania
Why climate action is so important
The world has warmed by about 1°C since pre-industrial times because of human activity. Carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases absorb more solar radiation and trap more heat in the atmosphere.
Many people assume that Earth is too vast to be harmed through human activity, or that the planet can recover quickly from environmental damage. But the science is clear: when we burn dirty fuels – like coal or oil – we are polluting our air and warming our planet.
At COP 21 in Paris, on 12 December 2015, Parties to the UNFCCC reached a landmark agreement to combat climate change and to accelerate and intensify the actions and investments needed for a sustainable low carbon future. The Paris Agreement’s central aim is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above
pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Why Safe Climate
Targets Matter
Paris Actions Actual Warming Path
“outright Chaos”
center for strategic & international studies US
“Extremely dangerous” boundary
Prof. Kevin Anderson, Tyndall Centre For Climate change research
Arctic sea ice & West Antarctic Ice
tipping points
“1.5° is not an appropriate Goal
Dr Janes Hansen
Restoring temperature to the holocene range is crucial to avoid strong feedbacks
Dr Janes Hansen
Paris Upper Limit Goal
Warming already in the system - Paris lower limit goal
Additional Warming over the past 30 years
Holocene: Warming Range of Last 11,000 years
Top Ten Climate
Action Tips
Climate action services
We focus on optimism to empower and guide you to take positive action
“I am honoured to have Ailsa Lamont as a Mentor for our Climate Action project awarded by Australia Awards under Regional Australia Awards Workshop. Ailsa has been an inspiring mentor. Her commitment to Climate Action has actually helped us make the project flawless. Her willingness to share her own experiences, attention to details and listening are all the qualities that helped us develop an amazing project. As a Trainer, she has provided complete support in developing the content for our Training Bootcamp and shared all the valuable resources with us which helped us learn. She has been an amazing trainer and we have thoroughly enjoyed and learned from her during the Workshop. Her constant support even after the project is over, has been invaluable.”
Fatima Anila
CEO & Director, AlishVerish
Earth action lab
A workshop focused on climate action
This workshop can be run over a half day or a full day and covers:
A) The scale of the climate challenge, the causes and effects of climate change, and how individuals can take action to reduce their own ecological footprint.
B) Changemaking skills, including an introduction to human-centred design and how to assess and maximise your impact. Students form teams, select their challenge and design their solution.
Module 1
The scale of the Challenge
Module 2
Climate change:
cause and effect
Module 3
Actions
and Impact
Module 4
The power in
your hands
Innovation challenge
(optional)
Earth action innovation challenge
This is a unique program combining an innovation challenge and experiential learning with a focus on climate action. It develops and hones students’ skills in creative problem-solving, business planning, teamwork and pitching and is an opportunity to work in-depth on the real challenge of helping make businesses, institutions and cities more environmentally sustainable.
The Challenge is designed to run over several weeks or months. Each team is mentored throughout to keep them on track and provide them with additional advice and support. It culminates in a final competition where students pitch their solutions.
Learning Outcomes:
Strategy and Consulting
Climate Action Consulting
Pomegranate Global offers a range of advice and support services for institutions and businesses wanting to operate more sustainably and build their climate-resilience. This service can be tailored to individual needs; examples include:
International Education Consulting
Pomegranate Global has a wealth of experience and expertise in providing international education consulting services ranging from strategy development to operational reviews.
We provide expert consulting on: marketing and recruitment; scholarships; international office operations; study abroad; learning abroad; ELICOS; internships and employability programs; admissions; regulatory compliance and visa risk management; offshore operations; strategic partnerships and internationalisation.
Pomegranate Global clients include governments, scholarship bodies and universities across Australasia and Europe. To complement these strengths and provide a more fully comprehensive service internationally, Pomegranate Global has a strategic partnership with Barton Carlyle.
“Powerful, compelling and action-oriented @IEAAustralia webinar by AilsaLamont @pomegranglobal on #intled contribution to #climatechange. Learners wanting the industry to do more.”
Helen Zimmerman
Former President of
the International Education
Association of Australia
Benefits and Impact
Pomegranate Global has delivered climate action events and training to more than 1,000 people around the world. Our experience shows that people get switched on very quickly to the importance of tackling climate change when they are guided to take action in manageable and practical ways.
Benefits for students
Students have much to gain from Pomegranate Global climate action sessions.
They will understand the scale of the climate challenge, the causes and effects of climate change and what personal actions they can take to reduce their ecological footprint. They will learn how to use a human-centred design approach to design and plan solutions that will have maximum systemic impact. Students can also build their transferable skills by working within a diverse team including local and international students from a range of disciplines and institutions.
Grappling with complex challenges builds creative problem solving
Students learn better working on real problems where they can make a difference
Creating opportunities for students to lead can be empowering
Climate action is the perfect platform for connecting local and international
students and community partners
We asked five students attending an Earth action lab to calculate their ecological footprint before and two weeks after
they attended.
Number of Earths refers to the number of planets’ resources we would need if everyone lived like you.
“I didn’t know that much about the Earth’s situation before one of Pomegranate Global’s info sessions. It helped me realise what is happening and what needs to be done about our planet.”
Hieu Thai
Monash University student,
Melbourne
Benefits for institutions
Institutions work hard to build employability skills and offer work experience to students but it can be difficult to find enough host companies and live case studies to meet student demand. Using climate action as a learning platform to build these skills, and matching businesses who want to operate more sustainably with students within a WIL framework can be a real bonus for institutions.
The education sector also contributes to climate change through air travel emissions, transportation and general operations. Involving students in finding ways to cut those emissions offers a way for the sector to cut its own carbon footprint while empowering and engaging students and local community and industry partners.
Climate action also offers a range of opportunities for staff development and meaningful alumni engagement.
Climate action internship
An internship with a difference that makes a difference – students gain real experience working for a start up, business or organisation by helping them develop a plan to cut their carbon footprint and operate more sustainably.
We provide support and training at every step of the way to guide students to:
Climate change is a wicked problem that offers the perfect vehicle for experiential learning.
The climate action internship:
Pomegranate Global sources the clients, provides the climate action training and resources, offers mentoring and manages the placements. Credit-bearing options can be developed and tailored to meet the needs of individual institutions.
