Green IT Challenge: More kilometres, more greenery!
Walking to work, cycling in, and those small everyday choices… and the outcome? A real donation towards planting trees in local communities.
Have you ever thought: “Right, I’ll walk today — but what do we get out of it beyond the steps?”
Now imagine if those few kilometres could turn into a brand-new tree in the city.
Well… we decided to test it. And that’s how the Green IT Challenge was born — a simple idea that brings together movement, team spirit, and something genuinely good for the community.
And the truth is, Green IT isn’t new for us. For years, we’ve been showing up for greener cities in different ways — from early planting actions and making kindergarten spaces greener, to projects that connected colleagues, local communities, and one straightforward belief: together, we can make our city a nicer place to live.
This challenge was the natural next step. Same idea, new format — shifting the focus to everyday habits and proving that even our steps (and pedals) can leave a real mark.
Why did we start the challenge?
Because we wanted to wrap everything we genuinely care about into one story:
- looking after our health and staying active
- taking responsibility for the environment
- supporting each other and doing it as a team
- turning good intentions into visible action in our local communities
It turns out those “small” choices (like how we get to work) can connect all of the above into one big goal. No big complications — just a bit of consistency.
How did it work in practice?
The Green IT Challenge ran from 22 May 2025 to 22 September 2025 — long enough for habits to stick, but not so long that we’d give up after the first rainy week!
The rules were as simple as they come:
- Whenever we could, we travelled to work on foot or by bike.
- We logged our kilometres in our internal FitLife app.
- For every kilometre recorded, the Vega IT Foundation donated 10 RSD (Serbian dinars) towards tree planting.
Could it get any simpler?
What made it special?
To keep things fun (and add a healthy dose of friendly competition), we sprinkled in a few moments that kept our energy and motivation high.
No Car/Bus Friday
On the last Friday of every month, kilometres counted double. It was a chance to score more points, climb the internal leaderboard, and boost the donation total.
But it was also a friendly reminder that sometimes all it takes is not hopping into the car — and you’ve already done something good.
Monthly shout-outs for the top scorers
At the start of each month, we celebrated the colleagues with the most points from the previous month — one category for walking, one for cycling. The prizes were symbolic… but the feeling definitely wasn’t!
And everyone else? They got that extra push of motivation for the month ahead.
A mid-challenge checkpoint
Halfway through, we did a proper snapshot: who’s leading, who’s catching up, who surprised themselves (and others), and just how far we’d come as a team.
The finale, powered by European Mobility Week
Our final week overlapped with European Mobility Week — a Europe-wide campaign supported by the European Commission and held every year from 16–22 September, encouraging people and communities to try cleaner, more sustainable ways of getting around, with its well-known Car-Free Day as a key moment.
For us, that meant: double kilometres, every day in the final week — plus internal mini-challenges for extra points. If it’s a finale, let’s make it a proper one!
Results
Let’s keep it short and clear — these are the numbers we were genuinely excited about (based on our internal tracking during the challenge):
- 170 colleagues took part
- 22,288+ km logged in 4 months
- 94 walkers, 76 cyclists
- 222,880 RSD raised for greening projects
- estimates: around 3,700 kg of CO₂ avoided and about 1,600 litres of fuel saved thanks to kilometres travelled without a car
And the best part? This wasn’t the end of the story — it was just the “green” beginning.
The Green IT Challenge continues
Because Green IT really clicked for us, we brought it back this year — in February, as part of a 21-day internal challenge, but in a slightly different format.
This time, instead of counting kilometres, we had daily mini-tasks. Some were simple but meaningful: pick up litter in your neighbourhood, feed birds or abandoned animals, walk or cycle whenever you can. Others invited us to slow down: 30 minutes outdoors, a healthy meal “without rushing”, a bit of time for a hobby. And there were reflective tasks too — the kind that shift your focus and help you notice the things that usually slip under the radar.
Each task earned points, and each point turned into a 10 RSD donation. So in February, we kept building greener habits — and real support for tree planting.
And we raised another 73,720 RSD in the process. Added to last year’s amount, that brings us to a total of 296,600 RSD for making our cities greener.
What’s next?
The Green IT Challenge was never only about competition. It was more like an invitation: to be mindful of our habits, support each other, and leave a positive mark in the communities where we live.
Now we’re heading towards the moment we’re all waiting for: tree planting — when all those kilometres and points become real, new greenery in our cities.
Thank you to everyone who was part of this story — for every step, every pedal, and every “Come on, I can do it today!”. See you in the next round — at the planting!
