Consumer attitudes towards sustainability are shifting and there is an increasing demand for businesses to showcase their environmental initiatives and commitments to responsible and ethical practices. Developing a sustainability or ESG strategy outlines a businesses sustainability commitments and communicates environmental and social efforts to stakeholders. It is important that strategies are well thought out and are in line with wider business priorities. Sustainability initiatives should be authentic and when making any public claims, it needs to be backed up by evidence (or verified by a third party) to avoid greenwashing.

Identifying and prioritising the most significant environmental, social and governance issues is a key part of the strategy. Conducting a materiality assessment is a useful exercise to engage with stakeholders and identify what these are (see materiality assessment/ stakeholder engagement section for more information).

Setting goals and targets for future years should be included within a strategy and it is important to tie in any investor disclosures or reporting frameworks that the business is already following or plans to follow in future years (e.g. CSA, GRI, SASB). There is a lot to think about when developing a strategy and the way in which it is communicated is equally important. Please see below (integrated reporting).

There are many ways in which a business can document their sustainability and ESG strategy and initiatives. The way in which this is communicated is important and may be influenced by investor disclosures and other business priorities. Some businesses document their sustainability/ ESG efforts within their Annual Report along with their financial and other non-financial information to provide a comprehensive view of the company. Others may choose to publish it in a separate or additional Sustainability Report. There is no right or wrong way to communicate this but bigger organisations are likely to be influenced by legislative requirements and other sustainability reporting frameworks that they might follow.

Sustainability reporting frameworks include the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) which provide standardised guidelines for organisations to disclose their environmental, social and governance performance. Task Force on Climate- related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) are other examples of sustainability reporting frameworks which are heavily related to climate disclosure. CDP also has a broader focus on environmental impact.

The way in which a business reports this can be overwhelming and it is best practice to cross reference any sustainability reporting frameworks to each other where possible. I can offer project management for a variety of frameworks to ensure all the requirements are reported on correctly. If you are in the early stages of your sustainability/ ESG journey and are currently unsure which reporting frameworks would be best for your business then I will also be happy to advise.

B Corp certification is becoming increasingly recognised by consumers and there are now more than 8,000 B Corporations globally. There is significant value in a business being a certified B Corp. As well as the business being externally verified and recognised for balancing people and the planet in line with profit, it can increase customer loyalty, employee engagement and win over conscious consumers.

I have led a variety of companies through the B Impact Assessment in order to achieve B Corp certification. The B Impact Assessment is a great tool to establish a fresh sustainability strategy for a brand and I have a deep understanding of the certification process which allows me to break down complex sections into a series of ‘mini projects’ to tackle multiple requirements in one go. I thoroughly enjoy working with internal teams within a company to understand and find appropriate ways to communicate key sustainability messages and ensure a score of 85+ points first time round.

Some companies prefer to gain certifications for their individual products (rather than or as well as a company wide certification such as B Corp). Product certifications are awarded to individual products or services based on their environmental impact throughout their lifecycle, from raw material extraction to disposal or recycling.

Examples of product certifications include Cradle to Cradle (C2C) which can be achieved at different levels (bronze, silver, gold, platinum) depending on how much evidence there is to show that a product has a high environmental and social performance throughout their entire lifecycle. This evidence can be challenging to collate and manage to meet the stringent criteria. Identifying improvement areas will also be required in order to be able meet evolving certification requirements.

I am pleased to be able to offer project management and expertise through certifications such as C2C, Declare, Nordic Swan ecolabel and others.

Conducting a materiality assessment or another type of stakeholder engagement can be a really beneficial way to identify what the most important ESG or sustainability issues are to a business. This can then feed into the wider sustainability strategy as a way to structure and prioritise different stakeholder values.

A stakeholder includes anyone who is interested in the business/ company. Examples of stakeholders include employees, board members, customers, suppliers, partners and investors. It is important to recognise different roles that stakeholders play in the business and identify appropriate ways to engage with them in order to shape the sustainability or ESG strategy.

I am able to work with your business to identify stakeholders and work out the best way to engage with them to help shape your sustainability strategy.

There are a number of reasons as to why your business might want a new specific policy. This can be due to employee expectations, certification requirements, risk mitigation purposes or to improve the onboarding experience for new starters. Policies and documents such as an Employee Handbook serve as important tools for communication, management and maintaining a positive and consistent work environment.

Through my experiences to date I have written a wide variety of policies from breastfeeding policies, equality, diversity and inclusion policies, environmental policies and human rights. Additionally, I have put together a range of other documents including Employee Handbook’s, Employee Engagement questionnaires, Supplier Codes of Conduct and Supplier Surveys for engagement and transparency purposes. Please reach out to find out how I can support you on your policy documentation.

For growing or large organisations, investor disclosures are a key way to communicate ESG performance. These disclosures provide transparency on how a company is managing its impact on the environment, its social practices, and its governance structure. Investors are increasingly focusing on ESG and therefore how well your business performs in an ESG investor disclosure can be critical. Examples of disclosures include the S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA), Sustainalytics and EcoVadis.

Depending on the size of your business and wider business goals, these disclosures can be used as a key framework in developing a robust ESG strategy. Please get in touch for any enquiries on this.

Developing charity partnerships are an impactful way to contribute to the wider community. They can form a valuable part of sustainability/ ESG strategies as well as corporate social responsibility.

Through my experiences to date I have been lucky to work with a wide range of impactful charities and formed different types of partnerships depending on the size and scale of a business. There are different ways of supporting and working with charities (it doesn't always have to be a huge financial donation) in order to benefit both a charity and your business. Please reach out to find out more on how I can help.

Environmental and social training is a great way to raise environmental and social awareness within the organisation, understand some of the legislative pressures that businesses are under and encourage employees to contribute any environmental and social initiatives and ideas that they might have.

I can offer environmental and social training to employees within your business ranging from CEO’s to new graduates.