How do you build an internal culture around sustainability that will give you the confidence to demand better performance from your customers and stakeholders?
Since it was established in 1957, WHICH? has been the trusted consumer watchdog for product integrity. As sustainability and climate change becomes front and centre in long-term business planning, WHICH? has responded by introducing their EcoBuy category to highlight standout products that demonstrated exceptional environmental or energy performance. However, as they seek to go further and establish sustainability at the heart of product reviews, they want to address their own footprint to create a culture in which their increasingly tough stance on sustainability is reflected by their own daily business practices.
As a result, WHICH? commissioned Insight Futures (IF) to undertake a review of their existing environmental practices to first capture the quick wins and improvement measures within their immediate office activities.
Working with the WHICH? Workplace Experience team, IF undertook an assessment of environmental performance across energy, waste, water, procurement and materials used in cleaning and soft Facilities Management (FM) services. The outcomes were presented in a report and supporting presentation that was delivered to members of WHICH?’s senior team.
This work has not only allowed the organisation to target specific activities over the next 6 months (the quick wins and low cost/high impact activities) but has also fuelled wider discussion within the WHICH? Exec about the long-term vision for sustainability. It is recognised that short-term activities will allow the organisation to build momentum and visibility internally; however, sustaining this impact will only be achieved through a culture in which sustainability is embedded within the fabric of the business.
As their online social demographic becomes younger and more environmentally conscious, WHICH? has had increasing calls to incorporate ethical considerations into their product reviews. As they begin to find their voice on these matters, they are keen to walk the talk by building a culture that reflects the practices that they are seeking to promote.
The project was commissioned by the Director of Sustainability – a new role within the organisation, and managed through WHICH?’s Workplace Experience Team located across 3 offices in London, Bristol and Cardiff.
A review of desktop data allowed us to establish existing performance, and benchmark against leading building standards. We gathered the data from our findings along with the outcomes from interviews with key staff and populated our prototype diagnostic tool, which assesses sustainability readiness across 4 key themes and generates an easily understandable spider-graph output. We also used this tool to plot the outcomes of the materiality assessment – ranking the business and customer importance of over 35 environmental issues in order to identify the key areas of focus for the report.
The project was delivered over Q4 in 2020, between October and December.
