How to Develop a Sustainability Team

Bringing sustainability into your business will make reducing carbon emissions and minimising waste quicker and easier. One way to support your sustainability initiatives is to build a sustainability team of like-minded employees who will help drive your initiatives forward.

Step 1: Prepare

Find employees in your company who are passionate about sustainability and are want to assist in achieving sustainability initiatives. Set clear outcomes for the first meeting. It is critical that employees believe things are progressing in terms of business sustainability strategies. Allow employees to express their reasons for wanting to participate during the first meeting, and then assign key roles such as team leader and treasurer, as well as assess participation. Do you want to build a team of senior managers and executives with the authority and knowledge to make decisions, carry them out quickly, and raise your team’s profile and credibility? Consider how many people will be involved and how much they will be able to contribute to the sustainability journey.

Step 2: Action

Assess your company’s current position and, as a result, define and set a mid-long term vision with strong commitments, and then break it down into achievable goals. From this, agree on time commitment and delegate clear roles for each team member and define what is expected of each member. Define your team vision and mission, and ensure they are consistent with the direction and vision of your organisation. Consider the help your team will need, for example, consider how much budget you will require, and for which projects? And if there is no budget, how do you manage?

Step 3: Celebrate

Initiatives should be monitored in order to track performance, identify new opportunities, identify areas of resistance or concern. The outcomes of an initiative should be communicated to the team with clear facts and figures. Remember that celebrating accomplishments is critical to the success of your sustainability team. Each achievement, no matter how significant, demonstrates the effects and support for sustainability within your organisation. This also shows that the member’s efforts are appreciated. *Don’t ignore this aspect of your sustainability team, whether it’s events or personal recognition*.

Start your journey towards a more sustainable future by involving employees. If you’re struggling to talk to and engage employees about sustainability download our Net Zero communications pack, it’s packed full of useful resources!