Service Details

Sustainability

When it comes to sustainability and corporate responsibility, we believe the normal rules of business apply. That is, to be successful, organizations must embed sustainable principles in the core of their strategy, operations and culture. We work with private and public sector organizations to do just that, identifying opportunities and developing robust business cases to make sustainability a source of on-going and increasing value.

 

WHAT WE DO

We help organizations make critical decisions related to sustainability strategy, environmental and social impact of operations, stakeholder engagement and sustainability-related growth and cost opportunities. We work to ensure that sustainability efforts are anchored in business fundamentals and demonstrate a clear return on investment—and that those efforts are then firmly embedded within our clients’ strategy and operations. Our teams specialize in a few key areas:

  • Integrating sustainability and strategy: We help companies factor the full range of social, environmental and economic issues into strategy development and execution.
  • Sustainable supply chain: We work to optimize the use of natural resources with an emphasis on supply chain initiatives and circular economics, and supply security and resilience through socially and environmentally responsible practices.
  • Inclusive markets: We help companies harness the production and consumption potential of individuals in developing markets across the globe.
  • Resource management: Our teams help address specific challenges facing organizations in resource-intensive industries.

Our sustainability and corporate responsibility consulting teams have worked with hundreds of clients across all geographic regions. We bring data-driven analysis, practical insights and proven methodologies to each of our engagements, along with deep expertise in sustainability issues in industries ranging from Consumer Products to Industrial Goods & Services.

OUR APPROACH

Sustainability is an increasingly important topic for executives, employees, consumers and communities. In addressing sustainability challenges, we are guided by a number of core beliefs:

  • Success with sustainability requires an organization to focus and align its priorities with its core strategy, rather than pursuing headlines or pet projects.
  • It is imperative to prioritize sustainability efforts to reflect an organization’s full footprint and critical stakeholders, not just what’s “inside our four walls”.
  • Clearly defined ambition and goals will help ensure sustainability initiatives contribute to competitive advantage and avoid over- or under-investment.
  • While the business case may not always be obvious, leaders often find creative solutions for generating returns and value through sustainability actions.
  • Reaching full potential requires successfully embedding sustainability in an organization’s strategy, operations and culture. This can’t be an initiative “on the side”, but rather “in the core”.

Our approach to sustainability engagements often proceeds through four main phases to develop the priorities for action:

  • Prioritize the issues: We diagnose the state of current sustainability programs and perform a detailed assessment of the key stakeholders and competitors to provide insight into prioritization.
  • Define the ambition: We work with our clients to define a bold sustainability mission that ties to business strategy, with realistic and measurable goals.
  • Innovate the business model: We help design and develop business models and a business case that support sustainability initiatives and evaluate partnerships that may add value to the program.
  • Embed the change: Relying on  proprietary approach to change management, called (RD) Results Deliver, we develop the appropriate organization and governance structure to ensure success, and design tools and processes to track progress.

Our credibility in fostering sustainable change comes not only from our deep experience in the field, but also from tackling many of the same issues in our own organization. We are committed to increasing our social and public sector involvement and making sustainability a firm-wide priority.