Engaging our people

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With the pandemic re-shaping the way we live and work, we have to manage our environmental footprint differently. Our people have a huge role to play.

In response to COVID-19, we launched our Sustainability at Home campaign, to support our people in driving positive environmental action from home. The campaign – which has been shortlisted for a 2021 Business Green Leaders Award and a Global Good Award - saw us host a series of sustainability-focused webinars, covering topics such as the future of climate – looking at money, travel, waste and diet – and the role of bees as a pollinator within the global ecosystem.

We also launched our Live Savvy Championship, in collaboration with environmental behaviour change charity Hubbub, which saw 260 Partners and colleagues take practical action to live more sustainably. From making their food go further to getting creative with plant pots, they've been able to save water, reduce carbon emissions and limit food miles too.

Examples of our Live Savvy Championship impact:

By switching to a renewable energy provider, our colleague participants saved the equivalent amount of emissions required to take a return flight from London to Tokyo 3 times

By swapping to plant-based meals, our colleague participants saved the equivalent amount of energy to charge 7,652 smartphones

Through various water-saving measures, such as shortening showers and checking for leaks, our colleague participants saved an estimated 138,230 litres of water

Protecting the planet, from home

Cycling to work and growing her own vegetables have been Shruthi's way of giving back to nature in the past, but during the pandemic, she wanted to do more. "I could not resist joining Hubbub's Live Savvy Championship." The five-week Championship was a real eye-opener for Shruthi. "By taking part, I have become much more aware of my surroundings and the ways I can protect them. I have learnt to appreciate the smaller things in life like watching a seed sprout or a flower bloom. Most importantly, I have learnt to appreciate others' work and the value of sharing my learnings with them too." Out of over 260 colleagues who signed up to the Championship, Shruthi was crowned our ultimate Live Savvy Champion, for completing the most sustainability challenges. "I am proud of the difference I have made in living a more sustainable and healthy life.

Shruthi / Manager

Progress through passion

How our Environmental Champions are enabling greater carbon reduction.

Our Environment Champion network supports us to make progress towards becoming a Net Zero business by 2030. Our champions think innovatively about ways to reduce our negative environmental impact and they engage their local colleagues on ways to create a positive impact too.

Toby and Yousuf are two of our Environment Champions, based in our Leeds office. They helped to create a dashboard, which quantifies the greenhouse gas emissions generated by the Leeds office. The data informs the ways in which the office can make a tangible different to the environment by proposing ideas for using renewable energy sources, encouraging rail travel and a more efficient heating pump.

Toby says: “It has been great to come together with like minded people who are passionate about the environment, opening up the conversation about what individuals and businesses can do to be more environmentally aware and active. And I've broadened my knowledge and skills in the process.”

Toby /Analyst
Yousuf / Apprentice

We are also engaging our people to support our communities in this space. We've teamed up with Hubbub to deliver the Climate Champions programme to secondary schools across the UK, helping to engage students on environmental topics and giving them the confidence and skills to address the climate crisis and challenges of eco-anxiety.

Ahead of COP26, we are committed to support the Count Us In campaign - a global campaign aiming to mobilise 1 billion people to take practical steps to reduce carbon pollution. We'll be encouraging our colleagues to take part and contribute their actions into the global aggregator, demonstrating our commitment to deliver lasting change.

We're proud of the positive environmental action our people have taken to date, and we know we can help them do more. This year, we launched HomeHQ – a research project aimed at helping us better understand what our people care about most, and the barriers they face in creating a positive environmental impact. Almost 500 of our people, from graduates to partners, shared their insights with us. We will use these insights to shape our environment strategy of the future.