ESG: SAY’s Strategy Update
What is ESG?
‘Environmental, Social and Governance’ (ESG) is a framework which can be used to evaluate a company’s operations and provide a structured, holistic approach to managing risks and determining opportunities.
Why does ESG matter to SAY?
At SAY, we have set up an ESG strategy group who have been looking into how we can adopt this ESG framework, both internally and externally. ESG matters to SAY because we recognise that we operate within a sector which generates nearly 40% of global CO2 emissions, and where the global building floor area is expected to double by 2060. We have also understood the UK Government’s aim to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Whilst we are a small voice, we will do what we can and play our part in meeting this target.
How is SAY approaching ESG?
Prior to embarking on our ESG consultancy services and delivering sustainability advice to clients, SAY have been getting their house in order and have set six ambitious goals covering: regulation, transparency, organisation, strategy, business and positive brand image. Underneath these sit several measurable objectives and a roadmap to achieving these by Q4 2022. Each fortnight, SAY’s ESG team meet to discuss this roadmap and the progress we have made throughout the quarter. We then deliver this to the rest of the SAY team via quarterly ‘Lunch and Learn’ updates, encouraging an inclusive and collaborative discussion to gather thoughts and ideas.
What have SAY done so far?
Some examples of the actions and initiatives we have completed include (but are not limited to):
- Encouraging employees to volunteer for an organisation or charity of their choice. SAY donates 40 volunteering days per annum.
- Reminding employees to utilise dedicated employee health and wellbeing time. We have a collective total of 77 hours of wellbeing and exercise taken by our SAY employees.
- Trained two of our employees with the St. John Ambulance Workplace Mental Health First Aid training facility.
- Incorporating ESG into our consultancy services, including our design for management reports, furniture procurement advice, management tenders etc.
- Placed 16 office plants across seven different plant species around the SAY office.
- Introduced QR code business cards, avoiding unnecessary wastage of paper business cards.
- Purchased SAY branded coffee cups, saving us on 3,245 non-reusable cups per annum, which equates to 198kg of CO2e.
What does the future hold for SAY’s ESG strategy?
We are driven to provide tangible, quantifiable advice that both benefits the clients we work with and the schemes that we are directly involved in. We have placed an emphasis on improving transparency and formalising our reporting for Q3 and Q4, in which we wish to report on both accomplishments, and acknowledge and highlight learnings from any encountered challenges. Looking ahead, we are:
- Formalising the reporting on our company carbon footprint.
- Continuing to promote social wellbeing and successes within the team.
- Sharing our ESG data with other SMEs and like-minded businesses.
- Introducing ESG advice into all workstreams of our consultancy business.
- Organising an ESG round table event with BPF Futures.
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