Last Tuesday afternoon I found myself in deepest darkest Marsden, Dark Woods Coffee to be precise where I attended a session on sustainability. It is a topic that I am increasingly hearing about from both larger business clients and from our own Institute and standard setters.

Mistakenly believing that this was the latest buzzword for climate/environmental matters, I discovered such measures can also be cost saving, as well as interacting with CSR and social issues bringing benefits to both the local community and society as a whole.

The session was made relevant because it told us about the practicalities of a business’s journey on sustainability rather than just the theory of it. Ian Agnew of Dark Woods Coffee explained how their company had become a B Corp company and implemented not just energy efficient measures in their production, but waste reduction in their packaging and supply chain measures with producers to help in making their business sustainable in the future.

The event was a peer network, so several businesses attended who were at different points on the journey but all happy to discuss the issues that they face in deciding on and implementing suitable measures.

The event was facilitated by Lisa Lister on behalf of WYCA who also highlighted the following programmes available to help businesses with this process.

Those looking for partners to enable tree planting as one of their sustainability measures were signposted to White Rose Forest

https://whiteroseforest.org

There are also courses available for upskilling workers to give them knowledge of sustainability areas and measures

https://www.futuregoals.co.uk/learn/free-adult-training-courses/skills-connect-training-courses/green-skills/green-sustainability-champion

This was the first of a series of peer to peer networks on the subject so anyone interested in attending future meetings can contact Lisa Lister at Yorkshire Leadership Group on 07879 820725 or email lisa.lister@yorkshireleadership.co.uk

Blog written by Danny McAllister (Managing Director) on 11 June 2024