Just over a month ago, Advanced added another internal network to its roster with the launch of the Green Network. The first official meeting was scheduled just over a month ago, registering an attendance of around 30 people; all coming together to listen in and share ideas on how we as a business can improve upon our environmental and sustainable practices going forward. The network itself will be governed by a committee made up of 6 Advanced employees working across various facets of the business.
Our first meeting was led and coordinated by Ken Rose (Group Property Manager at Advanced), presenting the valuable work that’s been going on behind the scenes already, and updating the network on the areas that have more room for improvement going forward.
We decided that there should be two fundamental goals that the network should aim to address, these were:
To create and maintain a positive environmental sustainability culture
Aiming to maximise the positive impact of our sustainability actions through effective communication, collaboration, and partnership.
The Green Network hopes to achieve these aims by working towards a five-step plan:
Sustainability: Collaborating to collate ideas on how to strengthen the content within our annual ESG (Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance Report).
Discovery: Next up we intend to understand the environmental ambitions of the people who work for Advanced, identifying the importance of sustainability and driving efficiency in all aspects across the business, making sure that we’re having a positive social impact.
Strategy: During this stage, the network will develop and share recommendations on how we can improve our strategies going forward; ensuring that our ESG, core business, and commercial goals are all aligned.
Delivery: In the penultimate step we’ll need the entire network to collaborate cohesively as one body to come up with new, fresh ideas that we can aim to accomplish in the future; setting aspirational targets and milestones to track our progress.
Engagement: The final step in this plan could prove to be the most important. It’s vital that we come together as a business, working side-by-side with the internal communications team to spread awareness and continue spreading the work of the work we’ve done so far, the plans we’re putting in place, and the actions we intend to integrate in the future.
Office Spaces
At Advanced, we’re constantly working alongside our landlords to ensure that all Advanced offices become more sustainable and efficient in the future - by the end of 2022 we want all offices running off renewable energy.
Fortunately, we’re currently right on track to achieve this goal as 80% of the buildings that are occupied by Advanced have been successfully converted to green energy; our Indian offices have been a driving force in this by using 100% hydro energy across the board.
Plans have been put in place to integrate some much-needed biodiversity within our workspaces. Or landlords at Botanica Ditton Park (Advanced HQ), and The Mailbox want Advanced to be at the forefront of these changes, with the introduction of a roof garden (set to be unveiled later this year), bug hotels, bat boxes, and a bee-friendly space to be put in place soon.
In May we are all set to unveil a new addition to the Advanced offices in Newcastle, which is set to feature a variety of our green initiatives including solar panels and carbon-consuming moss walls.
By forming a partnership with an award-winning sustainability and ESG software solutions and services firm in Greenstone; we’ve been able to collate a database full of data that will provide lots of useful information going forward, allowing us to become more sustainable in several areas across the business.
Travel
Teaming up with Trip Actions (our travel management system), we’re now able to track a month-by-month breakdown on the distances and methods of travel that are being made by all Advanced employees. We can use this data to identify and eradicate all unnecessary journeys being made across the business, so that we can find more economical alternatives of getting from A to B in the future.
Suppliers
Here at Advanced, we have pledged to carry out environmental and sustainability appraisals upon all our suppliers across the business, and if they don’t meet our green targets then we won’t do business with them. It’s very important to us that all our suppliers are carbon-neutral, setting themselves clear green initiatives and targets going forward.
After the updates were presented and shared amongst the network, people were encouraged to raise their hand (virtually) in the call to put their suggestions forward on any other initiatives we should bring to the attention of the Green Committee.
These ideas were then cultivated into a ‘Green Initiative Tracker’, these were some of the ideas that were raised:
Electric Car Offset Scheme: Can we use salary sacrifice to purchase an electric car?
Green M&A (Mergers & Acquisitions): How can we benchmark an acquired business’ carbon impact, and set out on improving it during the integration process?
Promotion of ‘Green’ Apps: Can we integrate an area within our internal hub to promote green app initiatives, such as the tree planning app?
Bee Bombs for Employees: Sending all employees a bee bomb/small plant for World Earth Day
Green Financial Investment: Assessing companies on whether they should receive investment based upon their environmental impact.
Green Education Hub: A place employees can go to find out how they can reduce their impact on the environment; including what incentives the company currently provides.
Green A-Z: Creating a repository for interesting tools/podcasts/initiatives/retailers that employees might find resourceful – helping them become more eco-friendly.
My Workplace Green Network Page: Having a desk/page that everyone can access that includes all relevant and useful information regarding the network’s current & future projects.
Earth Day 2022 Plans: What can Advanced colleagues do around Earth Day? (22nd April 2022)
