Sustainability champions – how can they drive change?

Sustainability champions seek to lead change and assist organisations in achieving their sustainability goals – could the role be of help to your business?

‘Sustainability champions’ can have a significant impact on the sustainability journey of businesses and they are relatively straightforward to put in place. To build up a team of sustainability champions, you can consider:

• Holding an event to inform employees about the opportunity.
• Offering incentives to encourage people to join.
• Engage employees with a passion for sustainability by offering them a leadership role in the team.

Your are offering your employees the opportunity to:

• develop their skills;
• get involved in other areas of the organisation;
• make a contribution to a purpose-driven project; 
• build a culture of sustainability; 
• network with a cross-section of staff; 
• view themselves as informed, engaged and valuable. 

Here are some ideas to help you get team of sustainability champions started.

Get the support of senior management – having senior management on board can benefit sustainability champion programmes by outlining the remit and resources available to the group, and making sure they are aware of the realistic opportunities they have open to them. Have a presence on the board to represent your team of sustainability champions.

Be clear about the responsibilities of a sustainability champion – signpost information for employees which helps them understand what the programme is and what will be required of them. It’s important that they know exactly what they are committing to when they join the group, especially in terms of time commitments. 

Build a vision – identify your team’s focus area by agreeing objectives and specific strategic goals and timeframes to work towards – these will make sure the group stay on track – working towards the organisation’s wider sustainability strategy. 

Define the role of a sustainability champion – sustainability champions should have a clearly defined role, which will depend on the nature of your programme. Delegating clear responsibilities that are reasonable, achievable, measurable, timed, and agreed by line managers is the next crucial step.

Set a regular meeting time and agenda – to maintain momentum, set a regular meeting (weekly, monthly or quarterly) to assess your progress, discuss future projects and make sure there is a regular agenda with an impact checklist to see how you are progressing, and that notes are taken and published, and agreed actions followed-through on.

Get started with some potential ‘quick wins’ – some early ideas of events/projects that sustainability champions can run include:

• Office recycling assessment and monitoring.
• A department or organisation-wide clean-up day.
• Bike to work week.
• Challenge sessions – encourage colleagues to provide environmental alternatives to existing challenges.
• An interdepartmental competition.

Finally, celebrate your wins

It is important to celebrate when things go well, especially when people have put a lot of effort into it! By celebrating your wins, you are illustrating the impact of the work of sustainability champions and might even encourage new team members to join! You can also award prizes for ‘green heroes’ each month, or organise a team treat for reaching certain milestones.