Sustainable impact champions to make sustainability ‘more accessible’ for businesses

A free consultancy project to make businesses more sustainable has been launched.

YTKO have partnered with Bristol City Council and the West of England combined authority (WECA) to help small and medium companies across the South West, especially those run by underrepresented communities.

Project director Sara Ives said: “Sustainability is for everyone, it doesn’t have to mean a huge investment.”

Ives believes that even the smallest of companies can evaluate their practices and take actionable steps to improve in terms of sustainability.

She added: “We have launched the sustainable impact champion (SIC) accreditation to make sustainability truly accessible to all businesses and the self-employed. Whether you’re working in construction, hospitality, distribution, or the arts, we understand the challenges that new and existing businesses face, from access to information, finance, behavioural, and time constraints.”

The terms usually used to talk about environmental impact and measures (greenhouse emissions, carbon footprint, net zero and so on) can seem intimidating and hardly applicable at first.

Ives continued: “There’s a misconception that you need money to be a sustainable business. We are helping them to recognise that sustainability is for everyone.”

How could businesses get accreditation?

YTKO will provide free assistance to help businesses and self-employed people in assessing where they could improve their operations, saying they “seek to give them both the confidence and the tools to immerse themselves into sustainability.”

Sustainability in businesses can be tricky but the partnership seems to make it more accessible through free consultancy services – photo: YTKO

The first step to becoming a sustainable impact champion includes taking a sustainability assessment, which will help both the companies and YTKO where to direct their first efforts.

The consultancy company said: “We want businesses to be recognised for all of their sustainable efforts, no matter how small, and to help businesses become more sustainable with incremental steps, depending on what’s immediately available to them. The sustainable impact champion accreditation will help to achieve this, and allow businesses to shout about their achievements to existing and new clients.”

The set of criteria to further assess if a business gets the SIC accreditation include commitment from the businesses to research and use ethical suppliers, reducing waste, clean energy usage or reduced consumption of it, and the promotion of ethical values in and out of the company.

As an ongoing programme, companies are expected to update their certification on a yearly basis.

The importance of sustainable businesses

The transition of businesses towards more sustainable practices has been a key element of public policy, including the Council for Sustainable Business, which is a national body that advises ministers on environmental goals and the mobilisation of businesses taking further action on the challenge that climate change possess.

Sustainability in businesses is not also a contribution to a greener socioeconomic future but also protects them from the upcoming challenges beforehand. Aspects in which companies can become sustainable range from economic, to social and environmental.

Where to apply?

If you’re interested in assessing and improving your business sustainability practices, you can find more information about the SIC accreditation here.

This piece of independent journalism is supported by NatWest and the Bristol24/7 public and business membership 

Main photo: YTKO

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