Navigating the long term agenda

A core part of what we do is building long-term relationships with our clients to help navigate the changing CR landscape. As best practice has developed, and legislative demands have increased, the nature of our role has changed with them.

We have been working with some clients for many years acting as CR advisor, researcher, strategist or data analyst. Most importantly, however, we often simply help to drive the agenda along; supporting staff who have taken on CR responsibilities in addition to their day jobs.

Some of the tasks that we carry out include:
  • Strategic/board-level CR reviews
  • CR strategy and governance advice
  • In-house CR training
  • Written briefings on relevant CR issues or new pieces of legislation
  • Facilitating stakeholder engagement
  • Ensuring compliance with relevant legislation, like the packaging regulations, WEEE, the Carbon Reduction Commitment etc
  • CR report writing, as well as disclosures to CR benchmarking indices

CASE STUDY: We have worked with one of the UK’s regulators since 1999 as environment and CR advisor. At the beginning of our relationship, we worked solely on their environment programme, helping them to set up an Environment Group, a network of volunteer environmental champions, as well as a robust system for environmental data collection.

We did two board-level reviews of CR activities, the first time in 2003 and the second in 2007. After the second review, the organisation decided to set up a formal CR programme in order to ensure that there was a strategic thread connecting all the CR related activities that they were already engaged in. We have been supporting them to evolve this programme since then.

On a day-to-day basis, we provide strategic advice, attend CR and Environment group meetings, gather and report environmental data, write an annual CR report as well as BiTC CR Index submission, find and introduce appropriate stakeholders and partners, facilitate an Energy Working Group, provide general support to any staff member who has responsibility for CR related issues, as well as write briefing notes on relevant CR issues and legislation as required.