Author: Bethan Batiste - Sustainability Lead.
Talk of sustainability within the business community continues to get louder, but whilst an ever-important topic that now more than ever needs attention - how do businesses actually dive in and get started?!
At end of 2021, our team quietly began opening discussions to explore how we can commit to embedding sustainability at the heart of our model; very quickly learning that the challenge is sizeable and one that requires constant attention and absolute commitment from everyone involved.
Challenge accepted!
Since we started in 1996, we’ve been at the heart of the local business community promoting and facilitating lifelong learning and development. And so, whilst learning from others on how to become truly sustainable ourselves, we also want to demonstrate leadership to our learners and the wider community by providing an ambitious model for how other organisations can improve their sustainability. And so how do we do that?
Our three focus points are as follows:
1) Our individual behaviours. 2) How we work together. 3) How we make decisions.
We’re just getting started on our journey, but already are beginning to realise how many things we can be doing differently for the benefit of our island and planet. So far, the creation of a sustainability team at the GTA led by two of our younger team members who have a real passion for change has become the centre point. Open discussions where we bring ideas to the table, challenge and inspire one another, and hold each other accountable have been key and something that will remain a constant.
Aside from accumulating a starting list of sustainable acts for consideration, we’ve also decided to enrol in ESI Monitor’s Environmental Business Operations Framework (EBOF). In doing so, we have become Environmental and Social Impact Monitors (ESI Monitors) - empowering us to continually improve our environmental and/or social sustainability through measurement, minimisation, management, and benchmarking.
Becoming ESI Monitors will help to further support us in reducing our carbon footprint and create a consciousness of sustainability throughout the organisation, ensuring that we are always moving in the right direction.
This is the start of a constant journey. Whilst we certainly aren’t perfect, we can continue to challenge ourselves to be better, and in doing so, hopefully, inspire our network of businesses, learners and friends to do the same.
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As part of our efforts, we are committed to raising awareness of the importance of sustainability island-wide through future workshops, courses and thought leadership. If there are particular areas that you’d like to see courses, workshops and thought leadership on, we’d love to hear from you! Please email admin@gta.gg with the title ‘Sustainability’.
Learn how to be ESI Monitors here
#GTAjourney