Welcome back to our blog series featuring Laura Grootenboer, Head of Sustainability Engagement at Deloitte North and South Europe. In the first blog, we discussed the importance of internal sustainability and introduced Laura's role to drive engagement efforts in support of this agenda. Now, we'll dive deeper into her insights, exploring the strategies and initiatives implemented to drive meaningful change through Deloitte’s WorldClimate Engagement strategy.
As briefly mentioned in the previous blog, this comes down to three pillars:
Storytelling: Deloitte understands the power of having a clear narrative to support shaping perceptions and behaviors. They strive to embed sustainability in all their communications, including CEO messaging. Campaigns like those that run around Earth Day and in globally coordinated sustainability learning weeks keep employees informed and engaged.
People Empowerment: To drive sustainability, employees need the right skills, networks, and motivation. Deloitte encourages sustainable behavior through initiatives like setting emission reduction goals for business travel, empowering a 500+ people Climate Champion network and promoting challenges on their personal carbon footprint calculator app. These initiatives help employees make informed choices to act in line with their sustainability agenda.
Leadership Engagement: Leadership plays a pivotal role in driving their sustainability transformation. Deloitte focuses on leadership education and advocacy, enabling leaders to bring their teams on board and collaborate with clients on sustainability initiatives. Their goal is to fully embed sustainability into their organizational culture, which includes leading from the top and incentivizing sustainable behaviors.
One notable initiative that Laura and her team are working on, is the introduction of a Sustainable Delivery Clause in engagement letters and contracts.
“The clause outlines our commitment to work hand in hand with our clients to find more sustainable ways of working. From prioritizing virtual collaboration, to choosing the most sustainable ways to travel when meeting in person for the moments that truly matter.” - Laura Grootenboer
Behind this clause lies a wealth of tools and support, including their Sustainable Delivery Framework, which provides tools, examples, and nudges to help teams embed sustainability into their client engagements. Deloitte's Travel Emissions Calculator helps optimize travel choices for client meetings. These tools empower employees to lead the conversation on sustainability and take action in support of their sustainability transformation, and that of their clients.
Deloitte also recognizes the importance of employee training and upskilling. Around three years ago, they started with the roll-out of a global e-learning covering climate change and its implications for the organization and clients. This baseline awareness served as a foundation for deeper learning.
Today, Deloitte builds their ESG skills and specialties by enabling their employees to learn with the Cambridge Institute for Sustainable Leadership and facilitates webinars and discussions with experts to keep them informed about sustainability topics.
“It's essential to find a balance between top-down and bottom-up approaches to sustainability. Deloitte's multifaceted engagement strategy leverages the passion and power of our people at both leadership and at more junior employee levels, to drive the sustainability transformation across our firm." - Laura Grootenboer
In our final blog of this series, which will be published next week, Laura will share advice for young professionals looking to champion sustainability within their organizations. These insights can guide those who aspire to make a positive impact on their companies and the planet, but are not sure where to start.
Stay tuned for the third installment of "Empowering Sustainability: Insights from Laura Grootenboer."
About the Expert
Laura is Head of Sustainability Engagement at Deloitte North and South Europe. As part of Deloitte’s internal sustainability transformation, Laura is dedicated to empower Deloitte’s leaders and colleagues to adopt sustainable behaviors and cultivate a culture of environmental steward
ship. By designing and implementing strategies that promote positive change, she ensures that Deloitte's commitment to sustainability is deeply embedded in the daily actions of its people.
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