Cultivating sustainable solutions

When organisations are looking to develop a sustainability strategy, Cress Consulting stands out as a leader in the field of developing sustainable solutions. CEO Julia Seddon talks about sustainability strategies and how businesses can improve.

“We don’t do greenwashing, and we don’t do lip service. We don’t go in and say, ‘Oh, look, you’re doing all these wonderful things already. You don’t need to do very much more.’ We do gather all the information and use it as a baseline. As a consultancy, we show the organisations where they could be headed, and Cress makes it achievable.”

That’s Cress Consulting principal Julia Seddon. Under her leadership, Cress Consulting has the expertise to help businesses identify pathways to a more sustainable, secure, decarbonised future. It believes organisations need to understand the risks of climate change to create a more resilient, efficient, and sustainable future. Cress Consulting works to help businesses and organisations to design strategies to reduce risk and increase self-reliance.

“We are consistent and deliver tailored solutions to each customer,” said Seddon. “Cress Consulting is committed to spending time with our clients and customers to understand their business. We want to create a fit-for-purpose piece of work that is the right size for the organisation while offering them enough to work towards a more sustainable and secure future.”

High-quality analysis

Seddon and Cress use a range of tools to understand the fundamentals of a particular industry or business sector. At that point, the goal is to realise that specific sector’s drivers and economics.

“We want to know things like the top costs that drive the challenge or change in that specific industry,” she said. “We come armed with some understanding, and then we look at the business and run a benchmarking assessment. Cress needs to know where our client is relative to other companies in the same sector, domestically or internationally.”

It helps Cress identify how mature their client is regarding sustainability, climate change, or ESG requirements. In the eyes of Seddon, it provides a lot of value to the client. Understanding where the organisation is relative to carbon emission reductions or any other aspect of their targets. It also provides the client with knowledge of how they compare to their peers worldwide.

“By providing this high-level analysis, we can help our clients understand if they are in a good position or need to do a lot of work. It’s imperative and teaches the client what is required,” said Seddon.

Sustainable procurement key area

The most important area for any enterprise is sustainable procurement. By working with every link in the supply chain, organisations can work to improve sustainability outcomes at every level.

“The idea of sustainable procurement is for everyone to play their role. Organisations need to influence their supply chain to reduce emissions, get to net zero, or become more sustainable. One of the most effective ways of achieving this goal is to understand the end-to-end processes,” said Seddon.

The lifecycle needs to be examined, along with the key suppliers. Seddon focuses on the conversations with suppliers and partners around going on the sustainability journey together.

“It’s essential that the conversation is had,” she said. “Organisations need to talk with their suppliers and partners to find out their positions on the relevant sustainable issue, whether it’s energy, emissions, water, or something else.”

For those organisations with a procurement function, it’s straightforward to pivot towards a more sustainable focus. Such a transition makes sustainability part of the rules of engagement.

“It’s an opportunity to have the supply chain demonstrate that they are on an emissions reduction pathway or a path that adequately addresses sustainability risks. This would then flow through other parts of the supply chain and could impact consumer use of the product,” said Seddon.

Stakeholder engagement and management

Any organisation will have numerous stakeholders inside and outside the corporate structure. Managing them as part of the broader sustainability analysis and strategy creation can be challenging for organisations. However, working out how to get them on the sustainability journey can be easier than some might suggest.

“When looking at the value or supply chain, organisations will be looking to provide them with supplies. It’s not limited to physical products but could be web hosts, data centres, or any other service provider. Often, organisations are very clear about the contractual arrangements but have less idea of what drives the other company towards its goals. One party may not be aware of the other company’s targets or ethos around sustainability,” Seddon said.

Seddon believes looking at contractual discussions through a sustainability lens can lead to better relationships with suppliers and service providers. It can lead to stronger partnerships around shared goals. It is about having a different conversation with existing stakeholders and recognising that sustainability is important to them.

“It’s important to have as full a relationship as possible with those key suppliers and service providers,” said Seddon. “Sustainability can often be a good way to do that. It’s not a discussion about commercial terms; it’s about working with commercial stakeholders, customers, employees, regulators, unions, and the local community. Some might even consider the media as a stakeholder as well. A comprehensive stakeholder map can lead to significant benefits for an organisation.”

Organisational change comes with strategy

Seddon pointed out that organisational change is critical to implementing a sustainability strategy.

“I met with a client that Cress has been working with for two or three years,” she said. “We’ve been having mature conversations around sustainability issues, metrics, and targets. It helped them build their internal capacity around sustainability. They found that the staff are reacting positively by talking about sustainability and what they are doing.”

The organisation employs many young people for whom sustainability is crucial for retention. Seddon pointed out that being able to tell people that they are making a difference at work is an indicator of sustainability as a critical HR tool.

“When doing our analysis, we found that staff went home at the end of the day to tell their primary school-aged kids that they were making a difference. The kids are learning about all this at school, so it impacts the family at a personal level and business performance level.”

For more information, visit https://www.cress.au/ and https://www.hydroflux.au/