People and the planet must be at the core of your business strategy, says Joanna Gluzman, Director of Responsible Business, B&Q.
When it comes to responsible business, there is more interest than ever in organisations stepping beyond what is required of them at a legislative level and committing to actively improving. This interest arises not only from concerns about the planet, but also from concerns about the day-to-day well-being and lifestyles of the people who live on it.
Sustainability in every sense of the word is evolving to be a focal point of many businesses – demonstrated by the uptick we’re seeing in green roles in recent years. It’s clear there’s a growing demand to drive more responsible business operations and create effective solutions for customers.
There are a few key elements when looking to develop a responsible business strategy that can ensure both the planet and people are at its core. This includes prioritising a people-first approach – whether that be with colleagues, people in our supply chain, or customers – and building transparent reporting mechanisms.
Adopting a people-first strategy
At B&Q, everyone at all levels has a role to play in improving its sustainability performance. By building passionate teams – with responsible business at their core, no matter the department – we can ensure every part of the business is geared towards collective action for a more sustainable future.
A key part of this is providing training for colleagues, to give them the knowledge and tools to champion more sustainable decisions – be it the ability to recommend energy-efficient home products or develop an innate understanding of B&Q’s own initiatives and goals.
Employee advocacy is a key element of my role as Director of Responsible Business, a position established by B&Q to unify all aspects of responsible business operations, looking holistically at our approach across all departments.
Bringing customers along on the journey
In the case of the retail industry – as shoppers become more eco-conscious – it’s the responsibility of businesses to work with suppliers to develop and provide more sustainable options at affordable prices.
For example, in the past, B&Q has motivated customers to choose a more sustainable option by price-matching products where possible. Generally, consumers also respond well to financial incentives laid out by the government – such as removing or reducing VAT on more sustainable products.
However, as it stands, there is still progress to be made to help remove certain cost barriers. In the immediate future, businesses need to help customers by communicating the holistic environmental impact and benefits of their investments. This is particularly true for products that need to last a long time and have a quality guarantee, such as those enabling homes to be improved and refurbished.
It’s all about equipping customers with the right information, so they can make informed decisions about their own sustainable purchases. For example, the benefits that investing in solutions like home insulation can bring. Although these purchases have upfront costs, they enable homes to better manage temperature control, reduce the need to use gas and electricity – and in turn lower energy bills.
Another way businesses can help is by providing services that allow customers to manage their products’ life cycle. This could include the collection of hard-to-recycle materials, offering refurbished products where possible and promoting sharing and hire schemes.
At B&Q, we introduced our Energy Saving Service which provides personalised guidance for customers looking to improve the energy efficiency of their homes. At a time when many Brits are facing increases in energy bills, a large focus for B&Q is to share knowledge with our customers to help increase their ability to control and reduce their energy use or prevent energy loss from their homes, through our advice pages.
Looking ahead to a sustainable future
Regulation around responsible business operations is becoming increasingly stringent. As a result, companies are looking to future-proof their initiatives from any future regulatory changes and to choose to go above and beyond current requirements.
A vital aspect of this process is ensuring transparent reporting frameworks are in place – enabling companies to lay down objectives that are both ambitious and reflective of previous achievements. Regular reporting allows responsible business teams to review current work and understand where action can be taken to build better processes – and ultimately, achieve more for both the people and planet.
As a retailer, the majority of our carbon emissions are in Scope 3. So, an important part of this appraisal process at B&Q, is our work with our supply chain. A good illustration of this reporting is our work with Manufacture 2030 – as part of its Low Carbon Manufacturing Programme, highlighted in our first Build A Life Project Annual Report.
By helping our suppliers calculate their baseline carbon footprint they’re better equipped to build out a decarbonisation plan that’s aligned with B&Q’s ambitions. It also allows us to inform our own targets and build on the 56% reduction we’ve seen in our Scope 3 emissions across our supply chain and customer use of products since 2017/2018.
While this is just the start, it’s these partnerships, as well as internal reporting and objectives, that can help companies gain a clear vision of how they can reduce their environmental impact.
