About the initiative | Diverse Sustainability Initiative

Changing the workplace

The Diverse Sustainability Initiative (DSI) is a collaborative programme of work with the vision to transform diversity within the sustainability profession and wider environment sector. It is led by IEMA and works collectively with partners in the environment or sustainability profession to drive change.

The overall goal of the Diverse Sustainability Initiative is to build a profession and sector that, over time, is reflective of modern Britain. It will result in a diverse group of people working in and engaging with the environment and sustainability profession and wider NGO movement. This is a long-term goal, which could take a generation to resolve as it is a deep-seated problem with a lot of complexity.

The purpose of the Diverse Sustainability Initiative is to improve not only diversity but also inclusion through education, connection and transparency, to support current professionals and increase appeal and access for future and potential professionals.

Become a partner of the Diverse Sustainability Initiative by making your public commitment to diversity or get in touch to discuss how else you could contribute to the Initiative, such as through funding a specific project, volunteering or offering staff resource.

DSI vision

An inclusive and representative profession of modern Britain.
A network for DSI partners that ensures a safe space for partners to share best practice and barriers.
Expanding networks for underrepresented groups to share any barriers.

DSI mission

Providing practical tools and resources for organisations so that they have the knowledge and confidence to drive change within the EDI space.
Communities/networks facilitated through the DSI are used to inform organisations, or to decide which areas organisations need to improve (keeping the work relevant).
Allowing a space for partners to support one another.
The DSI will work as a facilitator of change rather than leader of change as this comes down to individual organisations.

Reality check

There are many statistics within the environmental and sustainability profession that evidence the need for change. Fortunately, more organisations and individuals are now aware of this and acting on change.

In 2022, research was co-funded by SOS-UK, IEMA and NERC to aid a better sector understanding of racial diversity within the environment sector.

View the report

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Key findings arising from this report are that:

‘Environment professionals’ are one of the least racially diverse professions in the UK, with just 4.81% identifying as Black, Asian or from other minority ethnic groups, compared to 12.64% across all UK professions.
Racial diversity amongst UK higher education subjects closely related to environment professions is notably lower when compared to the racial diversity seen across all subjects. Across all higher education subjects, students who identify as Black, Asian, Mixed or other, account for 26% of students. When looking at subjects closely related to environmental careers, this ranges from 14% for ‘Applied environmental sciences’ to 6% for ‘Biodiversity conservation’.
Regardless of race/ethnicity, key motivations for pursuing a career in the environment sector were wanting to help tackle global environmental issues, such as climate change, and an interest in these issues.

Our approach

The Diverse Sustainability Initiative’s approach to this work will be to engage minority groups through a process of:

Listening and understanding

To establish the barriers and challenges present for different groups within society, we currently do this through our People of Colour and LGBTQIA+ networks.

Innovation and action

Aiming to break down barriers and eradicate challenges for minority groups.

Communication, monitoring and reporting

On targets to establish sector-wide action strategies and report on changes.

In it for the long haul

Improving diversity will take a generation to achieve in its entirety, as it requires a shift in mindset and wholesale systems changes to engage a new generation of environment and sustainability professionals. However, our approach aims to ensure consistent, iterative solutions are enacted and progress is made at short- and medium-term milestones.

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Taking action

The Diverse Sustainability Initiative is well-positioned to educate, connect and encourage a more inclusive profession for all.

We educate existing professionals on how to promote diversity and inclusion, not only to encourage more diversity of all aspects in the profession, but support the individuals from underrepresented communities who are already in the profession. We educate our partners by sharing learnings from one another, providing external consultants to offer solutions to best practice as well as offering face-to-face events to further enhance engagement and commitment.

We connect current Professionals of Colour and LGBTQIA+ in the environment and sustainability sectors, building a strong, active network. We also provide a safe space where individuals can voice barriers or concerns, enabling us to drive meaningful action.

Ultimately, we aim to interrogate our systems, set transparent targets and hold our partners accountable, to ensure that they are taking action. Our partners are committed to providing an annual update on their commitments in order to remain a partner on our website.