Diversity is not a competition but a goal that will only be achieved through combined efforts and partnership
Improving diversity within our profession requires strategic partnerships to action sector-wide activities. Below you can see the organisations which have made a public commitment to improving diversity and how they plan to achieve it. Make the commitment today to have your organisation added to our list of partners.
Click on the logos below to view the work that the organisation has completed so far, and the work that they are committing to.
Aldersgate Group
We are a politically impartial, multi-stakeholder alliance championing a competitive and environmentally sustainable economy. Through targeted political engagement, evidence gathering and policy development, we advocate the business case for decarbonising the UK economy, improving resource efficiency and investing in the natural environment.
We are a small organisation with 8 members of staff (increasing to 10 in 2024). For the past two years, we have participated in the Race Report and Staff Perceptions Survey. From the Race Report, we realised the scale of the problem within the environmental sector and committed to do more. EDI is already a central focus in our recruitment strategies, however we are now also committed to:
1) We are currently working with SOS-UK and the University of Cambridge to create an annual internship aimed at students from a BAME and/ or disadvantaged background. We commit to have this in place from 2024 onwards.
2) We have signed our Operations Manager up to complete a People Management course, with an optional specialism in EDI. We commit that any learnings from this course will be implemented within the next six months, including a Diversity and Inclusion Policy.
3) We commit to working more closely with our staff with protected characteristics to signpost support groups and advocacy groups that we could join, as we are too small to form our own.
4) We commit to holding more open conversations with our staff about EDI and that leadership on EDI will come from the top of the organisation.
Ashden
Ashden's mission is to accelerate transformative climate solutions and build a more just world. Our awards, events, networks and analysis support climate innovation in the UK and developing countries around the world.
In 2023:
Using Applied for all recruitment.
Overhauling our Awards application process to make it simpler for applicants.
Platforming marginalised voices in our communications.
We set up the Green Communities Learning Network and have run two webinars which have been deeply engaging and well-attended. Our first event focussed on how climate action community groups could better engage diverse audiences, giving us the opportunity to platform some of the underrepresented climate voices we came across during the Award research and allowing for their methods and best practice to be adopted further afield.
In 2024:
Engaging DEI consultants to work across the organisation and provide an action plan that we can implement.
Astutis
We are committed to driving positive change within our own business, our partner and customer community through the promotion and delivery of environmental and sustainability skills training.
B Lab UK
B Lab is the non-profit network transforming the global economy to benefit all people, communities and the planet. It was created in 2006 with the mission to inspire and enable people to use business as a force for good. There are B Labs across the globe (forming the B Global Network) including Australia, Africa, mainland Europe and North and South America. B Lab UK is a charity that launched in 2015. As part of this international network, B Lab UK leads economic systems change to support our collective vision of an inclusive, equitable and regenerative economy. Our purpose is to redefine success in business through building a community of engaged businesses, raising awareness of the B Corp movement and influencing change in the UK economy. Together, we are shifting our global economy from a system that profits few to one that benefits all: advancing a new model that moves from concentrating wealth and power to ensuring equity, from extraction to generation, and from prioritising individualism to embracing interdependence.
B Labs commitment
B Lab UK’s vision is of an inclusive, equitable and regenerative economic system for all people and the planet. To achieve this vision, the voices and perspectives of all individuals must be heard. Justice, equity, diversity, inclusion (“JEDI”) are connected to our mission and critical to ensuring the well-being of our staff, our community and those we work with. We are committed to ensuring B Lab UK is an equitable, diverse and inclusive workplace where anyone that works for us, and with us, feels valued and respected. What we’re already doing: - Developed a comprehensive JEDI Action Plan with key targets for each team, and a tracking and monitoring process - Providing mandatory diversity and inclusion training for all employees led by external experts - Running JEDI events for the team to build awareness and enable embedding our values and principles in all our plans and work - Using an inclusive hiring platform to avoid bias in recruitment - Being transparent in job advertisements — providing salary ranges and benefits - Supporting managers to mitigate unconscious bias in the recruitment process - Providing internships paid at the London Living Wage rate Collecting diversity data for recruitment to enable monitoring and corrective action - Inclusion is a required behaviour in our competency and development framework - Implemented a hybrid working arrangement with monthly all team social days for meaningful face to face working - Employee engagement and satisfaction surveys which monitor inclusion and respect - Conducting annual diversity surveys for staff and Board to monitor progress to targets and support action to include under-represented groups - Improving accessibility to IT tools for all - Developing an ethical procurement policy so suppliers we work with align with our social and environmental standards, including reducing carbon emissions, supporting local communities and under-represented groups in business - Implemented a Carers policy - Developed a clear, agreed and effective approach for the Board to support JEDI throughout the organisation and in its own practice, and to regularly monitor progress on the action plan To hold ourselves accountable and ensure progress is achieved, we have set short, medium and long-term objectives. Whilst every team member is responsible for ensuring B Lab UK is diverse, equitable and inclusive, we have a JEDI working group, made up of employees from different teams, with different backgrounds and perspectives, who meet regularly to discuss progress and actions. B Lab UK is currently undergoing a strategic review. Once this review is complete, we commit to updating this page with longer-term actions and targets.
Bat Conservation Trust
The Bat Conservation Trust is the leading non-governmental organisation in the United Kingdom solely devoted to the conservation of bats and the landscapes on which they rely.
In 2023:
- Implementing Year 1-2 organisational actions from the WCL Route Map
Ongoing work with some actions successfully completed e.g. BCT made public commitments to take action and has data collection and submission processes in place, people are being equipped through training to enable them to recognise and address racism and any other forms of oppression within BCT and to establish organisation-wide understanding of key terms. Others under way e.g. Change plan in development
- Continuing to implement improvements to our recruitment processes to encourage more applications from under-represented groups
Improvements include reviewing job descriptions, incorporating feedback to question phrasing on application forms and trialling different interview approaches to make the application process more accessible as well as exploring new places to advertise roles to reach more diverse applicants.
- Implementing monitoring systems and contributing data to the RACE report
Submitted data for both the Race Report Transparency card and Staff perceptions survey. Systems in place to continue this monitoring and data submission on an annual basis.
- Rolling out anti-oppression training for BCT staff
3 iterations of training delivered and 2 more planned. 25 BCT staff have completed all four sessions with 8 staff completing at least 1 session or more.
- Providing placements through the New to Nature role and a funded internship for Project Nightwatch.
Roles filled successfully providing valuable experience for the individuals and useful learning for BCT to apply to similar roles in the future.
In 2024:
- Safe spaces/impartial support in place for PoC and other groups within BCT staff
- Update statements on the website encouraging under-represented groups to apply to BCT
- Continue anti-oppression training roll out and develop follow-on training for staff
- Build on experience with New to Nature with future internships and continue to learn from those opportunities within other projects
British Trust for Ornithology
We are a non-governmental, non-campaigning organisation focused on securing the future for birds and nature.
We use our science, monitoring and data to inform good environmental decisions and inspire others with the wonder of birds.
The heart of BTO encompasses three key areas: Birds, Science, People.
In 2023:
From 2022 in progress commitments: ALL COMPLETE Working with Dr Anjana Khatwa, we are providing Race-Equity awareness to all staff via a series of 5 short videos accompanied by sessions with Anjana to reflect on the videos and look at a case study; this work will be 'completed' in early February. We have captured baseline data on volunteers and supporters. From 2023 commitments: ALL COMPLETE (except action plan - see further on) EDI is more visible on our website, including links from the home page. EDI is a standing item on our Board and Finance & Risk Committee agendas. Managers are provided with guidance on discrimination, unconscious bias and recruitment. We use Talos (Applicant Tracking System) which standardised and anonymises all applications. Applicants are applying via the 'guaranteed interview' schemes we offer for those with a disability and from a minority ethnic background. We continue to collect baseline diversity data for all staff. We have hosted a new to nature intern and this individual is now permanently employed in BTO. We are in the process of working with Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning consultant, Helen Bown, to co-develop a vision and framework for inclusion with a group of staff and volunteer reps. This work has 4 workshops, staff engagement and will be presented as a final draft to staff, SLT and Board during Feb and March. This will result in clarity of vision, how we will know we are successful and the steps we need to take to get there.
In 2024:
We will publish our vision and framework for inclusion and from this prioritise actions.
Working collaboratively with staff, we will form a working group that holds us to account for delivering these actions and champions inclusion.
We will invest in roles to support our EDI work, designing and developing this role in a way that reflects the inclusive organisation we wish to be.
We will engage more volunteers in our inclusion work, including through sharing more content relating to EDI externally via blogs and stories. We will decide how we collect data on volunteers and supporters going forward.
We will learn about how to tell stories that capture inclusion at BTO and inspire others to join our movement. We will share stories from both existing supporters and new people we work with.
We will co-develop and deliver projects that both pilot new ways of working with communities not currently served by BTO, and that use our learning about genuine co-production.
We will support our newly formed Neurodiversity working group and work closely with them, including, to identify effective awareness training for BTO.
Bumblebee Conservation Trust
The Bumblebee Conservation Trust was established because of serious concerns about the ‘plight of the bumblebee’. In the last 80 years our bumblebee populations have crashed. Two species have become nationally extinct and several others have declined dramatically. We have a vision to create a world where bumblebees are thriving and valued ensuring our future food security.
In 2023:
There are two main organisations which the Trust is engaged with regard to EEDI, the Race Report and Wildlife and countryside link (WCL) we use their criteria to assess our progress and have a spreadsheet which is RAG rated against each set criteria. This is available if you would like to see it. In summary: Race Report: Three surveys were circulated to all staff this summer:
1) A demographic survey from the Trust allowing ongoing measure of Trust staff and trustee demographics. This would also facilitate submission of data to the Race Report in the autumn.
2) A survey from The Race Report focused on Staff Perceptions.
3) The Annual Staff Wellbeing Survey which would trial use of the Gartner Inclusion Index statements.
WCL is a coalition of environmental charities, who aim to inform a new collective strategy aimed at increasing diversity in the conservation sector through the development of a route map.
The Trust along with forty-two other eNGO’s have signed up to WCL’s strategy, pledging to change.
The Route map provides key steps for environment charities to take over the next 5 years, in order to help the sector to become more ethnically diverse. Our progress against the route map is captured on a spreadsheet.
In 2024:
We want the Trust to be an organisation that:
Supports and celebrates differences.
in age, ability, gender reassignment, marital or civil partnership status, parental status, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation, Trade union membership (or non-membership) and any other dimension of diversity.
That recognises diversity adds value.
Wholeheartedly supports the principle of equity. We want to encourage, value and manage diversity and we recognise that talent and potential are distributed across the population. Not only are there moral and social reasons for promoting equitable opportunities, but it is also in the best interest of this organisation to associate and work with as wide and diverse a pool of people as possible.
Creates, and encourages an anti-racist culture.
where all staff believe and promote anti-racist behaviours and actions.
Recognises that many people in our society experience discrimination.
Discrimination is acting unfairly against a group or individual through, for example; exclusion, verbal comment, denigration, harassment, victimisation, a failure to appreciate needs or the assumption of such needs without consultation.
Makes it clear that all forms of discrimination are unacceptable.
regardless of whether there was any intention to discriminate or not. The Trust has a duty to ensure that this policy is effective in ensuring equitable opportunities and in preventing discrimination.
Removes barriers, bias or discrimination that prevent individuals or groups from realising their potential.
Allowing them to contribute fully to our organisation’s performance and to develop an organisational culture that positively values diversity.
Broadly reflects the community in which we operate.
We will set targets, where we can, based on demographic information about the networks and people we are here to work with.
Promotes dignity and respect for all.
We actively create, and sustains a working environment free of bullying, harassment, victimisation, microaggressions and unlawful discrimination, and where individual differences and the contributions of all staff are recognised, valued and celebrated.
Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management
The Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management is the leading professional membership body representing and supporting ecologists and environmental managers in the UK, Ireland and abroad.
In 2023:
In 2023, CIEEM focused our Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) work toward accessibility by examining how we can better embrace neuroinclusivity. Through focusing on this intersectional topic, we aimed to engage with our current members whilst working to address barriers through practical steps such as reshaping the accessibility of our membership application process.
CIEEM continued working with our members and partners to raise awareness of EDI issues within our profession. We ran social media engagement focusing on issues relating to EDI in our sector. This included additional promotion around the Green Jobs for Nature initiative, to achieve this CIEEM hired a dedicated Green Jobs for Nature Outreach Assistant through the New to Nature scheme.
CIEEM continued to keep progress on our Championing Change Agenda visible. We gave members a voice on this issue through blogs, vlogs, social media, and by dedicating the September issue of InPractice solely to ‘Diversity, Accessibility & Capacity in the sector. This issue explored the people element of our profession. We promoted submissions on improving EDI in the sector, removing barriers to enter the profession and creating new routes into the sector, addressing capacity issues and skills shortages in the sector, and improving the status and standing of the profession.
The response to this work in 2023 has been good but we know there is still more work to do both for neuroinclusivity and wider EDI issues within our sector.
In 2024:
In 2024 CIEEM will turn our focus to addressing one of the main challenges to achieving our Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) commitments, namely, the lack of diversity (in respect of some protected characteristics) across our sector which has, at times, made it challenging to draw on lived experiences of members to inform our work.
CIEEM will continue working with our members and partners to raise awareness of EDI issues within our profession.
We will run workshops and social media engagement with our partner organisations focusing on issues relating to EDI in our sector. This will include continued promotion around the Green Jobs for Nature initiative, including recruiting Green Jobs for Nature Champions and Influencers to bolster this initiative and increase the reach of the campaign.
CIEEM will continue to keep progress on our Championing Change Agenda visible by amplifying our member’s voices on this issue through blogs, vlogs, social media, and our podcast ‘Nature in a Nutshell.’
We will continue to be a part of change.
City to Sea
We’re City to Sea, an environmental organisation on a mission to stop plastic pollution. We run people-powered, community–serving campaigns that help individuals and businesses to change the world whilst having some fun on the way. The problem might be complicated, but we think the solutions don’t have to be.
In 2023:
We Increased staff confidence and competence regarding diversity issues and created some of the conditions to diversify our staff, board and volunteers by attending training sessions from EDI experts in the environmental sector. Some focus areas included celebrating neurodiversity week and offering mental health first aid training with an emphasis on wellbeing and intersectionality.
We Conducted bi-annual monitoring of team satisfaction with our diversity & inclusion actions with 85% of our team reporting that they feel that their identity and background is welcomed at City to Sea with an overall team satisfaction of 82% regarding our approach to EDI at City to Sea.
We set and reported against annual diversity targets for our staff and board.
The People Lead attended DSI networking and workshop conference in London and online seminars throughout the year and continued with our ‘guarantee for interview’ to all candidates who identify as having a disability or from a minority ethnic group.
We have Shared our learnings via the Diverse Sustainability Initiative (DSI), as well as pro-actively engaged and shared our findings with other organisations in our sector (e.g., engagement with The RACE Report
We maintained an annual, ringfenced EDI (Equality, Diversity and Inclusion) consultancy budget.
In 2024:
We will:
Update our equality impact assessment for all protected characteristics across the organisation to create meaningful targets and action plan for improvement.
Share diversity data bi-annually with SLT and team
If successful with grant, we will work with an under-represented young person as an ambassador for our signature annual campaign – world refill day
Continue to deliver diversity-based training to team.
Evaluate if we have capacity to register with a programme that works with giving short term work experience in the environmental movement to under represented young people.
Costain
Costain is a technology-based construction and engineering company operating across the aviation, defence, energy, highways, rail and water sectors. We deliver a broad range of innovative services across the whole life cycle of our clients’ assets through the delivery of integrated consultancy, asset optimisation, technology, and complex delivery services. Our purpose is to improve people’s lives by helping to connect and keep the nation moving; keep water clean and flowing; power communities sustainably and keep people safe. Being a responsible business underpins everything that we do.
In 2023:
In 2023, all of our job advert templates have now been updated taking into account the IEMA article ‘Dos and Don’ts When Creating an Inclusive Job Advertisement’. A presentation on ‘Good Recruitment Practices’ was delivered by the Costain’s Group EDI Manager and the Group SHE Performance & Improvement Manager to the Wider Leadership Team. Finally, we spent time carefully compiling a comprehensive questionnaire to gather EDI data which was sent out to all Environment and Sustainability staff to obtain baseline data.
In 2024:
We commit to responding to the key findings from our initial inclusivity survey and trying to increase the response rate from Environment and Sustainability staff in 2024. This is so we can obtain better and more robust data to identify areas of improvement and actions to create a more inclusive culture.
Crowberry Consulting Ltd
We operate to ISO9001 Quality Management Standard and are a Lancashire Skills Pledge provider, as well as a Chartered Environmentalist Employer Champion. We are a women owned/LGBT business and work to ensure that our opportunities to join our team are promoted to BAME, women and LGBTQIA applicants consistently.
In 2023:
When we advertise any role we always state that applicants from the LGBTQIA community are welcome in our team. We are a member of Out Britain, the UK first LGBT Chamber of Commerce. We have signed up to the Disability Confident Scheme and Armed Forces Covenant Scheme.
In 2024:
In 2024 we will be recruiting diverse talent to support our growth ambition in the UK and Ireland. All job roles are open to people from any background, we are committed to ensuring LGBTQIA people feel welcomed to the Environmental Management and Sustainability Sector, we gaurantee people with disabilities an interview and proactively encourage ex-veterans to apply for our roles.
Derbyshire Wildlife Trust
We've been protecting wildlife and wild spaces in Derbyshire since 1962. As the leading conservation charity in Derbyshire, we work hard to support our local wildlife with the support of our wonderful volunteers and members. With 55 Nature Reserves across the county and countless conservation and wellbeing projects, we're pretty busy!
In 2023:
In 2023 we have focused on working towards specific actions under our 3 priorities in our EDI commitment.
Priority 1: Be an organisation that represents our communities within Derbyshire and Derby City.
• We share learnings, and evaluations around community organising with new and existing community groups.
• We are working on establishing new volunteering opportunities and creating community volunteering groups. We are making our volunteering opportunities and procedures more accessible.
• We are using learnings from our projects such as working for nature, next door nature and GCRF projects, to develop an inclusive recruitment model.
Priority 2: We want everyone to feel celebrated, recognised and valued.
• To ensure our collective and internal language is inclusive for all we are continuously producing accessible company documents for external and internal use, always reflecting, and adjusting to the needs of users.
• To make sure that our work is as accessible to everyone as it can be, and everyone feels seen, we will better our imagery and language. We will always seek to use a range of audiences and groups to inform content produced, ensuring our content is accessible and representative.
Priority 3: We want inclusion to be our everyday, to be at the heart of what we do.
• To drive the work and understanding of EDI and its implementation we are building a sustainable training programme around EDI and development including an inclusive leadership and governance programme for trustees and senior leadership team.
• Our work needs to connect people and communities with wild spaces and therefore we need to be aware of barriers to connection to allow us to address them from the point of initiation. We have produced and we will start to audit EDI considerations into the project start-up process / scoping - to ensure we consider EDI in project design as well as in land management and enhancement.
In 2024:
In April 2024 we will review all our priority areas and will seek to publish a refreshed commitment there on after.
We know a strong feature will encompass the work we are embarking on in our journey towards becoming an anti-racist organisation and the work we are doing on recruitment outreach and community action.
Earthwatch Europe
Earthwatch Europe is an environmental charity with science at its heart. We drive the change needed to live within our means and in balance with nature. We do this by connecting people with the natural world, monitoring the health of our natural resources and informing the actions that will have the greatest positive impact.
In 2023:
Updates on 5 commitment areas in 2023
1. Ensure Earthwatch is a place where individuality is embraced and everyone has the opportunity to thrive
• Active EDI working group, supported at an Executive level which all staff can and do feed into
• Bringing together policies and procedures that were relevant to both the UK and Netherlands employees.
• EDI sessions for new starters continued and were made longer to ensure new employees fully understood what the EDI group were working towards.
• Mental health training was provided to all line managers to embed understanding in this area.
• Shared Parental Leave policy has been made more robust, in line with our Maternity and Adoption Leave policies.
2. Identify and remove any barriers to greater equality and inclusion within our recruitment processes
• Advertising for key Director of Science and Policy role through diverse job boards: Diverse Jobs Matter and Pink Jobs!
• We added a statement to our job descriptions advising that we are aware that our requirement list may not acknowledge all relevant transferrable skills and encouraged applicants to apply even if they did not meet all essential criteria.
3. Put a plan in place to build a more diverse Board of Trustees
• We looked to further expand the diversity of our trustees' skills, experience and networks particularly linked to engaging younger people and people from less advantaged and underrepresented communities on environmental issues. We worked with Diversifying Group, a Diversity and Inclusion Services organisation, to recruit new trustees; which led to five successful appointments in January 2024.
4. Review equity within the organisation, starting with a gender equity plan
• We completed another situational report in 2023 to refine our Gender Equity Plan. The up-to-date document is published on our website.
5. Review our existing programmes and develop new programmes aimed at giving increased equity and increased diversity, starting with young minority ethnic people
• Naturehood Oxford: In 2023, National Lottery funding enabled Earthwatch to empower five communities in Oxford, which historically have suffered from lack of support or funding, to create thriving networks of wildlife-rich space that create better, healthier places to live. Naturehood particularly focuses on connecting with young people aged 16-24, minority and disadvantaged communities, who traditionally have had limited access to public green space. The project will run until June 2024.
• Branching out to underrepresented communities via the Climate Action Fund (CAF): Through the CAF project, Earthwatch has recruited a Community Engagement and Diversity Manager to develop activities that focus on engaging with underrepresented groups to ensure diversity of participation at Tiny Forests. Through this funding, we plan to connect a further 12,000 people (engaging an average of 200 people per Tiny Forest, with at least 7,200 (or 60%) of people from underrepresented groups) with nature through taking local climate action at Tiny Forests. We will work in partnership with GoodGym in England and NatureScot in Scotland focussing on underrepresented groups in 20 existing TFs and 40 new sites across England and Scotland which are economically and environmentally deprived.
This project will contribute to Earthwatch’s goal of ‘nurturing a network of 500 Tiny Forests across the UK and Europe, targeting under-served communities in the majority of locations and engaging 100,000 people by 2030’.
• Earthwatch Science Camps - successfully recruited a diverse range of participants through developing a rich training programme containing many different voices and lived experiences and then spending time on targetted outreach to get the programme in front of the right people.
In 2024:
2024 commitments
1. Ensure Earthwatch is a place where individuality is embraced and everyone has the opportunity to thrive
• Add EDI as a standing item at Executive and Trustee Meetings.
• Build on current monitoring systems and contribute data to the RACE report
2. Identify and remove any barriers to greater equality and inclusion within our recruitment processes
• Continue to improve our processes for both attracting more diverse candidates (using platforms and forums which get our roles in front of a diverse range of candidates) and retaining a diverse workforce.
3. Put a plan in place to build a more diverse Board of Trustees
• Work with our new diverse board of trustees to continue to embed EDI across all our programmes of work - especially with marginalised and under - represented groups
4. Review equity within the organisation, starting with a gender equity plan
•Identify another area of equity to review within the organisation, alongside gender
5. Review our existing programmes and develop new programmes aimed at giving increased equity and increased diversity, starting with young minority ethnic people
• Secure funding for programmes which supporting working in urban areas with underserved people who have poor access to nature, particularly marginalised groups.
• Ensure all our brand and communications are inclusive, equitable and speak to all our audiences
ECIU
The Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit is a non-profit organisation that supports informed debate on energy and climate change issues in the UK.
Climate change presents important challenges and opportunities to Britons in the decades ahead, while the choices we make on energy have implications for society, the economy and the climate system. We believe that debates on these issues should be underpinned by evidence, and involve the full range of stakeholders.
We support journalists, parliamentarians and other communicators with accurate and accessible briefings on key issues, and work with individuals and organisations that have interesting stories to tell, helping them connect to the national conversation.
In 2023:
We continued to adapt our recruitment process to make it more inclusive and promote diversity in our team, from where we advertised, through to the selection processes for each role. However, as a small organisation, it is tested relatively infrequently; we remain committed to improving it, as we test it, in 2024.
We have worked to feature and promote a more diverse group of climate voices. This has included working with a small cadre of early career academics, from disciplines related to climate change and clean transition, for whom we have provided media training and briefing to begin to support them as part of a more diverse network of spokespeople we are developing. Two of these scientists joined our delegation to COP28 in Dubai, to act as spokespeople, contributing blogs and videos as part of our communication from COP.
We ran another paid summer internship, welcoming applicants from groups under-represented in our sector. Our selection was entirely competency based and the internship was awarded to a student from a minority background who successfully contributed to ECIU’s work for two months over summer, and developed skills and experience of value to her in what she hopes to do next. During the year, a previous intern who worked with us has also secured a permanent position in another organisation in the sector.
We continue to work on improving the diversity of our Board, and work is in progress to identify and approach potential future board members.
In 2024:
We remain committed to making our recruitment processes more inclusive, encouraging diversity amongst the applicant pool as an important route to building greater diversity and inclusion within our team, as we grow.
We are committed to increasing diversity in our media briefing panels, on our board, and amongst our spokespeople and other public-facing representatives, including those with whom we work as contractors or who write guest pieces for our website.
For both of these first two aims, we need to be able to do more to challenge embedded practices that reinforce the status quo, recognising that meaningful improvement will be about evolving the culture and getting out of ingrained habits. However, this is where we need to find others with whom we can work, whether learning and working together, or learning from others’ success. As a small organisation it remains challenging to change a wider culture.
We will once again promote our internship to under-represented groups as part of our commitment to building routes into our sector, supporting them to develop skills and experience that will help them with their career development.
Ecobirmingham
We are a sustainability charity, supporting greener, fairer and healthier communities in Birmingham. We deliver a range of activities from cycling, education, community gardening, and sustainability action planning.
In 2023:
The progress we have made against our commitments in Jan 2023 to Feb 2024 are set out below:
Action: Regular progress reports (every 6 months) to the People Committee of our
Board reporting progress against the DSI actions in our annual business plan. Progress -
actions for 23/24 agreed, in annual plan, and progress reported to Board
Action: Pictures of staff and board on our website to be transparent about diversity of
organisation. Progress - not yet completed, but latest 22/23 impact report published in Sept
23 includes a range of ethnicities, genders and ages engaged in environmental action.
Action: Recruit new trustees based on skills gap, including access to a range of
networks across the city that represent more diverse communities. Recruit a young Trustee
Board member (22-30). Progress - 4 new Board members recruited to address skills gaps, two are first time trustees, two are different ethnicities to existing trustees, one provides access and perspective of some south asian communities in the north of the city, one has benefited from a diversity trustee support programme. Will try recruiting a younger trustee later in year.
Action: Case study of working with a partner to reach a diverse audience. Progress -
continued working with local community partners in Sparkbrook and Sparkhill to deliver local cycling, route finding, and childrens activities for women from a largely muslim and south asian
heritage. Continued to work with multi-faith partner to deliver energy and environmental advice to over different places of worship and faith communities. Case
studies yet to be written up.
Action: Undertake staff training on how to listen and engage with different diverse
audiences. Progress - Community conversations events have been rolled out by staff over the year to engage and listen to different communities. This has resulted in securing funding for a 3 year project to support several of these communities on sustainability. Training held with staff with in Feb 2024 with external community provider to help build confidence in engaging and being curious with diverse communities we work with.
Action: Ensure consistency of current good practice in job recruitment (description,
recruitment networks, opportunity to talk to recruiting manager about role, equalities
monitoring, blind shortlisting etc) is also being applied to our other recruitment type
processes for Trustees, volunteers, and associates. Progress - being implemented, and during recruitment in 2023 had more diverse shortlist for advertised role, and our new Head of Programmes, and member of our Senior Management Team (SMT) is from a different ethnicity of the rest of SMT.
Action: Create a consistent baseline of the diversity of the beneficaries we work with. Progress - have begun to collect data from event registration and evaluation forms for our events. In April 2024 we should have our first full year of data to create a baseline. Birmingham is 51% non-white ethnicities, and we want to see how that compares to those we work with.
In 2024:
Action: Create our first baseline of the diversity of the beneficiaries we work with annually.
Action: When our website is updated put pictures of staff and trustees up to illustrate diversity of backgrounds.
Action: Create case studies of the partners and diverse communities we have worked with e.g. Asian Wedding Dress swap event to reduce waste.
Ecosystems Knowledge Network
We are a network of professionals that shares learning on how to connect environmental restoration with wellbeing and prosperity. We are a registered charity, 3.5 FTE staff and 4 trustees.
2023:
We have formed an internal EDI policy, which has been followed with our recruitment process for trustees and staff. We have reviewed the types of diversity that apply particularly to our network (such as meeting the needs of Welsh language users in our events in Wales).
2024:
We will evaluate the diversity present within our membership, which is free and open to all. A Board member will be recruited with responsibility for overseeing the EDI aspects of our work.
Energy Confidence with Phil Beardmore
I have oodles of experience in:
- energy saving advice to householders
- energy saving advice to small businesses
- strategic environmental consultancy
- helping to develop new environmental and energy saving projects.
In 2023:
- Participation in the Birmingham Race Impact Group's Environment and Climate Change Summit, and being a member of the Summit organising committee https://www.wearebrig.co.uk/
- Continuing to informally mentor people of colour who are in the early stages of an environmental career
In 2024:
- Continue to participate in BRIG
- Continue to mentor people of colour at the early stages of environmental careers
Environmental Services Association
We started life as the National Association of Waste Disposal Contractors in 1968, becoming the Environmental Services Association in 1996, in recognition – nearly a quarter of a century ago - that collecting waste is only the first step.
ESA members are part of a complex chain of activities that deliver quality secondary materials for new, sustainable, products as well as renewable energy and fuel supplies.
ESA members comprise 85% of the sector, including all the major companies.
As well as representing our members’ interests in the UK and in Europe, we are also actively working to raise wider issues of sustainability and resource efficiency, to raise operational standards within the industry and to ensure the health and safety of our workforce.
In 2023:
The ESA has continued to promote best practice diversity initiatives from across our industry in our annual reports. We have published our Social Value Charter for our members which includes promotion of positive diversity within the workforce and supply chain. As part of a review the Member Code of Conduct which has started, we aim to encourage Members to promote diversity within their organisations.
In 2024:
Continue to promote best practice diversity initiatives from across our industry in our annual reports.
Review and update Code of Conduct for Members which will include promoting diversity as part of making the sector desirable to work in as part of our Social Value Charter.
Develop an accessible tool to measure social value, including diversity, and promote it to our Members.
Fauna & Flora International
Fauna & Flora is an international wildlife conservation charity. We work closely with conservation partners in well over 40 countries to save nature, together. Our focus is on protecting and restoring habitats, saving species from extinction and developing sustainable livelihoods for those living closest to nature. Our people are based around the world; supporting projects on the ground in-country and providing technical and operational expertise from our UK head office, and from regional offices across the globe. We apply our expertise across a range of issues affecting nature – whether that’s habitat destruction, illegal wildlife trade or unsustainable resource use. Climate change or plastic pollution. Corporate sustainability or global policy.
2023:
EDI objectives joyfully achieved:
In June 2023, we appointed a Wellbeing & EDI Officer, a dedicated resource who works with our EDI Working Group to set and actively work towards our EDI objectives across our regions.
We have a strong and committed EDI Working Group composing of employees from all levels of the organisation including members from our People Team and Senior Leadership Team. The group is currently focused on EDI topics, such as inclusive recruitment, affinity groups, EDI policies and procedures in place to support employees.
We advertise our vacancies on a broader range of job sites who are actively recognising and working towards dismantling entry barriers, to reach applicants who we would otherwise not reach.
Transferring from unpaid internships to paid internships and advertising opportunities to reach under-resourced and subsequently under-represented groups, to improve access to conservation as a profession. In 2021 we offered four paid internships and seven in both 2022 and 2023.
We are part of the Diverse Sustainability Initiative (DSI), a collaborative network engaging CEOs of sustainability and environmental sectors to transform diversity within the sector globally.
We are committed to The Race Report UK, an initiative addressing the racial diversity gap and highlighting the need for greater representation in environmental and conservation organisations. The report is annual, subsequently providing comparative data of progression internally and externally.
2024:
EDI initiatives we’ll be investing in:
Delivering live online Anti Racist training to all UK employees in 2024. This training is developed and delivered by a leader in the field of Anti Racist training in the UK. The training will help employees understand how unknowingly pervasive racism is, and how it impacts our conservation work and how we interact with each other in the workplace.
Making Unconscious Bias & Privilege training available globally to Fauna & Flora employees on our internal Learning & Development platform. This training helps employees to understand their own identity within the context of dominant culture, privileges, biases, microaggressions and cultural competency, and how they can impact our work.
Developing an EDI toolkit for our employees, which provides resources, support and guidance on EDI matters within the workplace.
Commitment to better understand the cultural contexts to support our in-country teams. E.g. One-on-one meetings and team meetings with teams to listen, understand and adapt EDI & wellbeing offerings that are responsive to the cultural contexts of our regional offices.
Creating a more diverse and inclusive workplace by continuing to ensure that our hiring practices are fair and equitable: using inclusive terminology in recruitment communications and currently exploring mechanisms for anonymising job applications during review, to eliminate any selection bias.
Creating a more inclusive workplace by fostering a workplace culture that is respectful and welcoming of each employee by learning about and celebrating diversity throughout the year, highlighting the different cultures and backgrounds of employees.
An equitable workplace and subsequent diverse workforce are essential as it strengthens Fauna & Flora’s conservation work in bringing invaluable perspectives and experiences to the fore. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion can help us to develop more regenerative and effective conservation strategies.
To avoid tokenism, and to embed our EDI work within all aspects of our workplace and work culture, we are actively learning and recognising avenues where we need to focus and invest our resources. Our commitment is to continually assess, dismantle and reform ingrained organisational norms which may limit or preclude certain groups, and to effect systemic changes towards the creation of a more equitable, diverse and inclusive workplace at Fauna & Flora.
Fit For Purpose Consultancy Ltd
Fit for Purpose is a boutique sustainability consultancy, and our mission is to help businesses to lead through purpose. We help businesses of all sizes identify the positive contribution they can make to people and planet, and then work with them to broaden and deepen those positive impacts, whilst also reducing or eliminating the negative impacts. Our role is to bring purpose to life through identifying key actions businesses can take, and helping them listen and respond to the needs and expectations of a broad range of stakeholders, from customers and staff to the communities where they operate.
In 2023:
Our goal at Fit For Purpose is to be reflective of the society in which we operate, both in terms of our attitude and approach and eventually in terms of our workforce. We also support female or minority owned businesses in our supply chain by prioritising those businesses when appointing suppliers. Specific Goals:
• Offer at least one mentorship to a young professional who identifies as being from a minority group - this was achieved in both 2022 and 2023 as our MD mentored two individuals from underrepresented groups during those years
• Ensure that Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) is prioritised in the hierarchy of issues our clients’ sustainability strategies, and has targets and programmes of action (Goal for FY23: 3/5 of our client projects)
• We aim to have 30% of our discretionary spend on suppliers with female or minority owned businesses. We hit this figure in the last 3 years due to the fact we work with a female led accountancy firm which accounts for approx 30% of our discretionary spend
• Aim for 80% of sub-contractors or freelance contracts to be with either local, female-owned, minority owned or minority/female-owned or led businesses. FY21: 7/8 subcontractors and 30% of spend were women or female owned businesses. FY22: 45% of spend FY23 Achieved: 53% of spend
In 2024:
In 2024 we plan to step up our efforts to support minority professionals to enter into and gain skills in the sustainability profession. We are looking to add sponsorship of mentoring scheme to our existing staff mentoring commitments.
Frefort Consulting
Fredfort Consulting is a management consulting company providing corporate strategy development based on derived data- based business insights and research. Effective strategies are not only developed but implemented to ensure effectiveness through monitoring & evaluation activities. Fredfort Consulting is incorporated as a registered Nigerian company in December 2020. Fredfort Consulting is set up to provide the following services:
• Business Consulting
• Corporate Strategy Development & Implementation
• Data Analytics & Business Intelligence Services
• Business Development & Management Services
• Research & Advisory Services
• Learning & Development (LD) We will earn the trust of everyone impacted by our operations, demonstrating our commitment to ethics, diversity and human rights through our words and actions. This includes working to ensure the health and safety of our employees, and promoting societal benefit through community investment activities.
FSC UK
The Forest Stewardship Council ® (FSC®) UK is a registered charity dedicated to promoting responsibly forestry and helping to ensure Forests For All Forever.
FSC UK would like to make a public commitment to work towards improving diversity within the environment and sustainability sector, and among environment and sustainability professionals.
• Developed our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion policy and made this visible on our website.
• Provided unconscious bias training to line managers
• Ensured application packs used inclusive terminology and did not overstate the skills/experience required for a role
• Continued to anonymise applications
• Collated data on diversity of staff and applicants and took part in the Race Report
• Continued to learn from others
In 2024:
• Continue to conduct our annual EDI survey and submit data to the RACE report
• Collect data on applicants and establish systems to review the data and report internally
• Explore a greater range of advertising media, and particularly social media, to reach a more diverse talent pool
• Continue our work to ensure application packs use inclusive terminology and do not overstate the skills/experience required for a role
• Offer unconscious bias training to all staff
• Embed EDI into the selection criteria for projects submitted to our proposed impact investment fund
• Further develop our EDI policy
• Support The Raven Network
• Continue to learn from others particularly through networks such as the IEMA initiative and Wildlife & Countryside Link
Green Alliance
To achieve a green and prosperous UK for all, Green Alliance aims to develop policy solutions that create a better future. As well as the environment, Green Alliance will consider people and social justice when designing environmental policies to bring about a fair green economic transition.
Green Alliance believes that an inclusive culture is fundamental for people to thrive, and feel valued and recognised. They value a diversity of perspectives and lived experiences to enhance their organisational culture and creative policy thinking.
The environmental and think tank sectors are among the least diverse workplaces in the UK. Green Alliance is committed to changing that, in both the way they operate and by exercising their influence.
They believe making progress on equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) is essential to their success and they recognise that this is a continuous process of improvement and learning.
EDI is important to Green Alliance because they want to:
- Design better and more effective policy solutions
- Be an inclusive and diverse organisation where everyone thrives
- Take action to change one of the least diverse sectors in the UK
2023:
To achieve a green and prosperous UK for all, we will develop policy solutions that strive to create and help embed better futures. As well as the environment, we will consider people and social justice when designing environmental policies to bring about a fair green economic transition.
We believe that an inclusive culture is fundamental for people to thrive, feel valued and recognised. We value a diversity of perspectives and lived experience which enhances our organisational culture and our creative policy thinking.
The professional environment and think tank sectors are some of the least diverse in the UK. We are committed to changing that, in both the way we operate and by exercising our influence across the sectors.
We believe that making progress on EDI is essential to our success and recognise that this is a continuous process of improvement and learning. EDI is important to us because we want to:
• Design better and more effective policy solutions
• Be an inclusive and diverse organisation where everyone thrives
• Take action in changing one of the least diverse sectors in the UK
Objectives
We are working to improve our EDI performance. This is summarised in five objectives for the two years from April 2023 to March 2025:
1. We will ensure that, as well as the environment, people and social justice considerations are embedded in their policy thinking, design and advocacy.
2. The diversity of the board and workforce will be increased and nurtured, especially regarding socio-economic and ethnic diversity.
3. They will build a more inclusive culture at Green Alliance. They define this as welcoming people from all backgrounds, experiences, identities and characteristics, enabling our employees to feel that their differences are valued.
4. They will listen to a diverse range of people and enable a greater platform for underrepresented and lesser heard voices across their internal and external work.
5. They will play an active and collaborative role within the think tank and environment sectors to increase diversity and inclusion.
In 2022 we:
• Appointed an EDI Champion on our board of trustees.
• Integrated our commitment to diversity and inclusion into our published 2021-2024 organisational strategy.
• Engaged with external consultants to develop our EDI Strategy.
• Contributed to and actively engaged in sector-wide EDI initiatives and working groups, including signing up to The RACE Report.
• Piloted a new recruitment process to help remove bias from decision making.
In 2023 we:
• Delivered the first nine months of a two-year Action Plan on EDI.
• Actively engaged with external EDI initiates, including the RACE Report, Diverse Sustainability Initiative and the Link EDI group.
• Contributed to research on EDI led by Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.
• Carried out research into how we can improve wider engagement in policy development, leading to recommendations which will be rolled out in 2024.
• Updated our Workplace Adjustments policy to provide greater clarity and support.
• Engaged the whole team in neurodiversity training.
• Increased the diversity of our applicant pool for the graduate scheme and continued use of anti-bias recruitment process
• Delivered seven ‘lunch and learns’ with the team in EDI related topics and three staff social activities connected to celebrations for different communities.
2024:
In 2024 we plan to:
• Identify actions to progress our work on anti-racism; where appropriate forming task and finish groups to lead on activity, as this has been a successful mechanism for delivery.
• Complete a review of our organisation-wide recruitment process. Aiming to improve the diversity of the applicant pool, track our success in retaining diversity through the recruitment process and ensuring a warm welcome to new starters of all backgrounds.
• Engage the team in training on being and active bystander (allyship), inclusive recruitment and other topics as identified.
• Launch a podcast series on engaging lesser heard voices in policy development.
• Host a webinar on ‘Putting Fairness at the heart of climate action’, with follow-up events dependent on feedback.
• Raise funds to increase participatory research techniques in projects where behaviour change is part of the policy recommendations.
• Recruit some new trustees following updated guidance on increasing diversity and removing barriers to access
Greenheart Consulting
Greenheart is a Certified B Corporation full-service social & environmental impact consultancy dedicated to helping companies integrate regenerative thinking throughout their business model.
We specialise in B Corp certification and re-certification, impact strategy & governance and environmental & supply chain sustainability management.
In 2023:
In 2023, focusing first on our inner journey, our main priority was to make Greenheart a place of authentic belonging, ensuring the contribution of global voices and thinking to our work. To this end
- We rolled out a comprehensive DEI training for our team along with facilitated discussions to share takeaways and embed them in our ways of working. We covered unconscious bias, allyship and inclusive language usage.- Equipped with learnings from DEI training and other webinars & workshops, we reviewed our recruitment practices to make them more inclusive. Some changes we made were:
-Analysed our job postings for inclusive language and general clarity;and
-Started sending interview questions to candidates ahead of the interview calls
- Organised conversations to enrich our thinking thanks to voices of lived experience. To this end we launched a podcast where we have spoken to various businesses and stakeholders on topics such as creating more equal employment opportunities through open hiring, power of action & community-driven change.
In 2024:
In 2024, we will continue our focus on our inner journey to make Greenheart a place of authentic belonging, while also contributing towards the development of our outer journey to support the inclusion of marginalised communities & voices, amplifying their voices and advocating for global wisdom.
Building on the knowledge we gained in the past year through EDI training as well as internal and external conversations, we will focus this year on Neurodiversity and Allyship in the workplace.
Neurodiversity in the workplace
We commit to create a neurodiversity-friendly workplace. To do so we will:
- Gain better understanding and raise awareness of neurodiversity in the workplace;
- Understand how and to what extent we can adapt our structures and practices to be able to support the widest range of neurodiverse employees possible; and
- Take steps to encourage neurodiverse job applicants, remove potential challenges in the hiring process.
Allyship in the workplace
- We commit to listen, learn and (crucially) un-learn some of the ingrained prejudices that come from each of our backgrounds and become better allies. To do so we will:
- Set out our commitments to listen, support and act to enable allies to increase their impact and effectiveness;
- Build a toolkit for allies to use when they notice instances of racism, discrimination, and inappropriate behaviour;
- Create a safespace for allies to share challenges and good practice ideas & stories- this could be in the form of meetings every 3 months to discuss & share; and
- Examine all our external-facing activities with the lens of allyship.
GS2 Partnership | Global Sustainable Search
We are an executive search firm focusing on the sustainability profession. Led by a person of colour, we believe strongly in transforming the sustainability sector, by encouraging and supporting individuals from diverse backgrounds into the profession.
In 2023:
We will uphold our commitment by ensuring that all of the searches we conduct on behalf of our clients are diverse. We challenge the norm and hold our clients to account, to encourage diverse thinking within their recruitment processes
[all client delivered have achieved specific diversity goals from our clients]
We train our clients in unconscious bias interviewing, along with working with them on their diversity goals.
[Each executive search mandate we deliver includes the option for our clients to learn and we guide them on this journey]
We have achieved pulling our future leaders programme together with our first pilot groups going live in Q2.
In 2024:
We will establish a mentoring programme for graduates within the sustainability space, with a focus around diverse candidates
Hope Solutions
Hope Solutions is a leading sustainability consultancy and solutions provider for international businesses, projects and events.
Hope Solutions is committed to improving diversity within the environment and sustainability sector and among environment and sustainability professionals.
In 2023:
Achievements from 2023:
1. Successful flexible working model - maintained as the company grew and welcomed a new employee in April 2023.
2. Completed an internal assessment through surveying and interviews with employees of our internal company structure, looking at core demographics, salaries, engagement and other key areas to better understand our people and performance.
Also compared with industry standards and sector competitors (where available).
3. Completed our first engagement survey with a 100% engagement and satisfaction scores across all employees achieved in year 1.
4. Took the company through the B Corp certification and certified with a score of 118. Raising the level to which we commit ourselves to accountability, transparency and continuous improvement. We will be required to recertify every 3 years to maintain our standing as a B Corp business.
5. Took our first client through their B Corp certification - an acknowledgment that this client meets high standards of social and environmental impact. This will be a service we expand in 2024.
6. Held our 2nd Company strategy and values meeting. This was extended to 2 days to encompass external speakers and a wider remit in order to assess our company and individual employee’s values, motivations, boundaries and expectations, to align on our agreed vision, missions and values.
7. All employee salaries continue to be reviewed and adjusted accordingly in line with experience, training undertaken and their position. There will also be a continuous review as we onboard new staff and as individual staff knowledge develops to maintain pay equity. This is in addition to ensuring all staff and regular subcontractors receive the real living wage (as a minimum).
8. In line with 7 above, we formalised becoming a Real Living Wage Employer to solidify our commitment to fair wages and pay parity.
9. Introduced bimonthly confidential wellbeing check ins with employees to provide a safe space for employees to air concerns or frustrations, raise any issues and feel empowered to challenge the company (and if applicable our clients) on anything.
10. Reviewed all terms and conditions and contractor agreements to embed human rights, ED&I, Living wage, environmental and social impact clauses to take the first step in extending accountability to our suppliers, freelancers and clients.
11. Introduced company wide Income protection, Life insurance and employee assistance programme. All employees are eligible following probation, regardless of part time/full time and it is offered at the same level across all employees.
In 2024:
Hope Solutions is committed to improving diversity within the environment and sustainability sector and among environment and sustainability professionals.
We endeavour to maintain our commitments we made in 2022. In addition targeting some
of the action points we didn't achieve and aim to improve on. We acknowledge that we are
on a journey with ED&I and are developing our knowledge and continually learning to
ensure a more equitable workplace and industry.
1. Develop a Company ED&I action plan through collaboration with diverse voices and
experts.
2. Maintain flexible working to support employees and working parents to strike the balance between work and home life.
3. Repeat our company employee engagement and demographics surveys to monitor our people and performance compared with industry standards and sector competitors (where available)
4. Provide leadership and training opportunities for all employees with a focus on ED&I.
4a. Provide at least 1 ED&I workshops and training for the team and increase staff competence around ED&I discussion.
5. Review our H&S documents and Risk register - Adding EDI as issues to be considered at senior management meetings.
6. Continue to remove barriers to employment and explore options for anonymised recruitment to reduce unconscious bias.
6a. Candidates to be screened and assessed on skills, experience and best fit for the job role requirements in order to reduce any unconscious bias.
6b. We would like to take this two steps further in future recruitment, firstly by reviewing job descriptions for accessibility and inclusion requirements before posting, and to explore an anonymised application process.
7. Introduce a mentoring scheme for female and non-binary professionals as well as those who identify within minority groups. (not achieved in 2023.
8. All employees will continue to receive the real living wage (as a minimum) from hire, reviewing all salaries annually to ensure we’re maintaining salaries in line with cost of living /inflation.
9. Continue to maintain pay parity for all staff according to position, by reviewing regularly and revising accordingly.
10. Aim to provide 5 new or existing clients with additional services focused on social impact and ED&I to support clients growing requests
IEMA
IEMA is the professional body for everyone working in environment and sustainability.
We’re committed to supporting, encouraging and improving the confidence and performance of all these professionals, helping them to enhance their profile and recognition.
We do this by providing resources and tools, research and knowledge sharing along with high-quality formal training and qualifications to meet the real-world needs of members - from their first steps on the career ladder, right to the very top.
We believe that together we can change perceptions and attitudes about the relevance and vital importance of sustainability as a progressive force for good.
2023:
- All our recruitment adverts continue to include an inclusivity statement, and we follow guidance to ensure that our adverts are inclusive in regards to the language we use.
- We continue to undertake a salary benchmarking exercise every 3 years to ensure all our roles are paid competitively and we pay particular focus on gender differences to ensure that everyone is paid equally.
- We continue to ensure our recruitment practices and assessments are free from bias or discrimination by having more than one interviewer in the process when making hiring decisions and we have clear objective selection criteria for each role.
- Ensured that all IEMA staff refer to a compulsory digital accessibility checklist before hosting a meeting/ presentation.
- Ensured that ALL IEMA staff have received training in allyship, anti-racism and unconscious bias. All new staff will be required to complete compulsory e-learning on the above subjects to ensure that all staff support an inclusive environment. By the end of 2023.
- Continued to make efforts to ensure our job adverts are available and accessible to diverse communities and we will continue to explore groups and organisations to partner with that actively support marginalised or underrepresented communities. By the end of 2023.
- Continued our commitment to the RACE report.
- We ensured that our ‘How To Series’ addresses topics that members have marked as barriers, such as ‘lack of self-confidence’ especially by women.
- We created an EDI page on the Green Careers Hub to show our commitment to ED&I and how we will address the lack of diversity in the profession.
- We hosted a PoC and LGBTQIA+ networking session at IEMA connect.
2024:
Accessibility-
- Ensure that our virtual meetings and webinars are digitally accessible for our members and stakeholders by asking for communication preferences beforehand. By the end of 2024.
- Ensure that all our virtual meetings and webinars include closed captions by the end of 2024.
- Ensure that the sign-up process for new members is accessible to all by surveying new IEMA members. By the end of 2024.
- Ensure that our digital transformation project addresses any concerns or limitations for those who may struggle with digital accessibility. By the end of 2024.
Representation-
- Begin capturing diversity data from applicants for steering groups to ensure that we are reaching a diverse audience by the end of 2024.
- Begin capturing diversity data for IEMA connect speakers to ensure we have diversity targets by the end of 2024.
- Ensure that our new website uses a diverse and inclusive image bank by the end of 2024.
- Add a diversity statement to all our steering group advertisements and speaker advertisements. By the end of 2024.
IEMA staff-
- Ensure that staff are aware of the different disabilities, visual & hearing impairments, and neurodiversity so that the team better understand communication styles, how that might impact discussions/ emails and how best to be understanding and inclusive of this. By the end of 2024.
Recruitment-
- As we develop our website, our aim is to create a candidate landing page where we will be able to include our Diversity Policy and further details and insight about our culture at IEMA. By the end of 2024.
Alongside our commitments, we will ensure that we take on board any feedback received via the DSI’s people of colour and LGBTQ+ network and continue to listen to feedback from our members.
We will also continue to submit our data through the RACE Report to ensure that we are transparent about our diversity data.
Laura Matz- B-Corp Consulting
Laura's commitment is to support people who are starting out in this industry by sharing her own story with them as well as signposting learning, development and job opportunities. For all courses launched, she will review the content and delivery to ensure that it is appealing to a diverse audience and always provides a safe space for participants to feel included.
Progress to date: The website includes an option for a free 15 minute call to discuss anything related to sustainability as well as a 1 hour consultation for sustainability newcomers.
Laura has also dedicated one day a month to the Diverse Sustainability Initiative since it launched in 2022, she has helped build the resources page, looked for speakers, managed the LinkedIn account, offered valuable advice and much more.
2024:
Laura's commitment is to support people who are starting out in this industry by sharing her own story with them as well as signposting learning, development and job opportunities. For all courses launched, she will review the content and delivery to ensure that it is appealing to a diverse audience and always provides a safe space for participants to feel included.
Lou Chiu Coaching and Consultancy Ltd
In 2023:
I've been able to work with one organisation so far, providing training and recordings for an IEMA member.
I have provided training for DSI partners at their first face-to-face event in 2023.
In 2024:
Lou is a Culture and Relationships Coach and Consultant, specialising in supporting aspiring allies, individuals and organisations. As a sole directorship company, Lou applies trauma-informed and allyship values to her practice and work within organisational cultures.
Her contribution to the Diverse Sustainability Initiative includes:
- Enabling DSI members to reach their EDI goals by offering one complimentary one-hour support call. This can be booked using this link: https://calendly.com/louchiu/d...
- Communicating options, approaches and support exclusively for DSI members by publishing a list of services
Contributing to collective knowledge for DSI members by publishing four blog posts and two webinars
National Forest Company
The National Forest Company is responsible for leading the creation of the National Forest, working in partnership with landowners, businesses, public, private and voluntary organisations and local communities to deliver and champion the shared vision for the Forest.
In 2023:
The National Forest Company has provided EDI training to its Trustees and Senior Leadership Team and has identified opportunities for training for the wider team. We have expanded our diversity monitoring beyond recruitment to include applicants and recipients of our grant schemes, and those registering to take part in a new volunteer group launched this year. We have also undertaken a detailed assessment of the communities we serve so that we can better understand our reach and potential gaps. The National Forest website will be launched in 2024 and will be fully accessible to WCAG 2.2 AA compliance, and will be continuously updated annually to check for accessibility and good user experience for all users. The National Forest communications strategy has also highlighted a number of diverse trend days and engagement mechanisms to cover wider audiences throughout our communications activity; including working with LGBTQ+ writers, wellbeing practitioners and more.
In 2024:
The National Forest Company commits to offering specific and detailed EDI training to all its staff in the coming year. We will also establish a more formal process to ensure EDI is fully embedded in the initial development stage of any new projects. We will update our EDI action plan with specific targets for engagement and accessibility moving forward. We also commit to reviewing our recruitment process to ensure we are reaching the full range of potentially suitable candidates, and that the application process is fully accessible to all.
Society for the Environment
The Society for the Environment (SocEnv) is the home for all environmental professionals. Our primary functions are the licensing of professional institutions to register Chartered Environmentalist (CEnv), Registered Environmental Practitioner (REnvP) and Registered Environmental Technician (REnvTech) registrants, celebrating environmental good practice and championing the advancement of environmental professionalism.
In 2023:
Starting in 2021, the RA conducted a complete and comprehensive review of the Practice Directions containing the competencies, eligibility criteria, and professional review assessments for Chartered Environmentalist (CEnv), Registered Environmental Practitioner (REnvP), and Registered Environmental Technician (REnvTech).
So why has the RA been undertaking this review? It is considered good practice for a regulator to regularly review its standards, and it has been more than five years since the Chartered Environmentalist standard underwent a comprehensive review. The recent work that the RA has done on developing REnvP, positioned between REnvTech and CEnv, has highlighted the opportunity to clarify the positioning not only for our Member Bodies but also its relationship with the other two levels of registration. It was a valuable opportunity for the RA to look at and work across all three standards.
The RA has also invested significant effort in the review, including:
Reviewing the competences.
Examining the eligibility criteria.
Considering the assessment methodology.
Throughout this work, the RA adopted a new way of working, incorporating shorter interim virtual meetings. They focused on intricate details within the competence descriptors themselves. Several tools, including Bloom's Taxonomy, a set of hierarchical models used for the classification of educational learning, guided the RA in this process.
The RA placed the three competences side by side to ensure progression from REnvTech to REnvP to CEnv while maintaining uniqueness in each. They adopted a similar approach for eligibility criteria, observing commonalities and differences across the three titles.
Separated equally on the qualification framework using principles adopted in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, REnvTech is positioned as a Level 3 qualification, REnvP as a Level 5 qualification, and CEnv as a Level 7 qualification.
The RA's effective work over the past couple of years included biweekly meetings and a physical workshop at RICS offices in Birmingham, specifically focused on assessment methodology. To challenge their approach, the RA invited Kieran McCartney, a lecturer with the Open University, to provide insights on innovative assessment during the workshop.
The precursor to this work was the RA's development of the REnvP standard. The complete Standards review led to a consultation exercise with Licensed Members in June 2022, with feedback received in August 2022. The RA reviewed the feedback and made necessary alterations.
Overall, the RA has adopted the strong principle of being evolutionary in reviewing standards rather than revolutionary, aiming to clarify the positioning of the three levels of registration while ensuring each level is unique and distinct."
In 2024:
Exploring the broader green jobs sector, and concluding with recommendations for positioning and products.
Students Organising for Sustainability UK
SOS-UK is a student-led education charity focusing on sustainability. We know environmental sustainability cannot be achieved in isolation, so our work spans across issues of justice and wellbeing as well.We believe in lifelong learning and work on sustainability across all forms of education from early years to workplace learning. We act as a support crew - facilitating, encouraging and mentoring people wherever they are on their sustainability journey in sustainability.We see the power and potential in students and young people to be at the forefront of change. We work alongside them as equal partners in their sustainability leadership journeys.
In 2023:
We have created a new proactive EDI strategy that has been co-created with the entire team. This will be made public in the coming weeks and be open to feedback, review and input from all appropriate stakeholders. We believe transparency is key to delivering on inclusion and equity.
Delivered another year of the Race Report and are now committed to delivering that project for another 5 years.
We have continued to offer guaranteed interviews for racially/ethnically minoritised job applicants and those underrepresented in the environment and climate sectors. Through this and other initiatives our staff team now has a higher representation of highly talented individuals from communities otherwise left out of the sectors. We will now continue to listen to this increasingly diverse team to make sure we are an inclusive and enriching place to work, and are further able to retain the team we are building.
In 2024:
We will continue to work with the staff team to improve their feelings and experience of inclusion at SOS-UK. This includes giving them the opportunity to feed into our overall strategy as well promoting an open door policy for constructive feedback on our ways of working. The aim is to retain the team we are building and for SOS to be providing long-term opportunities for career development for all its staff regardless of their backgrounds and identities.
We will increase the impact of the identity staff networks at the organisation, promoting their need to input into SOS's processes, policies and general strategic direction.
We will continue to lead by example and make our EDI work and effort as transparent and open to external and internal feedback as possible.
Sustrans
Sustrans is the charity making it easier for people to walk and cycle. We connect people and places, create liveable neighbourhoods, transform the school run and deliver a happier, healthier commute. Sustrans works in partnership, bringing people together to find the right solutions. We make the case for walking and cycling by using robust evidence and showing what can be done. We are grounded in communities and believe that grassroots support combined with political leadership drives real change, fast.
In 2023:
Sustrans has published our For Everyone Strategic Framework (FESF), which sets out our approach to becoming a more diverse and inclusive organisation, as well as how we will embed equity, diversity and inclusion in our external delivery and campaigns work. The FESF is accompanied by an internal action plan (to guide our internal EDI work) and an external action plan (to guide our external delivery work). The FESF and action plans will guide business planning for 24/25 and after the business planning period, we will make the documents publicly available on our website.
We assembled a For Everyone Oversight Group, with key senior leaders (a trustee who is our EDI Board Champion, four members of the Executive team and the EDI Strategy Lead) to provide governance and accountability over the For Everyone agenda. The group was heavily involved in the development of the FESF and action plans, and will continue to be involved in overseeing implementation and evaluation. To drive the implementation of the internal action plan, we are pleased to have appointed an EDI Manager who will start in January.
In 2024:
Our commitment for 2024 is to implement the For Everyone Strategic Framework (FESF) and take forwards as many actions as we can in both the internal and external action plans. We will monitor, evaluate and learn from our progress on implementing the FESF and action plans. As we embark on an organisational Strategy Reset, we will also embed aspects of the FESF in our Strategy Reset to ensure that For Everyone / EDI remains a core part of what we do.
The Coal Authority
We’re united in our passion and commitment to make a better future for people and the environment in mining areas. We carry out a wide variety of essential services from responding to coal mining hazards, to keeping people and the environment safe from mine water pollution. We are excited about what our future holds. Our work is helping to develop a new sustainable source of renewable energy for the UK. By harnessing the energy from mine water heat, we hope to play a key role towards helping the UK to meet net-zero emissions by 2050. We truly are a supportive organisation where we all live and breathe our values. We are inclusive, trusted and progressive in everything that we do.
In 2023:
We’re united in our passion and commitment to make a better future for people and the environment in mining areas. We carry out a wide variety of essential services from responding to coal mining hazards, to keeping people and the environment safe from mine water pollution. We are excited about what our future holds. Our work is helping to develop a new sustainable source of renewable energy for the UK. By harnessing the energy from mine water heat, we hope to play a key role towards helping the UK to meet net-zero emissions by 2050. We truly are a supportive organisation where we all live and breathe our values. We are inclusive, trusted and progressive in everything that we do.
During 2023 we have made progress on our Equality, Diversity Inclusion and Antiracism Priorities. We have;
• undertaken an inclusive recruitment review of our processes to remove bias and ensure fair and inclusive practices. This has included;
• introducing an Application tracking System (ATS) to help improve our employee experience, better monitor our applicants journey and anonymise all applications
• introducing a Guaranteed Interview Scheme for ethnically diverse candidates who meet the minimum essential criteria for a post in, addition to our scheme for disabled people
• ensuring all of our hiring managers have received our ‘Ready to Recruit’ training to promote inclusive recruitment practices and ensure fair and unbiased processes
• ensured all of our job adverts, as standard, promote flexible and hybrid working opportunities
• our Race Equality Network has worked collectively and collaboratively to;
• provide psychologically safe spaces through meetings and listening circles for ethnically diverse colleagues to raise concerns and issues and provide peer support
• promote a range of events including Black History Month 2023 and the Race Equality Matters campaign for Race Equality Week 2023, including leading the ‘My Name Is’ campaign and the 5 Days Challenge.
• organised an exhibition on British Black miners in partnership with the Black Miners Museum, including a panel discussion with ex-miners to highlight the past contribution of Black miners and improve awareness of our history
• installed of a new vinyl portrait in our Mining Heritage Centre to permanently recognise the important contributions of Black miners in our history and coal mining legacy
• began a pilot for reverse mentoring to help facilitate greater access and reciprocal learning between senior leaders and colleagues from ethnically diverse backgrounds
• Commissioned our EDI training programme which includes awareness of antiracism and race equality
In 2024:
During 2024 we will;
• develop a new Equality, Diversity, Inclusion & Antiracism Plan
• rollout our EDI Training programme
• continue to support the growth and engagement of our Race Equality Network to creating safe spaces for ethnically diverse colleagues
• deliver and evaluate our pilot Reverse Mentoring scheme
• work with local schools to support delivery of our revised Works Experience process to ensure we are creating opportunities for a diverse range of people and have a positive impact across our local communities
• take steps to further improve the representation and history of Black miners in our archives
The Institution of Environmental Sciences
We are a membership organisation representing the full spectrum of environmental disciplines – from fields as diverse as air quality, land condition, marine science and education – wherever you find environmental work underpinned by science.
In 2023:
Monitoring progress
• Continued to participate in the Science Council and Royal Academy of Engineering’s Professional Bodies Diversity and Inclusion Progression Framework to measure our own progress.
• Published diversity statistics of our membership in our annual report. This showed even binary gender split and that 11.3% of our members with a UK address identified as being from a non-White background, meaning our diversity gap (measured against a baseline of the percentage of the UK population in employment aged 16-65) decrease from 4.7% in 2022 to 2.7% in 2023.
• Developed an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Monitoring Form for IES Volunteers to collect ED&I data from individuals who contribute to our journal, events, webinars and assessment panels.
• Took part in the RACE Report’s ‘staff perceptions survey’ in May. Collected and submitted our data to The RACE Report in September, including administration and organisation characteristics, our actions on ED&I and diversity data about our staff and trustees.
Strategy
• Published an updated Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Plan 2023–2026 (pdf) in April 2023, reaffirming our commitment to promoting and fostering equity, diversity and inclusion both within the organisation itself and the wider environmental science sector. All team members are involved in working towards achieving this plan, and to hold ourselves accountable we have implemented regular review points and check-ins.
Governance
• Established the post of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Champion for the Institute of Air Quality Management (IAQM) with two new ED&I champions having been appointed.
• Ran an event, ‘Becoming an IES Trustee: Your questions answered’ in January 2024 to feed into our ED&I objective of ‘Set up systems to support and empower a pipeline of candidates to stand for Council, committees and panels to promote inclusivity of minoritised groups’.
Internal changes
• Recruitment: Successfully piloted anonymisation of applications, which will be taken forward into future recruitment rounds, where feasible. Updated the wording of job adverts and our diversity monitoring form to follow best practice for inclusivity, including for neurodiverse individuals. Included a welcoming statement highlighting our commitment to fostering an inclusive culture in our job adverts and most recent committee openings.
• Events: Added a question into our online event registration asking if attendees need any adjustments for accessibility. Began to include slots in our paid conferences for early careers professionals to present.
• Began work to embed ED&I across IES activities and promote ED&I in the sector. As such, this has been discussed across Community events including a land condition community webinar on ED&I on site, and a Future ES23 event on improving ethnic diversity in the environmental sector.
• Staff participated in Race Equality Week 2023 through undertaking their 5 Day Challenge.
• Joined the Business Disability Forum as a member to make use of their guidance and services.
External influencing
• Our CEO continued to act as an advisor to The RACE Report.
• Led a roundtable on ED&I at the Environment Analyst’s Business Summit.
• Our Education Community, CEDHE, began developing best practice guidance for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in environmental education, with a working group established. The approach is to focus on ED&I in relation to preparing students for professional practice, and to signpost wider sector resources available around ED&I in programme design and delivery.
• Sat on the Advisory Panel for the NERC-funded Equator Project, that developed three evidence-based interventions targeting barriers to ethnic minority participation and retention in Geography, Earth and Environmental Science (GEES) postgraduate research. A paper was subsequently published in Nature Geoscience: Strategies for making geoscience PhD recruitment more equitable.
In 2024:
1. Continue to monitor our progress through participation in the Science Council and Royal Academy of Engineering’s Professional Bodies Diversity and Inclusion Progression Framework to measure our own progress and by publishing diversity statistics in our annual report.
2. Make progress on key deliverables in our ED&I Plan 2023 – 26 in the five key areas of governance, committees and employment, membership and registers, events and training, communications and publications, and education and accreditation.
3. Commit to continuous monitoring and review of our recruitment processes and making further changes for improved inclusivity going forward. For example, we are seeking to pilot the use of positive action in future recruitment rounds.
4. Establish an ED&I Action Community to steer the IES activities related to ED&I.
5. Update our guidance and processes around our membership applications to make them more inclusive and ensure they do not exclude those from minoritised groups joining. Alongside this, we will also seek to actively encourage underrepresented groups to apply for Fellowship.
6. Extend current mentoring schemes to build a diverse pool of mentors and offer members from underrepresented groups the option of tailored support.
7. Identify barriers for underrepresented groups attending events and training and develop solutions to increase engagement.
8. Promote and elevate the work of members from underrepresented groups within our messaging and communications.
9. Develop a specific workstream within our Student Ambassadors initiative to address equality, diversity and inclusion.
10. Launch initiatives to deliver on key recommendations identified in our publication A challenging environment: Experiences of ethnic minority environmental professionals.
The Orchard Project
The Orchard Project is the only national charity solely dedicated to the creation, restoration and celebration of community orchards. Our vision is to bring orchards into the heart of every urban community. We prioritise working with marginalised communities in areas of urban deprivation where people have poor access to quality greenspace.
The Orchard Project is committed to creating resilient biodiverse orchards teaming with wildlife as much as we are committed to creating diverse organisations. We need everyone’s voices, strengths and solutions to help create an equitable, resilient sustainable society.
In 2023:
Our vision is to bring thriving orchards into the heart of every urban community. We focus on working with marginalised communities in areas of urban deprivation where we can make the most difference to people’s lives.
The Orchard Project is committed to creating resilient, biodiverse orchards teaming with wildlife as much as we are to creating a diverse organisation. We need everyone’s voices, strengths and solutions to help create an equitable, resilient and sustainable society.
Within our work we use the term Black people and People of Colour (BPOC) to refer to people who are ethnically and culturally diverse, and experience racism in our society. We recognise that this term is complex and generalising, through which individual identities are minimised and homogenised.
In an ideal world, we would not have a need for any terminology that attempts to group individuals with hugely varying experiences under one umbrella; any terminology is ultimately flawed.
Our EDI (Equality, Diversity and Inclusion) programme includes:
⚉ Delivering training programmes to help people get jobs in the environment sector. E.g. our CICO (Certificate in Community Orcharding) course offers bursaries to Black people and People of Colour. We have had a huge success rate with these courses, with a third of participants progressing into work or further training. On our most recent courses, BPOC students have made up 44% of our intake.
We develop talent in our student graduates by offering train the trainer courses. Tutors from go on to train on our courses and act as paid freelancers as part of our aftercare work in orchards.
⚉ In addition, we have increased the number of black-led projects that we’ve used as venues, working with local beneficiaries to provide orchard training and planting and looking after orchards at the sites
We are carrying out project development work with new partners who are led by people of colour, minority ethnic backgrounds or ethnically diverse people, to develop orchard programmes that better reflect need in these communities.
⚉ Our organisation is currently underrepresented in terms of racial diversity and we are working on measures to improve this. These include, promoting race equity and inclusion within all new recruitment materials, a guaranteed interview scheme for people of colour that meet essential criteria, advertising through specialist diversity jobs boards and blind recruitment to overcome our unconscious biases. Our recruitment criteria is based on experience, rather than academic qualifications. We track diversity data through each recruitment round to identify where we can improve our processes and actively look for solutions to help our workforce become more diverse.
⚉ Removing economic structural barriers for people accessing our work, especially around volunteering and affordability. We have sought to address this in part through the creation of paid for intern roles when we can source funding.
⚉ We continuing to seek out ways to improve the diversity of our board, recognising that change needs to be spearheaded from the top of an organisation.
The Orchard Project is signed up to the Diverse Sustainability Initiative and takes part in the Race Report.
In 2024:
For 2024, alongside our existing commitments, we will be concentrating on the following areas:
Improving our board recruitment processes when we recruit new trustees. Some of these processes include creating paid trustee roles to increase accessibility and we have updated our constitution to enable this to happen.
Continuing to develop a programme in Greater Manchester with groups led by people of colour and applying for joint funding
Verlander Walker Ltd
Penny Walker is an independent facilitator and coach, who also trains facilitators. She helps groups of people have better conversations about sustainability issues including low-carbon futures, environmental protection, flooding, climate adaptation and organisational sustainability.
In 2023:
In the last year, these areas of commitment have been successful:
- Offering professional paid opportunities to people of colour who are new to my networks, to join me working with clients.
- Continuing to work with She is Sustainable / She is Still Sustainable to support women, including women of colour, disabled women and LBTQ+ women, who work in sustainability.
- Explicitly considering diversity and inclusion when designing and delivering work for clients. This has been the area where I have learned and improved the most. My approach has included considering the diversity of the teams I put together for projects, leading to more partnerships with people from a diverse range of backgrounds. I have also been able to learn from colleagues and include their diversity expertise when training client teams.
- Including diversity topics in my Making the Path by Walking newsletter.
- Seeking out and amplifying the voices of people from marginalised and minority groups.
- Offering mentoring in the sustainability and facilitation professions, to people from underrepresented groups.
In 2024:
- Mentoring at least one person of colour, who is interested in working in sustainability, either via IEMA or SocEnv or in some other way.
- Continuing to broaden my network of associates to be more diverse.
- Continuing to work with She is Sustainable to support women, including women of colour, disabled women and LBTQ+ women, who work in sustainability.
- Explicitly considering diversity and inclusion when designing and delivering work for clients.
- Including diversity topics in my Making the Path by Walking newsletter.
- Seeking out and amplifying the voices of people from marginalised and minority groups.
- Collaborating with others in the sustainability and facilitation professions to learn, to challenge and to improve.
Wildlife and Countryside Link
Wildlife and Countryside Link (Link) is the largest environment and wildlife coalition in England, bringing together 57 organisations for the protection of nature.
In 2023:
In 2023, we have continued to support our members and the wider environment sector in implementing the first steps in our Route Map Towards Greater Ethnic Diversity in the Environment Sector, particularly focusing on (1) training; (2) data and reporting; and (3) peer support. Outputs have included a gap analysis survey identifying shared training needs across the sector, and best practice guidance on EDI data and reporting. We also continue to provide sectoral benchmarking, and have published our 2023 benchmarking report for route map delivery on our website, showing where the sector has been making progress, where further work is needed, and what action we propose to take in 2024 to address this: https://www.wcl.org.uk/docs/Et.... This will guide our work in 2024.
Our EDI Working Group is now regularly attended by over 30 organisations, bringing people together to form a supportive community of practice for “working on” EDI. Through this forum, we have been able to bring in external expertise from beyond the environment sector for webinars and workshops, as well as providing the opportunity for organisations to share and discuss challenges, ideas, and pitfalls as they work through the route map. We are building a shared library of EDI resources, including exemplar documents and templates, for the Working Group to use. We continue to host a peer support network for people of colour – now called the Raven Network – and provide funding for a paid Chair for this network.
We have also made progress on implementing the route map ourselves, particularly around redesigning our recruitment policy and practice to be more inclusive, implementing tracking and reporting of EDI data, and improving both our visual and verbal representation. We have participated in Groundwork’s ‘New to Nature‘ scheme, which has particularly helped us with our recruitment policy and practice.
In 2024:
In 2024, we will continue to support our members and the wider environment sector in implementing the route map for ethnic diversity, in particular smaller organisations who are struggling to get off the starting blocks. To do so, we aim to deliver a targeted support scheme for smaller organisations in 2024, starting with a small cohort of 10 organisations as a proof of concept. This will include 1-2-1 advice sessions, training and resources to help enable and equip smaller organisations to break down barriers and progress on their ethnic diversity journey.
We will also continue to implement the route map ourselves, focusing on reviewing and revising our policies, surveying staff perceptions and experiences, and building anti-racism policies, training, and reporting structures, alongside further consideration of culture change. We will also deliver EDI training for all staff in 2024.
In early 2025 we will seek to further benchmark the sector’s progress, and analyse remaining gaps, on ethnic diversity route map milestones.
Woodland Trust
In 2022 our achievements include
- continuing to develop knowledge and understanding including through a new internal Diversity and Inclusion sharepoint , "Active Bystanders" course and "Confidence in conversation about race" webinar and discussion and celebration of key dates such as National Inclusion week, Black History Month, LGBT+Pride. International Women's Day and neurodiversity awareness dates
- initiating a network of trained Inclusion Allies in every Directorate, country and region with increased ability to "call in" non-inclusive behaviours, words and actions
- anonymising our employee recruitment, and investing in trialling different ways to reach a wider spectrum of society in our senior and trustee appointments
- threading diversity and inclusion through our new people strategy and organisational values
- re-developing our brand and communications involving those underrepresented in our current supporters to better resonate with a wider spectrum of society
- being a key part of sector-wide initiatives including signing up to the race and ethnicity route map and RACE report
- launching a staff-wide inclusion survey, feeding the findings along with other insight, to inform 10 year D+I strategy scheduled to be launched in 2023
Working Well Matters
Working Well Matters are a black-led organisation that have been working in the wellbeing sector for some years, helping others to overcome the stigma of both racism and mental health. Our founder, Mike, proudly identifies as a black man and has numerous experiences from within the manufacturing, educational and wellbeing sectors of how institutional and structural racism work within UK society. Mike is our lead trainer and enjoys helping organisations encourage people of all identities to feel able to give of their best.
In 2022:
Have delivered anti-racism training.
Have worked with organisations in the foundation Industries regarding EDI.
Have spoken at Conferences on the subject of D&I.
In 2023:
To increase targeted training that seeks to make a difference for other members of the DSI, not just to discuss EDI in general terms.
Wunderkind Consulting Nigeria Limited
Wunderkind Consulting Nigeria Limited, registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC)-Registration No: RC1553155 is into the provision of consultancy, auditing and training services on internationally recognized management system standards.
Our services include Management System Standards consultancy & training services.
In 2023:
We provided mentorship and support to one person of colour in their early career stage, supporting progress in the environment and sustainability profession. The person successfully completed the IEMA certificate in Environmental Management Programme and also regraded to PIEMA status.
In 2024:
We remain committed to providing mentorship to at least one person of colour in their early career stage, supporting progress in the environment and sustainability professions.