This GreenBiz white paper explores AER Worldwide’s decision to go solar with Vista Solar and SunPower and expand their environmental commitment. It hasn’t just been good for the environment, it’s been extremely lucrative for the company’s bottom line, too. AER (an electronic waste recycling company) started the journey to solar by wanting to add value to their property and expand their commitment to the environment. By installing solar on their facility with Vista Solar and SunPower, the company was able to offset 99% of their electricity bills and offset 259 tons of CO2. That’s a huge impact, both for AER and for the community around them.
What You Know and Who You Know Are Important for Aspiring Sustainability Consultants
Enjoy this post from the SSC Archives.
If you’ve been on our website and really want to become part of our consultant network, you know that there is one thing you should never, ever say. Ever.
Don’t know what it is?
Then you haven’t done your homework.
Sustainability consulting is a small world
If you’re trying to break into the world of sustainability consulting, then you need to truly strategize about how to engage with industry leaders, consultants, and firms who are hiring.
A recent article in Entrepreneur gives a round-up of the 10 strategies for making friends with important people in your networking plan.
The first five steps are all about research, reading, and making an effort to truly understand your potential contact’s business strategy and hot buttons. Next, activate your network, stay in touch, and add value to your potential contact’s day-to-day through meaningful communication.
Have the skills (or grow them)
While you’re “working the room” to build your professional network, make sure you fully understand what it takes to be a sustainability consultant. Know your own skill set and be able to describe how those skills will apply in a sustainability consulting roles.
Know your strengths, and your shortcomings
Don’t oversell yourself to a high-profile potential contact, or you might ruin your reputation before you gain a foothold. Be honest about where you are in your career, what your areas of interest are, and make efforts to improve your skills through practice and education.
Learn more about specific sustainability consulting training courses we offer, and opportunities to work with us.
February is B Corp Month
It’s a new year, which means it’s a new chance to expand your sustainability credentials. B Corp is an organization that Strategic Sustainability Consulting has been a proud member of for seven years.
Through our certification as a B Corp, SSC is part of a global community with more than 2,100 businesses from 50 countries and over 130 industries working together toward one goal — to redefine success in business.
Since February is B Corp Month we thought it would a great time to take a look back and remember why we became a certified member in 2011 and how we still value our membership years later.
If you don’t know what it means to be a certified B Corp here is a brief overview — we are a network or companies that are seeking to form a new sector in our economy, one that meet independent standards for social and environmental accountability. We aim to do so by addressing two major issues:
• corporate law that misaligns incentives between profits, employees, the community, and environmental well-being, and
• the lack of transparent standards differentiating good companies from good marketing, i.e. greenwashers.
You can’t just sign up to become a member, first SSC (and any other interested company) needs to pass the B Impact Rating System, demonstrate that our legal framework integrated our values throughout the company, and do the necessary paperwork. It may sound like an involved process, but the value of certification makes that all worthwhile. Think of it like this: the B Corp certification is what Fair Trade means to coffee. Being a member of B Corp is a symbol to our clients and colleagues that SSC is committed to “walking our talk.” We want to show the world that we are here to help organizations find the business value in being a responsible corporate citizen.
When we joined this community of like-minded businesses we weren’t just thinking ourselves, but also as a way to promote sustainable business practices to our clients. A number of years have passed since we got certified and SSC is still incredibly proud to be able to call ourselves B Corp members. Showing the world that your business is committed to being socially and environmentally accountable continues to be a top priority.
You can check out our profile on the website to see our impact report and if you are interested in becoming certified like SSC you can visit the Become a B Corporation page to learn more about the process.