(By Oksana Kielbasinski, Director of Sustainability & Risk at Integrated Sustainability)
The team at Integrated Sustainability Consultants Ltd. is pleased to announce that company President Stuart Torr is being recognized as an Honoree of the 2015 Delta Management Clean50 Awards in the “Consultants” category for his outstanding leadership in sustainability [See Press Release Link].
On Wednesday September 17th, I have the pleasure of accompanying Stuart to the “Clean50 Summit 4.0” in Toronto to celebrate his achievement, while participating in a variety of workshops tackling common sustainability challenges faced by sustainability leaders across Canada.
As a sustainability specialist, I am excited to connect with like-minded professionals and learn about the struggles, challenges and opportunities faced by colleagues working in diverse industries across Canada. Undoubtedly, this knowledge gained could be applied to my work with the energy sector, which forms Integrated Sustainability’s core client base within Western Canada.
For some, sustainability may be considered a part of doing business. For others it may still seem like a “new phenomena.” Within Integrated Sustainability, sustainability is the cornerstone of the way that we think, communicate, design solutions, deliver projects and measure success. Our project delivery model is founded on collaboration with our clients and external stakeholders to understand the challenges faced, mitigate risks, manage environmental exposures, and improve stakeholder relations. Consideration of these factors enables Integrated Sustainability to support optimal and profitable decision-making throughout the project lifecycle. As such, we are fortunate to work with many clients who understand the importance of sustainability in their everyday business. Some, however, continue to struggle with the term and associate it with “higher cost solutions.” I am interested in understanding how other sustainability professionals have overcome this perception.
Other key ideas I am interested in addressing include:
- Ways to make sustainability a core business practice that is resilient to changes in the external and internal environment (i.e., economic, leadership, political etc.);
- Discussing the importance of considering environmental factors, such as water security, when formulating a long-term business strategy; and
- How to bring stronger awareness to the meaningful work being done in sustainability
Overall, there appears to be some commonality around the challenges faced by sustainability leaders across diverse industries. Will the solutions to these challenges prove to also be applicable across industries?
Stuart and I are extremely pleased to represent the Integrated Sustainability team at the “Clean50 Summit 4.0” and find out. We look forward to sharing our insights with our peers and clients.
