Following a meeting of the Outdoor Chief Execs Think tank in Kensington, where there was a guest speaker from Forum for the Future.
http://forumforthefuture.org.uk
I had a really good look at the M&S Plan A and decided to use this as a framework for action for the Mountain Equipment business.
http://plana.marksandspencer.com
Their plan is in 5 parts: Climate Change, Waste, Sustainable Raw Materials, Fair Partner and Health.
I decided to ignore Fair Partner, as we already have factory appraisal and partnership programmes that we update as a separate exercise, although we are going to review them alongside the US OIA fair-labour toolkit.
http://www.outdoorindustry.com
I also decided to ignore the Health section that concentrates mainly on nutrition issues such as reducing salt/sugar etc in food.
I then decided on some principles to help me in the process.
We would do things because they are the right things to do, not because there is a perceived marketing benefit of being seen to do something.
We would not be able to spend money on consultants, or spare staff to do large projects on sustainability.
We would start with the absolute basics, not get carried away by trying to keep up with Patagonia, Honda, M&S and the like.
We would try and bring the same thoughts into the business that our staff have at home and in their everyday lives.
First steps
I was aware of the need to create enthusiasm for the project both upwards, towards fellow directors and shareholders and outwards to the rest of the team at Mountain Equipment and OSC.
Talking to the Mountain Equipment team it was obvious that there is a whole range of attitudes towards the whole sustainability thing ranging from lukewarm acceptance through scepticism to downright hostility. Talking to the shareholders there was no indication that profit expectations would be relaxed in anyway to achieve sustainability goals.
Actions
On the basis that every little helps we have come up with a list of things that we plan to do.
