Anthesis Finland has joined FIBS and Diversity Charter Finland

Sustainability consultancy Anthesis Finland has joined FIBS and Diversity Charter Finland. Anthesis believes that the transition from an unsustainable, fossil fuel dependent system to a decarbonized future presents one of the biggest market opportunities the world has seen, says Satu Juntunen, Director for Transaction and Corporate Services of Anthesis Finland.

Why did you join and become a member of FIBS and its diversity network?

Anthesis Group is a specialist global consultancy which believes that commercial success and sustainability go hand in hand. Our mission is to create business value for a better world.

We pride ourselves on delivering innovative projects on behalf of our clients, as well as ensuring we hold ourselves to similar, if not the same, standards and business practices. Ensuring our clients are implementing responsible business practices, and helping them to embed sustainability and corporate responsibility into their business goals and objectives, is one of the principal services we offer at Anthesis. We believe you can do this by translating your sustainability goals into real life by integrating them into your existing business processes.

Our values, mission and service offering align parallel with FIBS, and its members, which led us to join the network.

What does corporate responsibility mean to you?

To us, Corporate Responsibility means the responsibility of corporations to their consumers, colleagues, suppliers and other key stakeholders, and to sustainable and social development which societies demand.

Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability are intrinsically linked, with Sustainability presenting one of the biggest challenges the world faces, and it being reported that the world's top corporations and firms cause $2.2tn of environmental damage. Rising resource pressures and costs, and growing expectations from customers and investors means CR is essential to every sector and every organizational department. In order to move from an unsustainable, fossil fuel dependent system to a decarbonized future, implementing sustainable, responsible business practices plays a huge part in this transition.

Organizations also have a duty to ensure they’re positively impacting on society and giving back to its members because they have the resources to do so, and we see the business opportunity to do so.

How do you see the development of the importance of sustainability in your field?

We believe that the transition from an unsustainable, fossil fuel dependent system to a decarbonized future presents one of the biggest market opportunities the world has seen. We also believe we are one of the only firms in-between the large multi-disciplinary consulting firms and the small local ‘boutique’ firms who can operate as a global and local advisory and sustainability delivery partner. Sustainability has begun to form an integral part of businesses on a whole and our day to day lives, and can only grow in significance with increasing regulation, groundbreaking and worldwide initiatives (such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals) and the developing role of technology in delivering sustainable solutions at scale. Corporations, towns, cities and nations will need to undergo sustainable transformation in order to prosper in an ever-evolving world.

In terms of Anthesis, sustainability is the cornerstone to all our service lines, so it effects every inch of our business and the way we operate, too. 

What are the main points you will be focusing in the coming year and how can FIBS help you in your work?

We gather input from Anthesis staff across the business each quarter on the Top 3 emerging issues. Emerging issues are defined as sustainability topics where the topic is changing and evolving in the short term (e.g. 1-2 years). We seek to answer questions such as what are the major issues, trends and opportunities within the product and organizational sustainability space? How relevant are these issues and opportunities to your business? The top 3 featured this quarter include:

• Circular economy. The topic has public momentum, Venture Capital attention, policy development, etc. Anthesis is promoting CE as a driver of product innovation as well as waste/recycling infrastructure and investment markets.
• Impact investing. This is an emerging growth area (doing more good). Anthesis is helping businesses to track, quantify and monetise the non-financial risks and opportunities.
• Digitisation of supply chains. These simultaneously increase transparency and promote efficiency in supply chains. Anthesis’ focus is on finding solutions to audit fatigue, risk exposure, certification fraud, etc.

We also gather external data from a wide range of sources including industry associations, working groups, corporate clients, national and international institutions e.g. European Commission, World Economic Forum to identify emerging issues, trends & requirements. In 2017 the list of priority issues included circular economy, climate commitments, Industy 4.0, EU Product Environmental Footprint, Chemicals/Materials of Concern, Social Sustainability and regulations, Life Cycle Costing, EMS = ISO 14001:2015, Ocean conservation and plastics and blockchain. Specifically, client companies called out i) science-based targets e.g. for scope 1 and 2 emissions and related internal carbon pricing schemes, ii) UN SDGs as inputs to materiality assessments and goal setting beyond the standard LCA impact categories; and iii) transparency and big data management systems for product sustainability, including implications/opportunities for blockchain. All of which translate into focal areas for Anthesis in 2018.

By Joining FIBS we can connect with similar organizations to further understand what they, and potentially their clients, consider risks and opportunities for 2018 and beyond, which will further inform our emerging issues team and help us to mitigate and prevent any futures issues our clients and partners may face.  

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