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Feeling empowered about protecting the environment

Wind farms

Charlotte Gaughan, Senior Brand Manager, talks about putting ESG at the heart of our business decisions.

"Mum, what are you doing to protect the environment?" is something I imagine my daughter asking me in the near future and I want to be able to say truthfully, from the bottom of my heart, "as much as I can."

But right now, there are times when I'm not. It's normally because of cost or convenience. I am trying to take responsibility to make those factors less of a barrier, but I know my actions alone aren't enough and that sometimes creates feelings of anxiety and fear. But recently I realised that it's not just in my home life that I have agency and power to make positive changes.

The DWF procurement team invited me to help appoint a new supplier. I'll be honest, I wasn't thrilled. It was going to mean giving up a chunky amount of time but of course I accepted to make sure that whichever supplier selected was a good choice from a brand perspective.

What followed was eye opening, and flipped on its head in terms of what I was expecting. I reckon about 90% of the presentations and the discussions were about ESG credentials, how they were working, mechanisms to push through changes in behaviours, initiatives and innovations to offset and reduce impact – I felt lifted by seeing suppliers taking responsibility for their ESG strategies. It was amazing and I was genuinely buzzing afterwards, thinking, "I actually am part of something that is making positive changes bigger than I can on my own".

 

Charlotte Gaughan

"Putting ESG at the heart of our decisions is happening, and is part of our day-to-day. It's making me feel proud to be part of it."

Charlotte Gaughan, Senior Brand Manager
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I spoke to our procurement lead afterwards about how positive I was feeling about it all. And I was pleased to hear more from him about the supplier due diligence processes we have and how high we're setting the bar in terms of responsible business practice, which includes establishing appropriate credentials for environmental stewardship, ethical sourcing, approaches to health and safety, modern slavery and D&I.

The supplier selected was outstanding, particularly in relation to the above. We're currently going through an on-boarding process and already they're challenging us to improve, and changes are being made. Putting ESG at the heart of our decisions is happening, and is part of our day-to-day. It's making me feel proud to be part of it, and also more empowered on a personal level about how wide an impact I can actually have.

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