It’s time to say: enough with the greenwashing

Kristina Bull on how to put sustainability at the heart of your projects – and really mean it.

Kristina Bull is a Partner at QSA Partners, a B Corp consultancy with a mission to help organisations implement circular economy business models. A project professional with a focus on sustainability, she currently advises clothing brands and retailers on how to become more sustainable.

Q How have you come to work in sustainability?

A I joined WRAP (the Waste and Resources Action Programme) in a legal capacity. The more I found out about the business, the more I realised that they were doing some incredible work to change the way businesses operate and getting them to work collectively together on sustainability. There were reorganisations and I applied to be project manager. The work I was doing was about bringing industries together. That meant getting the construction industry in its entirety – architects, designers, construction, builders – to improve the way in which they collectively do business so that everyone is working in the same direction, rather than an architect designing something that the builder can’t build and therefore wasting significant resources. The work was built around creating voluntary agreements, so setting targets for the industry and then collectively getting them to work together to reduce those impacts on a project, business and then industry level. Once that first business stepped over the line and said, “Yes, we’re going to do this”, it had a domino effect.

Q How did you then shift from WRAP?

A I set up my own business doing project management within sustainability. For example, one of our clients is HS1. We wrote their sustainability strategy, which was very well received by industry. Off the back of that strategy development, they were invited to run workshops at COP26. Lots of the other work we do is very much focused around implementing circular business models with clothing brands or retailers. Cotton Lives On is a programme that fits within the circular economy in that it repurposes cotton once it’s not able to be repaired or resold. The project takes cotton clothing that’s donated from either brands or consumers. Then it goes through processes and that product is turned into a roll mat, which is then donated to a charity or humanitarian project.

Q Do you have any lessons for project professionals who want to do more on sustainability?

A Ask questions about what your company or project is doing about sustainability. Be really difficult and ask those questions, because if they aren’t asked, then we will continue going on blindly. And look to see if there are any opportunities to build in sustainable improvements through the work you do. If you’re involved in procurement, can you set policies to ensure that a contractor or a project has to meet certain requirements? Procurement is a great catalyst for change but once something is procured that opportunity is gone. If you can do it at the contract level, then you have such an amazing opportunity to make systematic changes.

Q There’s been so much greenwashing, so how can we get past that to effect real change?

A It’s about creating sustainability KPIs within the C-suite. If those KPIs are focused on actually changing and changing early, then you’re going to absolutely focus minds so there’s no opportunity for greenwashing because that director or vice president has that KPI on their head. I’m really optimistic about the pace of change. We’re at a canter and we really need to get to a gallop, but we are changing, and the change is moving much more radically. By being challenging and continually asking questions, the next generation have a real opportunity to fundamentally change the way business operates.

Listen to the full interview with Kristina Bull here