Category Archives: Environmental Impact Assessment

#EIA #SEA #ESIA,

Business & Sustainability – How They Fit Togather

Status

Reply

Bridging the Gap between Sustainability & Business 

There are 5 good reasons why many business owners and managers are driving more strategic sustainability approaches in their businesses:

  • Because their current competitors are thinking about it
  • Because their clients and customers want them to do it
  • Because their next significant marketplace competitor is already doing it
  • Because it makes business sense and is the right move to make
  • Because they realise their cash flow, profit and future growth will suffer if they don’t!

For many Organizations today, sustainability is the business.   Their founders and leaders have deliberately positioned themselves either in the blind spot of thier competitors or have a clear strategy to differentiate themselves from other sector suppliers by appealling directly to consumers who value ethical and socially responsible products (i.e. Unilever’s domestic cleaning products), services (Green Tariff energy suppliers), or who wish to associate with organisations that mitigate issues of environmental or social concern they are alert to (i.e. Patagonia’s recycled sea plastic clothing range). 

Why develop a Sustainability based Business Plan?

In all cases, these businesses possess a strategic sustainability in business model that:

  • Reflect a societal concern within the consciousness of consumers
  • Delivers a competitive edge over existing incumbent rivals within their market sectors
  • Stimulates a ‘relationship’ between the business and customers
  • Drives innovation within existing products and stimulates the development of new longer-term replacements
  • Increase the motivation and ‘feel good’ engagement with their employer amongst staff; and as importantly
  • disrupts the market share of established suppliers .

The Risk of Remaining Unsustainable in Business

If a business wished to continue holding faith in more traditional business models and management approaches, then they have to ask themselves the question ‘Why are so many businesses changing course?’ and ‘Why are so many leading Business Schools exploring sustainable alternatives as the economic way forward. 

What has propoelled the rise of Sustainability in Business so far up the Boardroom agenda, and in many of these Boardrooms why are they valueing the addition of sustainability into risk, governance and strategy debates.  The upshot of this is that there is now a clear demand for business leaders and managers who have an understanding of sustainability issues and risks, comprehend responsible management and who are able to take accountability for sustainability initiatives within the business agenda.

All organisations ultimately derive their economic activity from the exploitation of the natural environment and its resources. You may be an IT or Financial sector player, or a Property Asset Manager, but ultimately what you in and on has at its basis the need for primary environmental resources such as

  • food (including seafood and game), crops, wild foods, and spices
  • raw materials (including lumber, skins, fuel wood, organic matter, fodder, and fertilizer)
  • energy (hydropower, biomass fuels)
  • water purity
  • biogenic minerals
  • medicinal resources 

Climate Change & Economic Exploitation

It should be apparent to most organisational leadership groups by now that climate change and future global resource constraints will place limitations on future economic growth rates within some sectors, whilst the exploitation of sustainable resources, such as renewable energy and hydrogen, holds out the possibility of freeing up others.  The critical issue is to what degree will they and thier choosen sector be impacted upon.

The strategic sustainability challenge that many early adopters are addressing is how to replace or secure continued access to the valuable, rare, difficult to imitate or non-substitutable resources they require!

These are some of the forward-thinking leadership challenges that have elevated sustainability from the operational risk domain of QHSE and organisational green teams green and upwards into the Business Planning and Enterprise Risk Management domain of the C-suite.

Bridging the Leadership gap

Business owners or executives, with the support of their own management teams, are the people best placed to bring about organisational sustainability changes within their organisations.  These individuals and teams are the ones who most clearly understand the existing business, the challenges it faces and to undertake the analysis of issues and scenarios.  They are also the people best placed to lead any change programme for sustainability.  Consultancies, such as Leading Green, have the capacity to advise and support, but from experience as a corporate executive in industry and government, they lack the networks and insights required to overcome internal blocks. 

Key Sustainability Leadership Functions Leading Green Training Courses

Stepping up into a Sustainability Leadership mindset? – Identifying your Core Values
– An Introduction to Sustainability leadership
– Developing an ethical leadership style
– Taking the first steps in Corporate Social Responsibility
Providing the strategic direction for the Organisation as a whole – Building Your Sustainability Plan, Prioritising and Setting Goals
– Building & Delivering Your Company’s Sustainability Vision
Getting Your sustainability Strategy and Policy right – Making the Business Case for Sustainability
– Building & Delivering a Sustainability Strategy
– Developing Position Statements on Sustainability Issues
Making Sustainability Happen internally – Integrating sustainability within Corporate Plans
– Assigning Leadership Accountability & Establishing Responsibility onto Your Organisation
– Capturing Senior Leadership Commitment & Engagement for Sustainability
Systems Thinking – Organisation and Re-organisation to align with business goals – ISO14001 and the Leadership Challenge – Closing the Loop
– Building Your Sustainability Plan, Prioritising and Setting Goals
– Building a Sustainable Business – Improving on existing sustainability performance
Releasing the corporate spirit, building the brand and engaging with employees – Leading Sustainability & Change in Organisations
– Strategic Communication Skills – Getting your message across
– Promoting Innovation through Sustainability
Relating your organisation to other organisations and society as a whole – Stakeholder Analysis and Management
– Megatrends, Horizon scanning & Benchmarking to Improve Performance
– Supporting Your CEO & their Decision-Making Around Sustainability  
Developing Tomorrow’s leaders – teaching and leading by example – Sustainability Leadership in Business for new managers
 

Business & Sustainability – The management of intangible risk

Sustainability issues are not significantly different from many of the day to day issues that business leaders face.  They impact just as readily on long-term cashflow, profitability, growth, procurement, management, competitiveness and regulation as much as any more traditional management issue.  What sets sustainability leadership and management practices apart is a greater focus on governance, the long-term strategic needs of the business and a watching brief over many more intangible risks than are usually overseen through financial risk management.   Those e s that can rapidly engulf a business and its management team. 

The management of intangible risks has as its central focus issues of leadership and behavioural risk.  Often derided as ‘soft’ risks, these can have brutal consequences for a business in terms short sightedness as to product life cycle (cradle to grave product type), managerial incompetence in the face of change, s ‘group think’ or ivory tower mind-set and arrogance on the part of management, ethical misjudgement, inability to integrate management, mismanagement of reputation risks, mismanagement of value conflict, poor public relations, ineffective corporate governance, and so on. 

Case Study: H&M Conscious Collection derided in the press for greenwashing and for not giving the consumer precise information about why these clothes were labelled as sustainable. The furore attracted unwanted regulatory interest . The lesson to be learnt – consumers are more environmentally and sustainably conscious than ever and companies should think twice before making greenwash marketing claims.

In leadership terms, we can be clear that if a sustainability issue becomes material to business success or survival, then only the foolish would ignore it as an issue.  What is material will depend on the wider mindset of the leadership team to risk management, the specifics of the industry sector and the degree of dependency in specific supply chains or service providers.  The lesson to be learnt is that sustainability and its management must link to and align directly with how the business operates, its expenditure and material flows, its governance and strategic planning processes, and importantly how the leadership team and organisation views its mission and desired approach to business and its customer base. 

To continue viewing sustainability as an ‘add-on’ or cost to the business, keeping it separate from core business decision making and long-term business planning remains a common mistake amongst many business owners and managers.  Limiting the scope of sustainability management to marketing, branding and the management of direct environmental impacts can eventually be a costly mistake.  

Sustainability and Responsible Management

Sustainability has developed close links with leadership theories promoted by many leading Business Schools regarding responsible management, transformational and ethical leadership practices and Governance within Boardrooms and senior leadership teams.  It is rapidly shaking off the old misconception of a ‘doing good, but not core to the business’ managerial activity.  Environmental Management Systems (such as ISO14001) have over the last three decades provided organisations with a solid administrative base from which middle and lower tier managers can control bio-physical risks, waste management and act as a policy platform for other localised or industry specific issues, but has continued to struggle through lack of leader engagement to become a strategic tool in business.  Hence the revision of the ISO14001 standard in 2015 to place a greater emphasis on the visible (auditable) commitment to and engagement with the system by the organisation’s leadership team.

How Inspirational Leaders Bridge the Gap Between Sustainability and Business

I have worked with several visionary business and sustainability leaders — people who inspire and set the culture within their organisations, permanently changing how they conducted themselves professionally.  They have all had several things in common.

First, they don’t hide out in the management suite – they walk the floors, engaging with employees across all functions talking about their aspirations, vision for the organisation and what they are working to achieve.  They also use these floor walks to gain business & sustainability insights.  Dropping in on teams they repeatedly ask penetrating questions regarding current issues, behaviours, scenarios and encourage open feedback by encouraging staff to tell them about what they are concerned with, the practical issues and realities of life on the shop floor, the perceptions of front line staff on their client future needs and wants, and critically how engaged with the business the staff and the organisation’s repeat purchase customers are! 

Secondly, they work internally across the business’s boundaries and reporting lines, helping themselves (and the teams they lead) build up a wider business mindset of organisational activities and issues.  This helps them maximise information flows and to determine options.  They also encourage their teams to follow a similar open-door approach and to working in collaboration with other teams – a rare attribute in some organisations where internal discord and intra-executive competition stifle productivity. 

A third skill is an inherent understanding of systems thinking, the ability to simplify and integrate different systems, and a curiosity that extends further than just understanding business systems and processes into innovation and problem solving.  Inspirational leaders have the gift to mentally and linguistically breakdown issues in their strategic communication skills and actively encouraging:

  • Cross-silo working and the linking of internal operational activities to deliver mutually beneficial goals;
  • Challenging and examining individual function and corporate objectives to determine inter-relationships and the potential for unintended consequences; and
  • delivering business outcomes (including sustainable cash flow) in a way that supports the characteristics of a sustainable organisation.

Fourthly, they create strong teams that foster a wider sense of corporate engagement, intellectual curiosity, and cross-functional collaboration than colleagues that focus exclusively on their core administrative, professional, technical or business support roles.

Finally, transformational business and sustainability leaders and take accountability and responsibility for their duties.  They actively lead their managerial portfolios and direct them back into the organisation’s primary purpose or business objective. 

The Future

There is now a proven body of research that identifies clearly that Businesses with strong environmental and social sustainability leadership approaches commanding greater customer brand loyalty and higher stock valuations.  This is of credit to the individual executives and managers who have brought about these changes in organisational culture over the last decade.   

One of the most interesting recent trends has been the movement in many Boardrooms to actively engage sustainability risk management approaches as a means of testing the strength in Corporate Business Plans and strategic programmes.  Increasingly many are integrating Sustainability and Responsible Management practices with their existing Governance, Enterprise Risk Management and Economic Sustainability activities – as all share a common focus on business longevity.  The objective being to provide a clearer boardroom picture on the tangible and intangible factors influencing cash flow, profit, strategic growth, risk and to map emergent trends in organisational culture, consumer and stakeholder relationships.   

This willingness to embrace sustainability as a Boardroom parameter, reflects a greater understanding that an organisation’s profitability is now a key driver in its valuation.  Previously the greater percentage of a company’s ‘value’ was linked directly to its tangible assets (property, assets, etc).  Today in some of the larger corporations less than 20% of share price value can be directly attributable to financial performance and physical assets, the remaining 80% reflecting intangible assets such as brand, customer base, future market risk, intellectual capital and whether a business has a ‘future fit’ business model aligned to responsible management & sustainable business practices. 

This has encouraged many business leaders to adopt a more active and hands on role in the management of organisational sustainability practices, rather than just advocating responsibility down to their QHSE teams, increasingly business sustainability leaders and their Boardrooms are identifying why and when a sustainability issue needs to be addressed, and the functional and green team managers then respond in how the business should adapt.

The full range of Leading Green training courses can be accessed at https://www.leading-green.com/

Good luck in your Sustainability Leadership journey.

Carbon Capture – but with a difference

Status

Reply

    Occidental Petroleum (Houston USA) has released plans disclosing the company’s intention to construct the world’s largest direct air capture facility in Texas oil.  What makes this investment stand out to Leading Green is the fact that it will be in partnership with Carbon Engineering, a Canadian company backed by Bill Gates.

    Unlike other forms of carbon capture technology for carbon storage which I have worked on in the UK, this claims to extract CO2 directly from the environment.  The technology claims to capture CO2 from atmospheric air, converting it into a purified form for use or storage.  It achieves this within a closed loop system, adding only water and energy, with the output taking the form of a concentrated stream of compressed CO₂ gas.  This captured CO₂ offers a range of potential environmental & chemical opportunities from industrial CO2 use, urea yield boosting, beverage carbonation and food processing, the production of low-carbon liquid fuel, carbon storage with or without enhanced oil or gas recovery.

    In this case Occidental Petroleum would use the captured carbon to help pump hard-to-reach oil out of one of Texas’ shale oil field.   I am usually cautious when the words ‘shale gas’ and ‘carbon storage’ are concerned, but in the move towards climate change adaptation there has to be transition points along the graph between high carbon use – low carbon use and zero-carbon technologies.  Industrial & societal transition to a low carbon economy cannot be achieved overnight.   

    In this case Occidental Petroleum & Carbon Engineering claim that the plant once on stream will remove over 500,000 tons of carbon from the atmosphere every year – this it is claimed will offset the drilling and eventual burning of the shale oil that will be extracted — potentially bringing the overall operation towards a zero carbon balance in emissions.

    What is often ignored in climate adaptation strategies is the requirement not only to significantly cut emissions across various high CO2 sectors, but also to move towards zero/low carbon emissions where it is achievable in partnership with significant carbon capture to remove the CO2 that has (and will be still be) entering the atmosphere.  Increased atmospheric carbon capture through natural or industrial chemical routes will be key to dropping, and dare I say, managing future global temperature rises.

    So I wish this project well, as it takes us into new territory and a new way of thinking both about new energy technology but what needs to be achieved where industry and societies seek to continue to exploit fossil fuels and live within carbon-controlled economies.  However, the goal across all components of human life must be negative carbon release. 

    The facility is due to be completed in 2023, and I hope that Occidental Petroleum, under its CSR or ESC policies places the environmental impact assessment statement on line for the global climate change community to examine (we expect a very comprehensive and waffle free section on climate change!).  In truth, this technology is still in its early stages.

    Here at Leading Green we hope it is a success and that it is commercially viable in meeting its zero carbon claims, but it does raise some interesting regulatory & land-use planning questions if the technology proves successful:

    • The willingness of civil councils to actively promote within land planning, zoning and other social regulatory policies the ‘political’ presumption in favour to develop carbon neutral technologies.
    • The technological ability and capacity of environmental regulators, environmental health officers and environmental consultancies to undertake and verify the mass balance carbon calculations that will form the beneficial claims of these plants.
    • The regulatory control to ensure net-zero or net positive C-capture within these plants’ over thier commercial life; and
    • Clarity on other carbon-demanding elements within the technology & plant, its components and feedstocks that back up the claims of carbon neutrality within such a plant’s mass balance if the technology achieves global expansion. 

    Climate Change Transition – can you see the changes yet?

    Status

    Reply

    Climate Change transition can be hard to identify within the operational investment plans within some oil & gas giants.

    At the IAIA 2019 conference in Brisbane last week, several authors delivered papers on current & future oil + gas investment projects and programmes that would be rolled out over the next decade.  The local press was also reporting on new coal investment plans for Queensland, and within a 2-day Leadership in EIA training programme I led with Claire Gronow of Bristol University in Brisbane, several of the course’s experienced EIA participants were employees or IFC/Government officials with oversight of new fossil fuel projects coming through the investment chain. 

    Yes, they were all dealing diligently with any environmental & social risks arising on site, but it was hard to define any clear signs of climate change transition or adaptation within the corporate business strategies of their parent companies, or any corporate shift away from fossil fuel exploitation.

    This concern has been backed up by analysis from Global Witness in April that identified close to $5 trillion of planned investment in exploration and extraction from new oil & gas fields.  This the authors concluded is incompatible with reaching the world’s climate goals.  The report also concluded that despite rhetoric to the contrary, the oil and gas sector’s future investment plans remain drastically incompatible with limiting climate change.

    From recent experience, I concur with these unfortunate conclusions.  If politicians and businesses are increasingly tempted to use the word ‘emergency’ in respect of climate change, there is an obligation on them to demonstrate thier own response and strategic action they are taking to address the ‘emergency’.   As sustainability and IA professionals we are working hard to mitigate the unintended consequences of Man’s exploitation of cheap carbon-based energy and advocating for greater sustainability within business practices. Future climate change transition now requires more than advocacy, it demands action and a strategic shift in the mindset of Governments and Boardroom leaders.  The solutions and advice are out there to be called upon, but action is an individual responsibility.

    The Leadership role of the EIA Team Leader

    Status

    Reply
    Create your own route towards leadership

    ‘EIA Project Managers focus on project targets and processes, EIA Leaders focus on project outcomes’

    I believe this to be one of the fundamental mindsets that leaders in EIA possess, and a factor that helps them move up a tier in the profession.  The right leadership in the environment of today’s project management world is crucial to providing a clear path and vision for attaining organizational as well as sustainability goals. In the EIA and infrastructure development world, it is also about creating agile teams with S.M.A.R.T (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely) goals backed up by effective team management skills to execute desired outcomes effectively and to become more agile in their approach in handling uncertainties within IA and its related assessments.

    As a EIA leader you are ultimately measured on one thing — the results that you deliver within the project scope. Given this ultimate measure and its wider importance to local communities and society in general, it is vital that you are outcomes focussed from the start (pun intended!).

    So what are the key benefits of being an outcome focussed EIA Team Leader? As I see it there are 5 key benefits.

    Benefit 1: Communication

    If you are crystal clear what you want and where you want to take the project, issue or project team during the project, it becomes much easier to communicate it to those that you are interacting with or leading. If you can communicate an inspiring vision for the future, you are much more likely to get project managers, engineers and team members to support you in translating this into design options and ultimately reality.

    Benefit 2: Time

    No one has ‘too much’ time in projects, it is a rare luxury in our or any profession involved in infrastructure and construction. It is how we use that time that makes the critical difference. When you are outcomes focussed, you spend your time on those areas that are likely to leverage the greatest benefits for yourself as a leader, for the EIA and for the wider project.

    Benefit 3: Big picture worldview

    It is all too easy, especially in times of project challenge to become obsessed with the detail and trivial stuff.  During these periods it is easy to lose sight of the big picture – reducing residual impacts and promoting sustainable development.  Being outcome focussed helps you remember the big picture and what you want to achieve for the project, the project team, for your organisation and for you personally as an advocate of sustainable development.

    Benefit 4: Planning

    They say that failing to plan is planning to fail. If you are clear about what you want to accomplish, it becomes much easier to plan what you are doing, when you are doing it and how you will achieve it.  When you sit down to work out EIA priorities you can simply ask yourself – ‘will this move me closer to the outcome I want?’.

    Benefit 5: Results

    EIA Leaders that focus on the outcomes get more done and as a result deliver better EIA outcomes for society. As you achieve one result, it will act as a reinforcement and motivation to achieve more – this helps start and reinforce the leadership cycle within you.

    The take away message — Being outcomes focussed can lift your EIA performance and your own brand of EIA leadership to a new level. So start considering the formal and infomal roles that EIA leaders fulfil in projects and what steps can you can personally take to re-focus on outcomes?

    www://leading-green.com

    At Leading Green, our approach to environmental leadership mentoring & training encourages our clients to look closely at their own internal leadership strengths and goals.  Helping them adopt an inquisitive state of mind and supporting them in how sustainability can support their long-term business strategy. We run the only EIA leadership course that has been accepted for delivery by the Internation Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA) at thier annual conference.

    7 Ways to demonstrate Leadership in EIA

    Status

    Reply

    In May 2018, Leading Green held the first of a series of international workshops to discuss Leadership in EIA.  This initial session attended by a series of influential and internationally recognised EIA and SEA practitioners and academics from the UK, South Africa, The Netherlands, Sweden and Estonia, has subsequently become known as the ‘warthog session’ due to the presence of these beasts running under the picnic tables where the session was being held outdoors in Mpila Camp within Hluhluwe iMfolozi Game Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal.

    animals_hero_warthog

    The initial session, now supplemented by qualitative data from other sessions sought to identify the areas where EIA practitioners could exert the greatest influence on projects, and where their contribution had the greatest impact on the sustainability and residual impact of the future development.  The following 7 areas have subsequently emerged as the focus areas of experienced EIA leaders and what they perceive as the areas of greatest added value to the client and wider engineering/project management team.

    1.   Influential in promoting environmentally inclusive design

    Regarded as the No.1 contribution repeatedly within these sessions, the promotion of inclusive environment design seeks to raise awareness of, and to emphasis the benefits of, to the project’s decision makers about the importance of designing infrastructure or large development project  that seek to meet the needs of the people and the environments that they inhabit.  A belief that many held central if we are to create a fair society and have any chance of a sustainable future.

    “Designing developments to fit their receiving environments, rather than retrofitting environments to take development”

    The crucial EIA leadership skills to these are: internal and external stakeholder consultation, influencing skills, visioning, ecosystem service analysis, with a technical understanding of engineering design and investment risk benefit analysis.

    2.  Embedding sustainability /Environmental/Social Impact thinking into the project team’s decision-making

    By acting early to exert influence within the project’s leadership group, it is clear that many experienced EIA practitioners seek to enable all members to participate in and solve the likely impacts of development, and offer up their insights into ‘How’ the project will interact with the receiving environment.  They recognise the important role that engineering forms as an interface between the design (i.e., the idea how to provide a  solution to a technical problem) and implementation of a sustainable option that forms an optimal solution to all members of the team and their respective interests.

    depositphotos_46127723_l-2015

    Promoting Sustainability Approaches in Engineering

    • Helps the team considers the whole ‘system’ in which the development will operate, rather than just considering the object (ie road) or process (oil refinery);
    • Places on the project table options that consider both technical and non-technical issues synergistically, as opposed to just on technical issues;
    • Raises awareness of how the development could address wider sustainability issues or problems (globally and locally) rather than solving the immediate problem (flood risk);
    • Considers the local ecosystem services and community context, as opposed to just addressing the engineering context (i.e. crossing a river);
    • Instills within the decision-making team an acknowledgement that they have a responsibility and accountability to address/implement more sustainable solutions, rather than assuming it is the role of the client or regulators

    The crucial EIA leadership skills is through communication approaches based upon a sound sustainability mindset that allowed them to creates new opportunities, to deploy creative (visioning) and problem solving skills within the project leadership team as a proactive as opposed to reactive approach early within the team’s establishment, as well as dealing with challenge.

    courageous-conversations-fb-sized

    3  Holds courageous conversations when EIA elements are impacted on

    Ultimately the purpose of EIA is to bring to the decision-maker attention issues of environmental or social significance attached to the proposed development if consented.  In most models of global EIA this statutory responsibility lies with the consenting or approving regulator.  Experienced EIA professionals fully recognise that if these facts are left to such a late end point, the process is valueless.  Instead they seek to raise the issue as early as possible and to often place them in terms of opportunity to avoid, reduce or remediate the impact or its ‘show stopper’ potential.

    As has been stated in an earlier blog.  The EIA budget is often a small element of the entire budget – <0.25% during financing and <4% during construction delivery, yet its contribution is ultimately critical to success:

    • No statutory approval – No Project!
    • If the project is pushed through by governments for political reasons, the objection of its citizenry and the verification of adverse environmental impact can still terminate the project on appeal.
    • Even when they are pushed through regardless, the life and efficacy of the asset can ultimately be compromised – e.g. siltation behind dams, reducing energy production, secondary impacts to other national industries and interests, reductions in agricultural productivity, etc can all mitigate against the ROI.
    • Too Climate change adverse – Future stranded asset!

    It can be difficult for individuals working closely in a project team environment to go against the ‘group think’ mindset, as no one wants to be the bearer of bad news, or risk project success.  Project groups are also adverse to hearing news that threatens the agreed design that has been proposed and costed for the client, or the introduction of potential time delays, risks or added stakeholder objections.   The EIA leadership professionals talked openly about how they often had to raise and lead on difficult project centred conversations on issues that impacted on wider social, environmental or sustainability issues.  Issues that on occasion other project team members did not wish to consider or raise up to the client.  They knew that they needed to have it, that what they had to say need to be said, and they knew that they were taking a risk at times in their relationship with other senior project team members we.  In mitigation they sought to use emotional intelligence and situational awareness to prepare, assess and gauge what the reactions might be and how these conversations could end.

    The crucial EIA leadership skill was communication, in particular being assertive in their message, ensuring that they were focused (ie clear on what they were trying to achieve) by holding the conversation, and what gave them the leadership right to initiate the conversation.  These required preliminary preparation, making sure that their information was accurate and backed up by fact.  They are prepared to discuss the “undiscussable” or ‘disloyal’ but also clear about how the issue effected them personally, the work that they were responsible for delivering and how the issue if unaddressed would impact ultimately on.   Many were fully aware of the Emotional Intelligence skills that were needed to manage relationship conflict and used these accordingly – they were raising the issue because they couldn’t deal with the problem alone, it needed a group approach, the issue was too big for it to be ‘parked’ and left.  They also understood the emotional reactions that such a conversations could result in and tried to prepare accordingly to handle the expected push back, challenge and alternate perspectives..

    4.  They ensure that the voices of the EIA team are heard

    In addition to often managing the EIA team and ensuring the agreed deliverables outlined in contracts, many are pro-active in ensuring that the team is well-integrated into the project team’s other disciplines.  This often undertaking a systems based approach to the anticipated environmental and social impacts and aligning them with particular disciplines and arranging for the EIA and the respective engineering / design / procurement specialists worked together on the issue to resolve matters.

    They also acted as a ‘direct voice’ into the senior project team to ensure that issues were raised and addressed (see above).  They all clearly understood the linkage between leadership and leading a team, as opposed to managing the EIA process often practising strong negotiation, assertiveness and problem solving skills.

    5.  Safeguarding stakeholder interests

    Stakeholder consultation in EIA is often regarded as a time-consuming ‘cost’ in infrastructure development, with pressure placed on EIA project managers to limit activity to a minimum.  Its value was fully appreciated by many of the experienced client-employed or consultant EIA leaders as a valuable risk management tool and essential in addressing and avoiding potential risks early in the design process.  Utilised as a design tool as well as a statutory obligation it was deemed cost beneficial to the project by reducing delay, re-design, loss of stakeholder confidence.

    Most considered in some form an external  stakeholder management or consultation strategy to increase the support and minimize the negative impacts of these community, environmental or governmental stakeholders.  A successful stakeholder management or consultation strategy when carefully planned and followed accordingly was strongly believed to identify issues early, address concerns through transparent action by the design team, raise confidence in the projects communications and build stronger working relationships with external parties.  Anticipating issues in advance of the proposed design allowed for adaptive management, mitigation, access to critical views and information available locally and allowed discussion regarding trade offs.

    Few however had considered the benefits of developing an internally focussed stakeholder strategy aimed at the client organisation, seeking to directly consult  with the Client Organisation’s Sustainability Manager, CSR or Environmental Director seeking to bring:

    • their input & influence into projects, or
    • or to understand the dynamics within the client organisation’s CSR goals or SDG objectives?

    This was surprising as 80% of Project Managers know how their projects align with the company’s business strategy, and is a valuable tool in bringing influence for sustainability, social and environmental policies to the Project table.

    The crucial EIA leadership skills often demonstrated revolved around stakeholder management, strategic thinking, communication, and engagement skills

    6   Leads thinking regarding operational and decommissioning phases

    It can be a risk in project engineering teams that they focus solely on the design and construct phase of a development.  Forgetting or lacking a design brief to consider the operational  and eventual decommissioning phases.

    Life cycle analysis is an important component in EIA philosophy and implementation and EIA practitioners often take a systems based approach to considering the wider changes in environmental and social interactions during subsequent downstream phases.  These often include but are not limited to:

    • Utilities.  The material costs of Water, Electric, Natural Gas, etc, and their subsequent efficiency or contribution in respect of the developments carbon footprint and contribution to climate change.
    • Future Operational parameters including maintenance needs, repair and retrofit design accessibility.
    • The environmental and social impacts of eventual demolition or asset disposal, notably in respect of sustainability and the risk of ‘stranded assets’.
    • Pollution remediation systems and their resilience in respect of future statutory developments, energy policy and environmental risk.

    The environmental professionals were aware that the Operational phases of a development can be up to 3x the cost of construction, with management costs equating to 60-80% of a development’s life-cycle costs.  Having such a profound impact on a developments financial outlay and environmental life-cycle, many recognised that it was important that operational and environmental management considerations were discussed by the project team during the design phase and before construction designs became fixed.  Increasingly they felt responsibility for leading project group discussions on ways the team could optimize the life-cycle of developments.

    Core skills demonstrated and flagged up as essential for success were a sustainability mindset, visioning, appreciative inquiry, facilitation skills and systems thinking.

    Why-1-1-meetings-are-crucial246587ca719e600d0f2726685f937728

    7  EIA information influences PM decision-making

    Building a strong working relationship with the Project’s Leading project manager was identified by many as an important leadership skill.  It was accepted that the EIA project manager often had a more holistic and wider worldview of how the project integrated within society, communities and their environments.  EIA project managers often worked across a variety of projects during their careers often being intimately involved with a Project Manager who could spend several years overseeing the design and construct of a development project.  This exposed them to a wider range of project scenarios within specific sectors and adaptive approaches.

    This made them adapt at spotting potential pitfalls early in the design phases of projects and mentally mapping geo-environmental, social and natural environmental impacts as potential constraints.  However, the skill seemed to lie in:

    • presenting these issues or problems in terms of ‘solutions’ to project managers.
    • identifying non-technological or low tech solutions rather than relying on increased engineering or higher construction costs, whilst recognising their own engineering limits
    • Helping project managers thinking through short-term and long-term impacts
    • Presenting scenarios and the decisions that they would have to make offline and outside the pressure of project review meetings
    • Mentally mapping statutory delay and presenting it is a structured form for reflection and consideration, clearly highlighting the timeframes, gateways or decision nodes which decisions had to be made in respect of adverse social and environmental impacts
    • Alerting the project manager to significant enviro-social impact findings early (supported by sufficient data for verification) and the pro-actively identifying the next possible steps.
    • Help in selecting ‘optimal’ (solves many problems) as opposed to an optimum solution in terms of buildability, cost and even environmentally preferred.

    The key leadership skills identified as important were creating positive relationships, building influence, holding leadership conversations, and problem solving.

    Conclusion

    Remember, that for any EIA scenario you encounter there are always multiple perspectives to the issue, so be empathetic of how other professions and project managers will view the problem.  A key influencing skill is to retain an open and unbiased curiosity about how they see the situation and be aware of how your own worldview with its associated judgments and prejudice may impact on what you observe and how you act.  One of the great strengths of a mature project management team is the diversity of experience, and the different perspective that exist within it.  When seeking to drive greater sustainability in design, better stakeholder relationships, risk adaptation and overall project vision, it is clearly advantageous to appreciate personal and professional decision-making through the eyes of fellow team members, allowing you to take a more focused, strategic and informed decision-making approach to issues of note to the EIA and sustainability agendas.

    color_logo_with_background

    Leading Green offer a bespoke series of Leadership in EIA & SEA talks and training courses. Courses that address specific CPD leadership and team development issues. They incorporate the sustainability practitioner goals of the UK’s Institute of Environmental Management & Assessment (IEMA), and the International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA). Contact us at http://www.leading-green.com or email ross@leading-green.com to discuss your particular needs.