Leap’s Sustainable Development Goals | Part 2

the seventeen colours of the united nations sustainable development goals

What we’re already doing

In 2020 we got together as a team to better understand the United Nations’ seventeen Sustainable Development Goals, and to select the targets to work towards as a business.

In a workshop session led by our friend Fran van Dijk of fellow B Corp consultancy One Stone Advisors, we selected the following Sustainable Development Goals:

  • SDG 7 – Ensure Access To Affordable, Reliable, Sustainable And Modern Energy For All
  • SDG 8 – Promote Inclusive And Sustainable Economic Growth, Employment And Decent Work For All
  • SDG 12 – Ensure Sustainable Consumption And Production Patterns
  • SDG13 – Take Urgent Action To Combat Climate Change And Its Impacts
  • SDG 17 – Revitalise The Global Partnership For Sustainable Development.
    Multi-stakeholder partnerships

In this second article in our UNSDGs series (click here to read about how we chose our targets), we’ll share the specific actions that we agreed would allow us to meet each of the targets, and celebrate what we’ve already achieved.

SDG 7 – Using clean energy

We ensured that our landlord switch to a renewable energy tariff (they did so in 2020, shortly after we moved in) as part of our tenancy agreement and have rewarded members of our team for swapping to a renewable energy provider at home. We’ve made Do-nation pledges to only use renewable energy, and have revised our procurement policy to only buy from companies powered by renewable energy.

SDG 8 – Doing good work

All of our company policies reflect our status as a B Corp. We have an existing equality policy, there is an anti-slavery policy in our contracts, and we have made it a policy to support local businesses whenever that is an option.

SDG 12 – Living better

The Leap team have regular conversations around sustainability, environmental and social issues, and the circular economy.  We share news and articles of note on dedicated slack channels so that all team members have access to up to date information and developments.

We promote the B Corp movement that we are proud to be a part of, whenever possible, and are proactive in calling for the design industry to consider people and planet in their work.  This is a common topic that our founder Matt raises and discusses when he is invited to speak at events or interviewed about sustainable design.

SDG 13 – Acting on climate

Leap has formally declared a climate emergency, and worked with the Business Declares organisation from the outset. In 2019 made a formal commitment to Net Zero 2030 alongside many other fellow B Corps, and we actively communicate our take on what it means to be Net Zero.
Members of the team joined the climate strikes back in 2019. They also regularly consume ideas and articles about climate solutions, and these are shared in a dedicated slack channel. Individual members of the team have made personal commitments to reducing meat consumption or switching to a plant based diet, and we work with plant-based clients whenever the opportunity arises.
We’ve reported on the carbon savings from commuting following the move to our Truro studio. We prioritised virtual meetings pre-pandemic, and when in-person meetings are required we have a travel policy to use public transport and avoid air travel.

SDG 17 – Coming together

We have actively championed and supported those who bring us together and the progress that they’ve made – organisations such as the B Corp movement, Impact Advisors, Imperative 21 and Business Declares. We will continue to do so. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals have been worked into our KPIs, shared and discussed in client workshops. Leap were proud to be amongst over sixty businesses, environmental organisations, youth leaders and celebrities who signed an open letter to the British Prime Minister urging the government to put nature and climate at the heart of decisions for the recovery effort, for healthy communities and a resilient economy post-COVID19.
As a business we are active within the B Corp community, and we are proud of Matt’s role as a B Corp ambassador, helping other businesses locally or within the creative industries to work towards and achieve B Corp certification.

What we still have to do to meet our Sustainable Development Goals

It’s not enough to pick the low hanging fruit and simply assess what we’ve already or easily achieved against our chosen Sustainable Development Goals; we must be ambitious and constantly strive to do more.  In our third and final article in this series about Leap’s SDGs, we’ll share our targets and stretch targets, highlighting what we can improve on, what we still have yet to achieve, and how we plan to do that.