As Bank of Ireland launches an innovative new Sustainable Business Coach, we talk to director of Sustainability Colette Shirley about why this marks a new direction for the Bank.
Following a successful pilot, Bank of Ireland has launched its new Sustainable Business Coach online platform. This is a free digital tool that is designed to support SME customers with sustainability planning to identify their ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) priorities.
The platform is unique to the Irish market in that it is designed as an ESG questionnaire that uses an online assessment capability to deliver a tailor-made report on their current sustainability situation and provides a plan of action.
“At Bank of Ireland, we have committed to supporting our customers through their green transition – Sustainable Business Coach is a key element of our approach to delivering on that commitment”
It zeroes in on areas like energy usage, greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), , procurement and water and waste management.
Recent Red C research commissioned by Bank of Ireland revealed that a majority of SMEs are unclear on how to implement sustainable growth plans, with over 70% concerned about the impact ESG requirements could have on their own enterprises.
Practical decision-making
Sustainable Business Coach provides SMEs with a structured roadmap to make meaningful progress in the sustainability space, with the online platform underpinned by a globally recognised framework based on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
The launch of the easily accessible and free-of charge Sustainable Business Coach (SBC) further enhances Bank of Ireland’s ESG ambitions, with the Bank on track to deliver its end-2025 sustainability-related lending target of €15bn earlier than anticipated.
Bank of Ireland’s director of Sustainability Colette Shirley said that the ambition for the platform is to give SMEs the practical tips they need to be more resilient in a changing world.
“Customers need particular support in navigating their current situation, benchmarking their performance versus industry peers and knowing which key actions to take”
“SBC is a new direction for Bank of Ireland and this tool is new to Ireland,” Shirley said. “At Bank of Ireland, we have committed to supporting our customers through their green transition – Sustainable Business Coach is a key element of our approach to delivering on that commitment.”
Shirely said that the platform, which is designed as an ESG questionnaire, allows SMEs to identify their ESG priorities and goals with the aim of achieving a more sustainable and future fit business model.
“The goals cover key impact areas such as energy, emissions, water and waste management, supply chain, employee engagement and community, so inclusive of all the elements of ESG. SBC can help to make the whole area of sustainability clearer by identifying the areas of focus for each business, giving a score they can use to benchmark their performance and by providing businesses with a report to share with stakeholders.”
She pointed to the aforementioned Red C research that found that the majority of SMEs do not understand ESG and sustainability but that over 70% are concerned about the impact it will have on their business.
“This pointed us to a very clear knowledge gap amongst our SME customers. This research is reinforced by verbatim feedback we have received through our grassroots engagement with customers through various initiatives by the sustainability team such as SME workshops and Business in the Community (BITC) climate action training.
“Customers need particular support in navigating their current situation, benchmarking their performance versus industry peers and knowing which key actions to take. In order to verify the Red C research and ensure we were developing a useful resource for SMEs, we completed a successful pilot with 51 SMEs across a range of sectors. Key take aways from the pilot from feedback undertaken showed the tool as being particularly beneficial for SMEs who hadn’t focused on ESG.”
How SBC works
She explained that the Sustainable Business coach helps businesses navigate their sustainability journey by identifying their key ESG priorities through a series of multiple-choice self-directed questions.
Following completion of the platform, SMEs will be able to summarise their current sustainability position, identify the areas to take action ,make progress and signpost to the various supports on offer and use the sustainability report to communicate with their stakeholders and form the basis of their own sustainability strategy.
The platform then gives the business a structured, coherent roadmap to make meaningful progress when taking their next step on their sustainability journey.
Sustainable Business Coach was created by Lifemoments a UK based company specialising in digital customer journey solutions in partnership with the Future Fit Foundation, a non-for-profit academic industry expert organisation.
“This framework is designed to help businesses and organisations understand and proactively address their environmental, social and governance impacts. This tool uses a rigorous set of questions aligned with this methodology to assess each business’s ESG priorities and recommendations grounded in robust environmental and social research, ensuring the SMEs that partake are receiving advice that is accurate.”
As the Red C research indicated, there is a clear knowledge gap among SMEs about their sustainability journey.
“This useful tool can help Irish businesses to shape their sustainability strategy around their existing plans and also help to identify and underpin commercial opportunities.
The launch of the practical Sustainable Business Coach platform was welcomed by the CEO of Bank of Ireland Commercial Banking John Feeney.
“Bank of Ireland is delighted to launch a new, free digital sustainability tool focused on Irish SMEs. Many of our business customers face time and resource challenges. Our goal is to deliver an easy to use tool that can provide businesses with a practical and quick plan to support sustainability decision making.”
Main image: Colette Shirley, Director of Sustainability, Corporate and Commercial, Bank of Ireland, John Feeney, CEO, Corporate and Commercial, Bank of Ireland and Louise Cluskey, Director, Customer Products & Solutions, Corporate and Commercial, Bank of Ireland
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