My Sustainable Life: Small steps for big change
“I’ve always tried to do my best when it comes to protecting our environment. I installed solar panels on my home last year and mostly take public transportation, riding my bike whenever the weather permits. But the ‘My Sustainable Life’ initiative reminded me that I can have even more small wins on a daily basis, like refrigerating my bread to help it last longer, or only boiling the cup of water I need for my tea.
When we all make a commitment to keep sustainability top of mind, our small changes can make a meaningful impact.”
Simone Van Vroenhoven, Assistant Manager, Knowledge Team
When it comes to sustainability efforts, making change at the individual level can sometimes feel inconsequential. But we know that smaller collective efforts can also lead to significant change. Regardless of their role at Deloitte, we wanted to encourage all of our people to drop aspirations of perfection and instead focus on reasonably achievable targets for their particular life circumstances.
To do this, we kicked off “My Sustainable Life” just as the holiday season kicked off last year, asking our colleagues to take stock of their current behaviors and resolve to make some changes in 2023. Featuring a two-pronged approach, the first stage focused on awareness via self-assessments on the Giki Zero carbon calculator. Once a participant answered questions to calculate their carbon footprint, they could select from a multitude of changes (along with their corresponding carbon reduction) to implement as new resolutions.
Our Sustainability Team then created a dedicated internal webpage for our colleagues that featured actionable tips to consider over the holiday season in order to mitigate the waste that can often occur in food preparation, gift giving, décor and celebration.
For this year’s Earth Month, the focus of “My Sustainable Life” shifted to circular economies. Sustainability Leader Francesca Messini and Mélanie Guiton, researcher at Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), delved into their importance and the science behind them. Coupled with actionable tips to be more circular within the tech, fashion and food industries, along with links to local initiatives in Luxembourg, our people were (and are) empowered with ideas to support a more sustainable way of living that also works for them.
Considering that we all have different life circumstances to manage, being open to solutions at the individual level can be key to increasing individual ownership in fighting climate change; no “sustainable life” will look the same. But when done together, small steps can certainly make a big change.