Interview with Helen Jones, COO for Corporate/Enterprise clients at Alcumus
On Wednesday the 18th of May at the Facilities Show FM Theatre, FMJ will host a Panel Debate: Sustainability in FM and achieving Environmental, Social and Governance, to discuss how FM can not only meet ESG obligations but have the processes in place to meet ESG regulations and reporting mandates.
One of the key speakers is Helen Jones, COO for Corporate /Enterprise clients at Alcumus, the world’s leading provider of workplace risk management.
Here, she explains the reasons for taking an integrated approach to ESG and sustainability.
“ESG and Sustainability form part of a full integrated risk management proposition. But many organisations don’t know where to start. This is why Alcumus takes an integrated approach to managing Health, Safety and ESG across industries, locations, contractor and supplier networks.”
When companies look at addressing Green House Gas (GHG) Protocol Emissions most tend to concentrate on Scope 1 (direct) emissions to Scope 2 emissions – indirect emissions from the generation of purchased energy. But Scope 3 emissions which account for all other indirect emissions that occur in a company’s value chain are likely to account for more than 70 percent of your carbon footprint. This all links back to an organisation’s ESG strategy.
“Companies’ reputations are increasingly linked to their ESG approach. Businesses need to prove they’re managing their operations without compromising on safety, sustainability, or ethics, for their performance, their people and their supply chains.”
“What we’re finding is while historically organisations have prioritised higher risk suppliers and contractors because they’re attending sites, because of the drive now to understand risks like modern slavery, bribery and corruption within supply chains they need to expand their understanding and reach into the suppliers of goods and services as well.”
The drive to meet stringent sustainability targets she argues is why the use of data will make all the difference to the credibility and authenticity of ESG reporting.
“Successful ESG strategies rely on diverse data streams measured accurately and consistently across business units. Making actions and impacts measurable is the foundation of sound business decisions, setting a challenging balance that changes behaviours for commercial benefit. This is where the real opportunity for companies in the FM sector lies.
“At Alcumus we are leading the way with ESG data visibility, quality, transparency and the integration to operational processes. Our new management and analytics platform tracks 11 key ESG aspects, including Modern Slavery, Carbon, Waste, Anti-Bribery and Social Value – it’s the first of its kind to link material ESG factors such as these together into a single platform, aligned to international best practice to help larger companies to get better and smaller ones to get started.”
The new platform therefore enables carbon tracking into Scope 2 and 3, which FMs can monitor through their supply chain.
Environmental goals, such as achieving net zero remain a priority, but alongside this, the role of facilities management in helping to meet societal aims, from addressing modern slavery to supporting the supply chain is also vital.
Says Jones: “The really exciting one is that we’ve created our own methodology to analyse all the social value and community activities within an organisation and their supply chain.
“We can track modern slavery training and also offer a whistle blowing solution through that platform and loop in the safe contractor data so you’ve this whole data set that you can start to build your base line on. You can switch it on and in a matter of days start employing it within your organisation. I really do think that is the next big growth area that organisations are going to need to get their arms around.”
Jones is looking forward to attending, as well as speaking at the show.
“At Alcumus, we help anticipate, manage and mitigate risks to protect people, organisations and our planet. Many of our clients are in the FM sector. And it’s one close to my heart, having worked in this space for nearly 20 years.”
She adds she’s looking forward: “to being among so many experts in this area. To hear from them where they see the future of the sector and what they’re doing to improve business practices.”
Join Helen Jones and a panel of thought leaders in sustainability to discuss the opportunities for FMs to be front and centre of the integration of ESG into their organisations.
Wednesday 18th May
FM Theatre - Facilities Show