Many organisations talk about sustainability. It’s become a bit of a ‘buzzword’. But although there’s a lot of talk on the streets nowadays, and some individual companies have really embraced sustainable initiatives, few organisations have taken a strategic view. Nobody has, as yet, tried to make it work on a global scale.
For some time FIDI has incorporated sustainable practices into its FAIM accreditation. Earlier this year it published an excellent document to provide sustainability guidance to members. And very recently, the FIDI Academy has introduced a course that provides members with specific tools to help monitor their financial sustainability and to include sustainability in their business practices.
But in recent months, since its conference in Cannes, FIDI has decided to take a lead to try to do more. Rather than developing individual initiatives to tackle sustainability at a membership level, it’s going for the helicopter view. It’s looking at how the whole industry can develop a structure that allows companies to monitor their progression towards greater sustainability, measure their achievements and prove to their customers, in a meaningful and comparable way, that they operate sustainably.
Jesse van Sas, FIDI General Manager, said that the drive for the initiative had come from a meeting held in Cannes to which representatives of other associations, RMCs and corporate customers, were invited. The intention was to see if it would be possible to develop a more coordinated approach to sustainability rather than every organisation doing it differently.
“I was not expecting anything from the meeting,” said Jesse, “I was kind of sceptical. But at the end, it seemed that we might be able to ‘join together in mobility’ and see if we can do something tangible.”
The result was a coalition of six major associations: FIDI, EuRA, IAM, WERC, CHPA (Corporate Housing Provider’s Association) and CERC (Canadian ERC) ...
Photo: Jessie van Sas.