2021 EHS and Sustainability Industry Global Insights

Virtual meetings have become the norm for our bi-annual Associate meetings.  We would normally travel to different locations around the world twice a year to meet in person. This new way of working has not slowed our partnerships or collaboration globally. We have seen more progress, more multinational projects and clients, and more knowledge sharing and partnership during these times. around our services of environmental, health and safety, and sustainability. EHS insights happen in any location, even online.

This year marks Inogen Alliance's 20th anniversary, an impressive milestone for an alliance of local companies coming together to provide global coverage. Check out some of the leadership discussing the history and evolution for our 20-year anniversary with video interviews here.

While a small leadership group was able to meet in person in the UK, the rest of our Associates joined in at all hours of the morning, day and night to gain sustainability insights and share knowledge on the state of our industry and services globally. We are stronger together as an Alliance because of our ability to interweave local geographic and cultural nuances in our global perspective.

“The ability to meet in person even with part of our leadership and working group teams was inspiring and rejuvenating. Our Associates are showing a record year for business performance but still commit time to ensuring the Alliance is strong; we are working together effectively and responding to the needs of our clients. More than ever I firmly believe the Alliance offers multinational organizations a better option for global EHS&S solutions that can be implemented successfully locally.” Angelique Dickson, President of Inogen Alliance.

ESG as the Path Forward to Sustainability

We had several Associate CEOs and Managing Directors from member firms share their own company ESG journeys, thoughts on client perspectives, and the marketplace. The main message was around needing to begin; to take a simple action and not be intimidated by the complexity of ESG. Clients and consultants alike do not need to be experts, they are already experts in their business and understand some of the key issues that make up an ESG strategy. In the end, we all just need to begin – start by planting trees, understand our energy usage, understand where the most waste is created, and take small steps towards making it better and reducing carbon footprints.

“Really ESG is about helping people use less stuff (energy / time / waste). It must not be over complicated, don’t let the inability to do ESG perfectly stop you from even starting” – Alex Ferguson, Managing Director at Delta-Simons in the UK.

Brian Ricketts, CEO of Antea Group USA shared perspective around traditional consultant services for EHS, as well as insights into compliance, regulations, and environmental work that will continue and will complement ESG strategies at a technical level. Currently, there is a lot of focus on ESG, decarbonization, and energy transition with business resilience at the center.

Christian Plas, Managing Partner at denkstatt in Austria, highlighted the multiple pressures that clients are currently facing on ESG.  There is pressure from the market, stakeholders, and anticipated regulations to come.  Pressure is also building from the financial sector and even coming from the next generation and their own kids with “Fridays for the future” developments in Europe.  ESG is no longer only geared at economic metrics but it’s driven more of a political paradigm shift.

We also heard from leaders in Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East on how ESG frameworks and strategies are becoming more important in their clients’ work. In LATAM many are using attorneys, focusing on the “G” governance side of ESG. In APAC, ESG has been growing over the last couple of years and drives more work into some of our specific services within renewable energy, which creates opportunities for further partnership with clients. In the Middle East, ESG is just on the horizon with many clients knowing they need to begin this journey but not knowing how, and there is a scarcity of real resources that understand the work.

Innovations and Trends in EHS&S

During the three-day meetings our global associates shared projects, innovations, and trends around climate change with flood risk assessments as an example in Germany, total worker and mental health as an additional health and safety service, digitalization with EHS management systems and software, and water stewardship. We also focused on a few key industries with updates from our global working groups in Retail and Real Estate along with  trends from some of our key multinational clients.

Highlights in Our Clients Work

“We do a lot of work globally in over 100 countries with over 300 sites, and Inogen Alliance makes it all possible to do this work and reach very unique locations and sites that others can’t support. And we look at it as a long-standing partnership, not a commodity of services. We’ve built up trust and expectations on quality over time that we can depend on.” – Adam Comer, Environmental Due Diligence and Remediation Manager with Cummins, Inc.

We are strategic partners, helping to prepare multinational businesses for what’s next. It’s always great to welcome clients to our meetings to share insights and learnings.

Leadership Team Key Takeaways

“Over the three days of “hybrid conferencing” I felt the strongest sense of togetherness right across the Inogen Alliance, with a total belief that we offer a truly unique, world-class proposition that can be sustained for the next 20 years.” -  Alan Crossfield

“We are family.” – Eugenio Capponi

“Pride. Awe. Gratefulness. I am very proud of our Associates – especially when I hear a client say how wonderful we are. (we are pretty dang wonderful, I have to say!) I am in awe of our Associates every time we come together or I interact one-on-one with them. We have a depth of knowledge and experience that just floors me at times. I am grateful that I get to be a part of this every day. Virtual meetings help us stay connected, but I am really looking forward to an in-person meeting where I can meet even more of our team.” – Debbie Ferguson

“The relationships have not faded due to distance, rather we seem to have become more connected and focused on the personal relationships we build with each other and our clients. New ways to work within the Alliance and with each other to benefit the clients and continue our passion to  improve our world were demonstrated – even with one team calling in from a mobile home they were using to go review a remote client site.” – Alizabeth Smith

“In attending these virtual meetings it’s even more apparent the level of commitment and partnership which is truly unique to Inogen Alliance across independent local companies, globally. It’s great to connect with such knowledgeable partners worldwide to gain insights and understanding of trends and innovations in their unique locations.” – Kate Asleson

What’s Next?

Almost everything in EHS&S consulting will have an ESG lens on it. Our global network is responding and leading through our support to multinational organizations in this next iteration of health and safety management services in our industry. Check out our LinkedIn page for more insights from our recent Fall Associate event and for ongoing industry articles and project highlights. If you want to learn more, check out our Associate pages or contact us and continue to watch here for more news & blog updates.