A League of Sustainability Champions

When john Campion took on the role of Executive Director, Sustainability last April he asked all staff to get involved in the programme - as success was ultimately dependent on the input and commitment of everyone in ESB. Since then, there has been a tremendous response with many staff contacting John directly or e-mailing the sustainablity office on sustainability@esb.ie with suggestions and ideas for sustainability improvements. A considerable number of people also answered the call to volunteer as Sustainability champions which involves promoting and communicating best practice sustainability initiatives at a local level.

At this stage we have almost 140 champions in place across the company, representing all categories and all business lines. While this represents people who have formally taken on the role we also know and acknowledge that there are many others in the company who have long been carrying out best practice sustainability in their homes and their work lives. This offers a fantastic opportunity to build on the enthusiasm and commitment of a significant number of people. The champions, working with colleagues in their local functions and under the able stewardship of the business line Sustainability Managers, provide a powerful platform to embed sustainability as a core value.

On Tuesday, December 9th over 110 of these Sustainability champions gathered together for a conference which provided an opportunity to meet, share information and knowledge, and to see how best they could develop and fulfil their roles. The conference was opened by John Campion who thanked those in attendance for volunteering. He also gave an update on the Sustainability Programme and urged the champions to play an active role locally by getting involved in the various initiatives.

Chief Executive, Padraig McManus, emphasised the importance of the Strategic Framework for ESB and how the internal Sustainability Programme is a central part of delivering this. He was delighted to see such a large cohort of Champions in attendance and encouraged people to get involved locally and use their role to get others on board.

The Chief Executive also formally launched the Sustainability Advice Centre with Brid Horan, Executive Director, Customer Supply and Group Services, which is featured elsewhere in EM.

Following this there was a series of interesting and informative presentations on local initiatives from across ESB delivered with great clarity and an obvious sense of pride. The presentations gave an insight into the breadth of activity in diverse parts of the company and how it is possible to make changes no matter what our role or location is.

• Tralee Partnership Group Sustainability Improvement Plan: Sean Curtin and Billy Horgan.
• Sustainability in ESBI: Adrian Sinnott.
• Energy Efficiency in Head Office: Philip Darcy.
• Moneypoint Sustainability Improvement Project – Ger Noonan.

In the afternoon Liam Ring and Mick Downey from the Programme team presented on the results from the recent staff questionnaire and communicating the sustainability message respectively. A recent video clip, shown at the conference, from none other than U.S. President Elect, Barack Obama, helped highlight the new world vision for tackling the climate crisis and the new political will that now exists.

The day's proceedings finished with a workshop where the champions were asked to consider how best they could develop and fulfil their roles locally. There were many very useful suggestions and inputs taken from this session and these were fed back to the full group.

Overall, the day was a great success with the enthusiasm and willingness to promote sustainability very much in evidence. In his parting remarks John Campion thanked everyone again for taking on this important role and urged everyone to stay involved and continue to make a difference in meeting the challenge of reducing our carbon footprint. John concluded by reminding everyone that the stage is now set and the key ingredients are in place. The political will is there, nationally and internationally, ESB has the strategy and we now individually have the opportunity to make a real difference in our actions.