Sustainability

Whitepaper: Opportunities in Sustainability

Achieving the European Green Deal’s ambitious goal for the EU to become the world’s first climate-neutral bloc by 2050 hinges on the actions of businesses. Companies play a pivotal role in driving the sustainability transformation essential to tackling climate change, reducing waste, and promoting social responsibility. As sustainability becomes an integral part of modern business strategy, Highberg understands the importance of staying at the forefront of this shift. This research delves into the commercial opportunities for Highberg in sustainability consulting by exploring client needs, strategies, and challenges. Through a deeper understanding of the sustainability landscape, Highberg aims to strengthen its consulting services and support clients in embedding sustainability into their core operations.
This whitepaper presents research based on qualitative interviews with nine organisations across various industries. Using thematic and content analysis, the study identified key trends, drivers, and barriers in sustainability practices. The findings highlight the challenges companies face and reveal opportunities for Highberg to assist them in overcoming these hurdles. As one interviewee insightfully noted, “Currently, sustainability is still a competitive advantage; soon it will be a right to play.

Gijs Verkooijen

Netherlands

Organizational

Digital Strategy & Execution

Highberg podcasts

Employer NPS 27

Highberg has various podcasts about Sustainability, Digitalization, Transformation, Europe and the Government. Curious about these topics? Listen to the podcasts via the links down below.

Digital

Highberg ESG Report 2023

ESG Rapport 2024

As Highberg, we are committed to achieve lasting impact on organizations, people, and the environment. Therefore, we are very proud to publish our first ESG report.

Selma den Hartog

Ben ten Dam

Three reasons why as a CIO and CSO you should hold each other's hands

Why should CIO and CSO hold hands?

In my daily work in the field of responsible digitization, I see that sustainability and digitization have a lot in common. Both strive for value creation, involve substantive complexity, and require a similar search for ownership.

Anne van Esch

As an organization, how do you take the first steps toward sustainability?

Sustainability in your organization

The-first-step-to-sustainability-in-your-organization

In today's rapidly evolving world, sustainability is increasingly seen as not only an ethical, but also a business sense. Organizations committed to a sustainable path are experiencing numerous benefits, including cost savings, increased efficiency and a positive impact on the environment. But as an organization, how do you take the first steps toward sustainability?

Miriam Maan

The first step to Sustainability in your organization

Strategy & Change

Government and Public Sector

A Highberg customer story: European procurement through green glasses

European procurement through green glasses

Groene bril bud helisson kqguzgv Yrt M unsplash

Every four or five years it comes around again: procurement. The Dutch government constantly has to deal with contracts expiring that then have to be put out to tender again. So too do the Dutch provinces. Their telephony contracts expired in 2018, so in 2017 they joined forces (for the 3rd time) to jointly market their telephony with Provincial Telephony 2017 (PT2017). This is more efficient than each on their own and because of the size, they are an attractive party for the market. This allows them to make serious cost savings, both on the procedure (working together more efficiently) and on the contracts (buying larger). This involved fixed and mobile telephony connections, mobile devices and the construction and maintenance of indoor (in-house) coverage facilities for telephony, divided into five lots.
Cooperation with Highberg (fka VKA) was sought and found early in the process for the additional procurement and telephony expertise for the core team of provinces.

Rick de Rooij

Technology and Telecommunications

The challenge for Philips is to involve all employees in the execution of commitments

The Philips Sustainability Challenge​

The philips sustainability challenge

In 2020, Philips announced its ESG commitments for 2025: a comprehensive set of key commitments and ambitious targets across all the Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) dimensions. ​Currently, the main challenge for Philips is to involve all employees in the execution of these commitments. This requires employees to become aware of the ESG commitments and ambitions, understand how they can contribute from their own role and context, and requires them to adopt and execute new behaviors. ​

Jody Pietersz

The Philips sustainability challenge​

Retail and Consumer Goods

Ndugu Coffee's mission is to make agribusiness sustainable for all stakeholders involved

Dashboarding & business development

dashboarding-business-development-for-sustainable-growth

Ndugu Coffee is a social enterprise with a mission to make agribusiness sustainable for all stakeholders involved.

Dashboarding & business development for sustainable growth

UNICEF has the ambition to be as agile as possible to help more children, faster

Leadership development UNICEF

leadership-development-UNICEF

UNICEF provides assistance to children worldwide and advocates for their rights. As the world's largest child rights organization, UNICEF reaches more children in more places than anyone else, with the ambition to be as agile as possible to help more children, faster.

A new service concept for the Homeless Desk of the Municipality of The Hague

From work pressure to work happiness

from-work-pressure-to-work-happiness

The Homeless Desk of the Municipality of The Hague provides assistance to the homeless, and due to the high urgency of their work, the team experiences high levels of work pressure. The goal was to establish a new service concept at a new location (driven by hospitality) with the aim of increasing the quality of service and improving the job satisfaction and working conditions of the employees. It is crucial that these improvements are sustainable and lead to lasting change.

A merger of eight consulting brands. Learn more about us and what we can do for you.

We are Highberg

Highberg originated from eight boutique consulting firms, each with best-in-class expertise in organizational, digital, and sustainability transformations. Our joint ambition is to build the leading transformation consulting firm in Europe, with one mission:​ 
"Being the best partner for our clients in organizational, digital and sustainability transformation through our combined expertise. We strive for change that has lasting impact on organizations and their people" ​

Focus on your core activities to translate strategic ambitions into concrete actions.

Focus on your core business for green impact

focus-on-your-core-business-for-real-green-impact

Focus on your core activities to realize real sustainable impact. That is our advice for companies and organizations that want to translate their strategic ambitions in the field of sustainability into concrete actions.

Myra Hendriks

Focus on your core business for real green impact

AI Act compliance and sustainability

Eco-friendly algorithms

eco-friendly-algorithms

With the privacy and security requirements introduced by the <a href="https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/headlines/society/20230601STO93804/eu-ai-act-first-regulation-on-artificial-intelligence?at_campaign=20226-Digital&amp;at_medium=Google_Ads&amp;at_platform=Search&amp;at_creation=Sitelink&amp;at_goal=TR_G&amp;at_advertiser=Webcomm&amp;at_audience=ai%20act&amp;at_topic=Artificial_intelligence_Act&amp;gclid=CjwKCAjw7oeqBhBwEiwALyHLM-JcGp5HMGDbshr_AOCesBlFEsOK12bL0z9JMA8Kj3iDudkG_pnJZRoCsdEQAvD_BwE">AI Act</a>, we are by now all at least familiar. But what does the AI Act say about sustainability? <a href="https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2023-0236_EN.html">Amendment 213</a> has added, among other things, article 4a. This article deals with the generic principles applicable to all AI systems.

Jules van den berg

Empowering sustainability efforts

Digital solutions for policy

digital-solutions-for-policy

Under the influence of climate change, shortages of (potable) water, rising sea levels, changing ecosystems, and reduced biodiversity, sustainability is increasingly becoming a source of global concern. The European Union (EU) takes the lead in promoting policies to address environmental, social, and economic challenges, including through initiatives like the Green Deal. This Green Deal and the resulting European directives such as the CSRD directly impact the work of Dutch government officials and policymakers at national, provincial, and local government levels. After all, these officials and policymakers must translate this European policy into national legislation and apply it to organizations across the Netherlands. Once implemented, governments will need to oversee the enforcement and compliance of this policy.

Ynte Kramer

Heiko van Eldijk tells about digital transformation

Digital transformation? Make future visible!

digital-transformation-make-the-future-visible

If you can't get the people in your organization on board, every attempt at digital transformation is doomed to fail. But how do you do that, getting your organization on board? Partner and consultant Heiko van Eldijk of Highberg shares his key learnings. 'Digital transformation starts with a compelling story.'

Heiko van Eldijk

Digital transformation? Make the future visible!

Diversity as a foundation: A path to organizational resilience

Thrive through diversity (1/4)

thrive-through-diversity-1-4

No matter where you look or in which system you engage, where you incorporate diversity, a system will thrive.

Maria van der Schoot

Sustainability beyond the surface: A deep dive into organizational transformation

Leave the plastic cups for now

Leave-the-Plastic-Cups-for-Now

In a recent study, Gartner Research Institute states that by 2024 60% of all demand for sustainability consulting services will come directly from the business lines of corporates, rather than from the organization’s sustainability department. That is good news. Very good news.

Arent van 't Spijker

Sustainability impacts more than the environment, shaping social and economic growth

Beyond green: Sustainability's true scope

Beyond-green-Sustainabilitys-true-scope

Sustainability is a hot topic. Organizations think it's important, but then..., ‘what can I do about it?’. And ‘what difference does my effort make now?’. Do I act on the bare necessaties for window dressing purposes, or does it really make sense for my organization to do 'something with sustainability' now? The answer is ‘Yes!’. Acting on sustainability really makes sense. And there are several reasons for that.

Adaptive operations for sustainable resilience

Thrive through diversity (4/4)

thrive-through-diversity-4-4

The lack of diversity in an organization is like having no biodiversity in nature. In other words, it’s pretty essential.
This article is the last article as part of the series ‘Thrive through diversity’. So far, we have discussed the <a href="https://highberg.com/insights/thrive-through-diversity-1-4">importance of a solid foundation</a> and that we can enhance this by <a href="https://highberg.com/insights/thrive-through-diversity-2-4">integrating different domains of diversity</a>. We have discussed the <a href="https://highberg.com/insights/thrive-through-diversity-3-4">workforce and the product &amp; portfolio diversit</a>y and are at the final part about operational diversity.

Diverse products, sustainable portfolios

Thrive through diversity (3/4)

thrive-through-diversity-3-4

This article is the third article as part of the series ‘Thrive through diversity'. In the <a href="https://highberg.com/insights/thrive-through-diversity-1-4">first article</a>, we talked about a solid foundation. In the <a href="https://highberg.com/insights/thrive-through-diversity-2-4">last article</a>, we covered one of the three domains: workforce diversity. This blog will cover the second domain: product &amp; portfolio diversity.

Empowering employees through gamification to meet ESG targets

The Philips sustainability challenge

The-Philips-Sustainability-Challenge

Philips’ question
In 2020, Philips announced its ESG commitments for 2025: a comprehensive set of key commitments and ambitious targets across all the Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) dimensions. 
Currently, the main challenge for Philips is to involve all employees in the execution of these commitments. This requires employees to become aware of the ESG commitments and ambitions, understand how they can contribute from their own role and context, and requires them to adopt and execute new behaviors.

Workforce diversity: building sustainable foundations

Thrive through diversity (2/4)

thrive-through-diversity-2-4

This article is the second article as part of the series ‘Thrive through diversity’. In the <a href="https://highberg.com/insights/thrive-through-diversity-1-4">first article</a>, we explored how embracing diversity increases the resiliency, stability, and relevancy of an organization in times of turmoil by creating a solid foundation. Three domains of diversity were quickly introduced. For the next three parts of this series, we dive deeper into each of these domains. This article explores workforce diversity and the importance of it to become a sustainable organization.

A Commitment to People, Planet, and Prosperity

Highberg is B Corp certified

B Corp Highberg

Highberg can call itself a certified B Corporation, also known as B Corp. That is not only something we are very proud of, but also what we strive for in our daily work. 
By becoming certified as a B Corp, we demonstrate our commitment to positively impacting the world and holding ourselves accountable for our actions.

Carolien Wiltink

Transforming business ecosystems for sustainable success

How do you create a sustainable chain?

How-Do-You-Create-a-Sustainable-Chain

Collaboration within an organization is sometimes already complicated, let alone between multiple organizations. To really achieve sustainability, cooperation within the chain is essential. How do you get from a sustainability strategy on paper to a workable action plan?

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“Help us to develop a Gamification concept that helps us to motivate and support our employees to contribute to our ESG commitments.”

In co-creation with Philips Group Sustainability, we developed a pilot game consisting of 6 levels and 3 bonus levels in which players are guided through a cycle of: understanding, funneling, applying, executing and checking.

 Players started by gaining understanding of the ESG commitments. Funneled those commitments to fit their department. Applied the commitments and what they mean for their department to their day-to-day work by formulating goals for their team. Executing actions to reach those goals and conclusively checking their results. 
Said game was rolled out at a Benelux department consisting of +/-100 players over a period of 8 weeks. Each team sets its own goals, that fit their context and are in line with the ESG commitments and their departments sustainability vision.

Philips-Recommend

Philips-Learn

As a result, these teams have made a significant step in becoming more responsible and sustainable within their field and inspire their colleagues, clients and families. On top of that they had fun working together and learned more about the Philips ESG commitments.

The Philips sustainability challenge

The assignment

Our approach

Results

Related insights