Building Blocks for a More Responsible and Sustainable Business

The topic of sustainability was a huge part of political and business dialogue in 2021. One of the most promising take-aways was that moving forward, countries would revise sustainability plans each year, rather than every five years. This new level of accountability and commitment to climate action will also change the way businesses engage with sustainability. Sustainability practices are already playing a key part in decision-making at board level, meaning that those who don’t have a sustainability policy will be left behind in the next decade.
 
The time is now for businesses to outline their commitments to creating a sustainable future, but for the manufacturing industry, the approach is nuanced. Thankfully, there are steps companies can take now to help future-proof operations and begin making essential progress towards sustainability.

Third Party Auditing

In the manufacturing industry, it is likely that environmental, social and governance (ESG) certifications will become compulsory in the future. This will not only create a fairer playing field for the industry but will allow us to compare sustainable performance and hold ourselves accountable. Certifications give organizations clear targets to work towards, but also make sure that those targets are met.
 
In 2021, Owen Mumford was one of the first medical device manufacturers to achieve B Corp certification, granted based on the assessment of multiple ESG aspects including the environment, governance, community engagement, employee support, and customer stewardship.
 
The certification helped to strengthen existing commitments and consider how to communicate these both internally and externally. Internally, the broad scope of the certification meant that the whole company was involved and invested in the initiative. Externally, the certification holds the organization publicly accountable, demonstrating the authenticity of policies and messaging.
 
However, certifications are not the only way that third parties can be deployed to support environmental policies. Expert organizations can help to set up life cycle assessments for products or carry out an audit of operations to identify areas of development and provide invaluable third-party insight.

Sustainability for Medical Devices

In the medical device sector, this holistic approach to sustainability is especially useful, since solutions for recycling or reusing devices are not straightforward and require creative thinking. Many medical devices cannot be reused for risk of contamination, but by reviewing and improving our infrastructure, we can lower the overall carbon footprint of products in the short-term while investigating measures to address the impact of disposable products in the longer term.
 
For instance, at Owen Mumford, we have transitioned to 99%+ renewable energy sources across our UK sites, and will be expanding our infrastructure, including EV charger units, to make it easier for our team to adopt more sustainable solutions like electric cars.
 
When it comes to our products, we view the design process through the lens of sustainability from the beginning, so that we can identify opportunities to improve efficiency across all aspects of the process. Although there are limitations to the kinds of materials we can use, we are aiming to design products with an emissions footprint that is much smaller than that of our previous ranges. This is one of the measures that will be crucial to us achieving our goal of 50% reduced emissions by 2030.

Setting Realistic Targets

Setting targets can be a challenge in itself; they should be achievable, rather than a reflection of what others may be doing and must be agreed upon as a collective to ensure we are all able to reach them. At Owen Mumford, we have signed up to the Science Based Targets initiative which sets science-based emissions reduction targets in line with climate science, so that companies can determine how much and how quickly they need to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to prevent the worst effects of climate change.
 
This is another effective way to create a sustainability pathway, with measurable milestones along the way. Meeting targets demands ongoing action, and it is easy to lose focus, so taking the time to develop a framework is an essential step in the journey towards building a more responsible business.

Collective Action

The climate crisis is at a turning point and the decisions we make for the environment now are critical to our future. According to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, many of the effects of climate change are irreversible, but the panel’s latest report also says we have a brief window of time to avoid the most significant effects. 
 
For organizations, now is the time to galvanise sustainability strategies and act against irreversible global climate change. For those who are unclear on where to start or are looking for support, third party specialists, certifications and initiatives such as B Corp are available to help businesses set viable goals and make clear, globally recognized progress.
 
Businesses must also exchange ideas and policies to speed up action, and to help solve problems specific to each industry – another reason why joining these kinds of initiatives is so valuable. Only through collective action can we make full use of this short window of opportunity and commit to protecting the future.
 
Reference:
^[1] BBC News, Climate change: IPCC report warns of ‘irreversible’ impacts of global warming, 28 February 2022 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-60525591
 

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Jesper Jonsson joined Owen Mumford in 2019 as Director of Medical Devices. His vast international experience has seen him shaping and changing organizations, delivering value through revenue growth and efficiency gains and building strategically aligned teams. With strong leadership experience in M&A strategy and mobilizing start-ups, Jesper is helping to shape Owen Mumford’s journey into the future and has been instrumental in establishing the company’s ESR agenda and securing its recent B Corp accreditation. He is responsible for Group medical devices sales and marketing.