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Unlocking ESG Transformation

Empact advises European mid-sized businesses and governmental bodies on their ESG transformation. Some of our customers prefer to keep their projects confidential, so you will find below only an excerpt from our assignments.

Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland (RVO)

From 2020, Empact will work on various projects for RVO, all related to (I)CSR:

  • In 2020 and 2021, Empact consultants worked on developing CSR Leadership at this large government organisation. For the International Programs directorate, management, team managers and program coordinators were assisted in discovering and developing their leadership. This program was completely online.
  • Erik Parigger, CSR Coordinator International Entrepreneurship, Netherlands Enterprise Agency: “It was a great pleasure to work with Empact and to increase the CSR ambitions within RVO together. With their tailor-made leadership program, we have taken an important step towards achieving our CSR objectives.”
  • CSR in EZK instruments: in 2021 and 2022 Empact will work on achieving CSR within 16 instruments of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate. These are schemes designed to promote sustainable entrepreneurship. For example, Wind on Sea or SDE++, the energy subsidy scheme for companies. The State Secretary sent this letter to the House of Representatives about this.
  • Empact is currently working on further assignments for RVO, among others on measuring the effects of the CSR policy of the Dutch government. Click here for an interview with RVO's project lead on the result of phase 1 of the project.

UW (Utrecht Works)

  • From 2022, Empact consultants help to organize UW's environmental performance by structuring, prioritizing and inspiring. Among other things, by designing the climate-neutral 2030 roadmap.
  • Tineke Lissenburg of UW: “They have brought knowledge and enthusiasm to us. In addition, they have brought structure to everything we were doing and they are very proactive. It is also very important that they really think along and understand what we need. Epact acts as a driver and initiator for us.
  • UW is also an Empact referral. Read the interview with director Gertjan Stoker and KAM advisor Tineke Lissenburg here.

Heras Group

Heras Group is Europe’s largest perimeter protection company. With representations in every EU country, as well as in the UK, Norway and Switzerland, their mobile and permanent fencing systems are used at construction sites, festivals & events, houses, corporate buildings and even prisons. Heras Group, backed by its private equity investor, engaged Empact to help to define its ESG strategy and develop a respective implementation plan.

“We have enjoyed working with Empact over the past months. Their experience and expertise, but also structure and content, in a pro-active and pragmatic way, have helped us to take significant steps in the definition and implementation of our ESG strategy.”, said Gilles Rabot, CEO of Heras Group.

Rosiro Group

Rosiro Group, formerly Coda Group, transforms from a high-quality plastic manufacturer into a high-quality biodegradable plastic manufacturer. This means a sustainable transformation in the entire value chain of plastics. By using its patented biopolymers, it can now produce and deliver truly sustainable, innovative biomaterials that can replace single-use plastic products to the world.

To support this transformation, Empact conducted a Second Party Opinion (SPO) on the company’s Green Bond Framework 2020. During this process, the professionals of Empact successfully accessed crucial information about this transformation. This resulted in an in-depth positive review of the group’s transformation plans, the use of proceeds, process of project evaluation and selection, management of proceeds and reporting.

According to Robert de Jong, CEO of Coda Group, the value-added by Empact is crucial: “Empact is very knowledgeable, has executed the required due diligence in a prudent and efficient manner and delivered a high-quality report. We recommend Empact for anyone looking for sustainable finance services on Green Bonds.”

CIZ Health

In 2021, Empact worked on developing the strategic sustainability policy for this healthcare organisation. Not only the environmental impact of the organisation itself but also the suppliers and customers were part of the assignment.

Bob van Dixhoorn, facility manager at CIZ: “I was asked from my organisation whether I wanted to write an advice regarding sustainability about where we stand in terms of sustainability and how we can further shape this within the organisation, where the greatest opportunities lie, can secure this within the organisation, but this can also monitor. Sustainability is not a speciality for me and I myself have too little knowledge and skills. For this reason, I contacted a specialist, Martin de Jong, from Empact. Together with Martin, I have been able to clearly visualise our CO2 emissions and where the points of attention are based on a clear step-by-step plan and in a short period of time. We then translated this into a policy document that was submitted to the board. Without Martin de Jong’s expertise, I would not have been able to map this out in such a short period of time and so clearly and advise the board.”

Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek (CBS)

Empact has developed the CSR strategy for and especially with Statistics Netherlands, in line with the Wellbeing Approach, but also practical enough to be in line with daily practice.

According to Remco Immers of CBS: “CBS stands for reliable, society-oriented and innovative statistics. So that’s what we were looking for in the consultancy which would help develop our CSR strategy. With Empact’s Martin de Jong, we have found that advisor. Martin is not only a pleasant person to work with, but also very experienced and you notice that. He switches smoothly between the different levels within the organisation and brings not only knowledge but also the skills needed to develop a supported strategy. From strategy to practical sustainability goals, with Martin involved, we were able to develop that first integrated approach. We are so satisfied with Empact that we have recommended them to our network of other governmental organisations. In addition, we have now also asked them to contribute ideas about the implementation of our CSR strategy.”

Coalition Anders Reizen

27% of CO2 emissions in the Netherlands are transport-related. Mobility really needs to become more sustainable. To achieve this, the largest employers in the Netherlands have united in the Coalition ‘Anders Reizen’. The main goal is to achieve a 50% CO2 reduction in business transport by 2030, compared to 2016. Martin de Jong of Empact has helped Anders Reizen in various ways. In addition to being a sparring partner for the board and management, Martin guided the process to developing a new strategy. In 2020, Empact has created the ‘broadening’ of Anders Reizen, together with several leading thinkers and doers. Due to COVID-19, its execution has been postponed.

Hugo Houppermans, director of Anders Reizen: “With the involvement of Martin de Jong of Empact, I know that we will achieve the results we are looking for. Martin is able to think along at a strategic level as well as to get the various c-level stakeholders involved in the process. A pleasant and professional collaboration, which I can recommend to both profit and non-profit organisations.”

Cultivating knowledge and skills

We pay special attention to enabling learning and development. Empact helps to improve the knowledge and skills of people by delivering lectures at Universities, either as a guest lecturer at MSc or MBA programmes or at Masterclasses for professionals:

University of Amsterdam (UvA)

Associate professor of strategy Arno Kourula: “Martin has been instrumental in bringing in latest sustainability thinking to the University of Amsterdam Business School when serving on the Advisory Board, as a guest lecturer, as a partner in course development, and as a trainer in executive education. Together we were able to initiate and build a long-term collaboration between VodafoneZiggo and UvA at the MBA level, which has led to the Ethics, Responsibility and Sustainability becoming one of the most popular courses in the program.”

Assistant professor for sustainability Pushpika Vishwanathan: “Martin gave a guest lecture in my Full-time MBA course Purpose-driven strategy. He talked about purpose and impact and shared his experience at Vodafone and Empact with the students. He offered a very inspiring contribution, shared interesting anecdotes, and managed to engage the students in a lively manner.”

Aalto Universiteit (Helsinki, Finland)

“It was a great pleasure and privilege to have Martin de Jong as a guest speaker in our Aalto Executive Education module on “Corporate Responsibility”. Martin brought his extensive experience and insightful ideas as we, together with 41 high-level corporate executives, learned about key trends in sustainability and climate change, implementing sustainability thinking, and creating a movement within a company. Martin is a highly engaging and inspirational speaker and he is always welcome in our executive education modules to share his wisdom.” according to Aalto’s Arno Kourula.