Simon Miller
Director
OPINION | 28 FEBRUARY 2024
For the 6th year running, 3Keel has been recognised by the Financial Times as one of the UK’s Leading Management Consultants. This year, we have been awarded Gold in the Sustainability category. We are immensely proud that as a boutique, independent firm, we are listed alongside the global management consultancies.
We value the FT award so highly because it is based on recommendations from clients and peers, so a very big thank you to everyone who voted for 3Keel. This recognition is a real shot in the arm for our whole team, who consistently deliver excellent analyses, clear guidance and pragmatic recommendations.
This year, as we have done in the past, we are using this occasion to take stock, share some updates from 3Keel and to reflect on the world in which we are operating.
We set up 3Keel to help organisations prepare for, mitigate and adapt to the effects of the climate and biodiversity crises. Ten years ago, much of what we talked about may have felt theoretical to our clients but that is no longer the case. Climate change isn’t a distant threat; its effects are being felt all around the world, right now.
We are now seeing first hand how extreme weather events and shifting rainfall regimes affect agricultural productivity and supply chain stability. Companies reliant on agricultural production are on the frontline of these effects, dealing with disrupted supply chains, damaged infrastructure and unworkable land leading to substantial financial losses.
As the need for mitigation and adaptation has become more acute, governments and international bodies have responded with varied regulations, standards and reporting requirements that aim to hold companies accountable for their progress. 3Keel has a broad view of this complex landscape and we have been at the forefront of helping organisations to navigate their way.
Recent examples of this expertise include:
The reporting landscape is driving greater transparency and requires businesses to take stock of their current position, and to show the progress they may or may not be making. But politically, things feel very different.
3Keel included in the FT’s rankings for a 6th year
In February, we received the stark news that global warming had breached 1.5oC for a 12-month period. The Brussels-based Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) reported that the global mean temperature for February 2023 to January 2024 was the highest ever recorded at 15.02oC, 1.52oC above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial period.
Sadly, the political responses to such alarming news lack the required urgency. Here in the UK, our government continues to grant new oil and gas exploration licences and is undermining commitments to net zero. Long-awaited legislation to tackle deforestation linked to UK supply chains is limited to illegal deforestation and for just four commodities. Last week, the Good Law Project forced the release of a damning assessment by the UK government of the risks surrounding its climate plans. The tables on climate risks demonstrate just how far the UK has to go to deliver its net zero pledge, and the necessary climate adaptations.
Internationally, a disappointing COP28, the oil and gas majors’ soaring profits, and rising populism all present obstacles for the global co-operation needed for net zero. And of course this dizzying environmental outlook is compounded by major global conflicts. Meanwhile, farmers are making their concerns heard through direct action across Europe, and we learn that insatiable consumer demand for fast fashion is so high that it is disrupting the global aviation industry.
Warming to 1.5oC above pre-industrial levels comes with profound impacts
From the start, 3Keel has championed the need for our clients to focus on resilience, to go beyond compliance-based approaches and to be wary of the latest sustainability trends. Cascading climatic events and shifting political priorities are evidence of the need for organisations to understand systemic risks. Crucially, analyses and advisory work must flow into practical, well-informed management and investment decisions.
Another founding aim was to bring straightforward and collaborative approaches to working with partners and clients, and to do so over extended periods of time. We believe that with those longer relationships comes shared understanding, and a greater willingness to try new things. It’s these long-term relationships that are vital to supporting clients in turbulent times.
With that longevity and trust, we have been able to break new ground on developing solutions to knotty problems, and in particular through multilateral approaches that address the inherent complexity of so many sustainability challenges.
Now more than ever, solutions need to be grounded and pragmatic if they are to be adopted, albeit the solutions needn’t be – and often aren’t – simple to execute.
On the human side, our work requires us to face headlong into the ‘omni-shambles’. By spending so much time analysing local and global challenges, we recognise the importance of maintaining our personal resilience and positivity. Supporting one another, and consciously building our 3Keel community, enables us to focus our energies on solutions.
Our four values embody this spirit, and they make the work we do more enjoyable for our team and our partners, as well as more effective for the organisations that we support.
We enjoy what we do and we work in the spirit of collaboration. This comes across in our relationships with colleagues, clients and partners.
We ask questions, we are creative and we don’t have all the answers. We look for new roads that challenge the status quo.
We are pragmatists. We recognise that our work must bridge the gap between the world we have today and the one we want to create.
Significant change is needed now. We bring a sense of purpose that matches the scale of the climate and ecological emergency.
Central to everything at 3Keel, is the team that we have assembled. Demand for our services has supported a steady increase in our team size, which now totals 85 colleagues, and continues to grow. We continue to prioritise our employee benefits, to ensure that we continue to invest in, personal development and flexible working. This year we are also introducing our first EMI (Enterprise Management Incentive) scheme to provide share options to all staff, which we see as much deserved, long-term rewards for everyone’s role in the success of the business.
To provide joined up services, this year we have revised our internal structures by evolving our seven practice areas into three overarching new business units. These comprise (1) Climate, Nature and Resources; (2) Agriculture and Landscapes; and (3) Commodity Supply Chains. In addition, our LENs programme continues to expand, and we are now creating a dedicated LENs Company to facilitate this growth. These three business units, along with LENs, provide a joined-up approach for tackling related issues, with many projects comprising two or more of our business units working together.
Interim Head: Richard Sheane
This business unit brings together three of our Practice Areas: Climate, Nature and Circular Economy, providing thematic expertise and supporting client projects which often require similar supply chain data and understanding of processes. The business unit’s focus is in working with sectors that are highly dependent on land and natural resources, such as retail, food service and manufacturing, consumer goods, packaging and apparel.
Head: Anna Kitulagoda
3Keel has fast become an international leader on deforestation, providing analyses and advice related to soft commodity supply chains. Anna, who joined 3Keel from WWF in 2022, is the new Head of Business Unit, overseeing two delivery teams with an international scope. The teams are particularly strong on forest risk commodities such as soy, palm oil, and cocoa supply chains, and have a growing portfolio of work on seafood supply chains. In addition to working with a large number of retailers and manufacturers directly, 3Keel convenes a number of commodity-related industry coalitions aiming to help drive the global shift to sustainable supply chains.
Head: Catherine McCosker
Catherine joined 3Keel as an intern in 2014, following a Masters at the University of Oxford and years farming in northeastern US. She has been part of the growth of the business and was appointed Head of Business Unit in February 2024. Catherine’s strong background in agriculture is combined with the experience of our two delivery teams, with additional expertise in landscapes. The business unit supports global corporate clients working within their agriculture supply chains, implementing solutions to increase resilience and support positive environmental outcomes, and – with more of a UK focus and a wider range of public and third sector clients – projects on nature and landscape recovery and restoration.
Interim CEO: Donald Lunan
3Keel’s Landscape Enterprise Networks (LENs) programme was initiated by Director Tom Curtis, and developed in close partnership with teams at Nestlé. In 2024, 3Keel’s Donald Lunan was appointed as interim CEO of the new LENs Company, and will be leading the team to take LENs to its next phase. We have strategic partnerships with Diageo, Nestlé and PepsiCo for supporting our scale up, along with six LENs regions actively trading and are in advanced discussions with a number of new partners. So, watch out for further updates on LENs, which is likely to be the most dramatic area of change at 3Keel over the next 12 months.
In the coming weeks we will be publishing articles from these four areas of the business.
In January 2024, we received our B CorpTM recertification, which awarded us 132 points. The certification threshold is 80 and we have significantly improved on our 107 points from the original certification in 2019. We have been actively supporting the B Corp movement, and hope that recent criticisms it is facing will be resolved through its proposed revisions in approach. Like many initiatives, it’s not perfect but for 3Keel, the B Corp process has tangibly helped to direct our internal investments and priorities, which has been to the benefit of our employees and for society at large.
Turmoil and uncertainty in the world make the role of business ever more critical in shaping the state of our environment, and 3Keel has a valuable role to play as an agitator, enabler and creator. We will continue with our work, and strive to extend the length and depth of the working relationships with our client organisations.
As a B Corp, we’re part of a global community of businesses that meet high standards of social and environmental impact.
Dame Anita Roddick, 1994
So, thank you to all of our clients, partners, associates and friends for your support. We remain optimistic that we can collectively achieve the change we need, and can continue to focus on ambitious but pragmatic solutions to challenges, as well as helping to unpick and understand the current and emerging risks facing organisations.
If our story has piqued an interest or struck a chord, and you would like to talk, then we’d love to hear from you. We’re a friendly bunch, and full of ideas for making positive changes in the world. To subscribe to our newsletter, sign up here, and please do follow us on LinkedIn.
https://www.3keel.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/AGR_cat_mc_sf.webp
200
359
Catherine McCosker
https://www.3keel.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/3keel_logo-1.png
Catherine McCosker2024-03-22 09:00:372024-03-25 17:35:56“We need to double-down on collaboration, as climate change hits agriculture”
https://www.3keel.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/anna_k_sf.webp
200
359
Anna Kitulagoda
https://www.3keel.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/3keel_logo-1.png
Anna Kitulagoda2024-03-15 01:00:222024-03-18 11:05:37“Driving positive, real-world impact in sustainable commodities”
https://www.3keel.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/CNR_sf1.webp
200
359
Richard Sheane
https://www.3keel.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/3keel_logo-1.png
Richard Sheane2024-03-08 14:24:092024-03-18 14:50:56“Action needed on corporate sustainability as target years loom”
