Sustainable Roots
Navigating Change
Sustainable Roots
Navigating Change
We are sustainability experts – deeply rooted in global commodity production and trade. We own three decades of experience in production, advisory and assurance services in agricultural supply chains. We co-create change by designing solutions hand in hand with our customers and in close co-operation with their stakeholders. To do this we employ Design Thinking techniques, a human-centric approach. It does perfectly work in the context of sustainability where solutions are created to meet the needs of vulnerable people, communities and societies.
We navigate you into sustainable-solution-building. We co-create services together. We transfer our sustainability know-how and with it the techniques to create change from inside. We show you how to explore the needs of your customers and stakeholders. We stress the importance of dialogue. We believe that it is key to properly listen to you before we build. This to design future proofed sustainability architectures for your business - showing the unique DNA of your company.
Social-Economic Expert
I navigate producers, traders and brands into a range of voluntary standards and promote regenerative agriculture. I further design customized sourcing codes and respective assurance architectures for brands and retailers by translating in-house sustainability programs into verifiable private codes. Such agile frameworks offer companies flexibility, transparency and accountability. Customized sustainability tools give companies options to design tailored standards shaped to their individual needs. They can adopt both internal and external verification approaches to assure respective claims.
Tailor made sustainability services combined with impact measurement and storytelling allow players in global trade to show their very own sustainability DNA to stakeholders, consumers and investors.Due to my intense history in Fairtrade I keep a particular eye on ,small farmers’ in global trade to make sure that sustainability efforts remain human focused, doable and affordable. I believe that true, empathic collaboration between people in global value chains is key to design smart solutions.
Social-Environmental Expert
As a convinced practitioner of Design Thinking I am employing social auditing also as a tool for human-centric solution building. This multi-approach to social auditing has enabled me to also provide consulting services. The co-design of bespoke sustainability programs in close collaboration with customers has been one of my strong holds over the past 15 years.
My empathy and my proficiency in social dialogue allow me to conduct my professional assignments in global agricultural supply chains with dedication: Be it pre-assessments or gap analyses against social & environmental standards; benchmarking, feasibility studies for cross-standard-implementation, design and training of internal control systems; data collection for carbon foot print calculations or monitoring of carbon off-setting programs.My cross-continental working experiences turned me sensitive for different cultures and strongly shaped my profile as global auditor in the sustainability arena.
Global commodity supply chains are complex and without visibility it’s hard to understand and address risks.
Have you mapped your supply chains and do you know the players you work with?
Have you designed a sustainability strategy and set targets for implementation?
Do you manage, verify and comply with key standards in the area of social, environmental and economic performance?
Understanding these issues at level of your business including your supply chain partners can help you be more proactive in addressing the impact of your products and future proof your business.
We can help you
Are you able to collect the data that enables you to measure progress of your sustainability efforts?
Do you know how you get right insights and learnings from your data?
Are you able to engage and communicate with your key stakeholders in a meaningful way?
To be impactful on your journey of change we help you
Farming as a Business
Diversification
Knowledge Management
Productivity
Human Rights
Health & Safety
Employment
Gender
Regenerative Agriculture
Biodiversity
Carbon
Water
HOW we co-create
Human-Centric Design
Human-Centric Design is a co-creative approach to problem solving. It starts with people and ends with tailored business solutions able to meet their needs. When you understand the people you are trying to reach, and design from their perspective, they do not only come up with unexpected ideas but allow you to create a service that they will embrace.
Human-Centric Design
The Inspiration Phase is about ,learning on the fly’. It helps opening-up to creative possibilities and trust. As long as you respect the needs of the people you are designing for, your ideas will evolve into the right solutions.
In the Ideation Phase you will come up with lots of ideas, some too crazy to try…some too crazy not to try …
Before implementing you test your ideas in a Prototyping Phase. Meaning you build a simple prototype of your service, make it tangible and test it with those people you are designing for. Without their input you would not know if your service in on target. The feedback you generate from this phase is crucial – as it allows you to quit the bad things and improve the good things, and to finalize your service.
During the Implementation Phase you show up your business model and build partnerships. Get your ideas out in the world. You will notice that you have gained already a lot of supporters that help to pave the ground for a successful launch of the service – because you have involved key stakeholders and partners right from the beginning in the development process.
At SustainableRoots, we are passionate about a sustainable future and positive environmental change. Whether you have a question, feedback or would like to work with us, we look forward to hearing from you!