Our Expertise

Environment & Sustainability

The environment and sustainability are both growing policy areas which relate to other policy areas, such as economic development and health and wellbeing. They are often seen as interchangeable terms, although they are in fact distinct.

The environment concerns our physical world and our impact on it. It is an increasingly important cross- cutting theme for all government departments and agencies. Defra acknowledges that not only is protecting the environment an end in itself, it can also benefit ‘housing (through improved energy efficiency of buildings), social progress (through action to combat fuel poverty) and economic growth (through more efficient use of resources, such as the re-use, recycling and recovery of waste)’.

Sustainability is often defined as meeting ‘the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’. It relates to climate change, waste, inclusion, healthy living, biodiversity, procurement, and supply chain development. 

Step Ahead can support you in making environmental and sustainability decisions by analysing the economic and social implications. We can also help you to ensure that your initiatives are both sustainable and environmentally sound.

Our research has helped previous clients to: 

• identify the renewable energy skills and training necessary for business development;
• explore the views of SMEs on climate change;
• measure the success of environmental initiatives;
• find out the costs and benefits of recycling;
• identify exemplars of sustainability;
• understand environmental legislation and what it means for them.

At Step Ahead, we are committed to reducing our own energy consumption; reducing, reusing and recycling materials; encouraging use of public transport; and using environmentally-friendly suppliers of goods.

Examples of our work include:

• providing workforce development plans for renewable energy sub-sectors, as part of the wider economic development work being undertaken to help grow the Devon economy;
  
  
• investigating the attitudes of directors and managers of SMEs towards climate change and the specific area of ‘director liability’;
  
  
• identifying the costs and benefits of recycling to SMEs and recommending how measures to support businesses to reduce recycling costs could be improved;
  
  
• evaluating progress to date on the Objective 2 funded RE4D (Renewable Energy for Devon) project;
  
  
• auditing current initiatives in the South East that support the Learning and Skills Council’s Sustainable Development Strategy and providing case study examples of best practice.

If you are interested in finding out more about our work in this area, please contact:

Nigel Tremlett: 01392 433381
nigel.tremlett@stepaheadresearch.co.uk

Lucy Hutton: 01392 433528
lucy.hutton@stepaheadresearch.co.uk