“Grassroots people-power has always been at the heart of Earth Day and it is the catalyst for paradigm-shifting change because when individuals unite with a common purpose, they can overcome even the most entrenched systems and industries.”
Celebrating its 55th birthday this year, Earth Day is zooming in on renewable energy generation on 22nd April. And like every other responsible organisation, we’ve been considering how we’re doing and what our next steps should be to work more sustainably.
Measuring the impact of individual workstyles and lifestyles
As a Collective of freelancers, it’s a more complicated question for us than for many traditional businesses. The individuality and independence that we cherish amongst our members mean that we can’t impose an exhaustive corporate sustainability regime. We all work Differently, in different buildings and time zones, using different equipment, infrastructure and resources. For us, working more sustainably is intrinsically linked with living more sustainably, because we’re virtual by design and based in our own homes.
It’s also harder to benchmark our sustainability impact and measure our progress, relative to our size and turnover. We don’t have central premises. We only have one employee, and very few physical assets. Although there are many trusted and comprehensive sustainability benchmarking models out there, we haven’t yet found one that’s a meaningful fit for The Difference Collective.
So, what are we doing? We may operate Differently, but we have the same responsibility as every other organisation on the planet for sustainability and our clients rightly look for assurances that we are pulling our weight in this critical area. We hold ourselves accountable and we’re striving to find meaningful ways to make our commitment and actions clear.
A meaningful approach to sustainability progress
In consultation with our members, we’ve appointed and are funding a Collective Sustainability Lead who continually develops our approach and tracks our progress. We have agreed a sustainability policy that includes measurable goals and ways of working that contribute to them.
For our Collective, it’s not a question of enforcing corporate rules, it’s about giving our members information and practical solutions that help us all to measure and reduce our consumption and work more sustainably within our virtual model. Members sign up to a Sustainability Pledge and take personal responsibility for their actions when working on our projects. Our Sustainability Lead ensures that we never take our eye off the ball, sharing supplier recommendations, best practice in recycling and home office energy reduction, and ongoing training.
Inspired by our community of consultants and clients
We’re taking a broad approach, encouraging members to contribute to improving the environment in their local community. From community planting and litter picking to championing freelance sustainability and offering communications expertise to support local green initiatives, our members have a powerful sense of individual responsibility and the professional experience to make a tangible Difference. We share what we are doing and inspire each other to explore more opportunities in our own homes and communities.
Among most of our clients in the healthcare industry, we’re fortunate that there’s a strong sense of accountability and a drive to innovate and accelerate progress in sustainable manufacturing, distribution and working practices. Our virtual working model makes us an appealing partner, because our travel, consumption and infrastructure are minimal by design compared to many traditional organisations. We’re inspired by the impact and effort of our clients, both in established pharma organisations and agile start-ups – we’re always eager to learn from them.
Earth Day 2025: our clean energy pledge
We’re particularly inspired this Earth Day by the focus on the power of individual efforts that come together to create substantial impact. This concept is fundamental to the success and culture of our team in every aspect. In support of Earth Day 2025, we commit to measuring and reporting on our Collective progress as our members strive towards a goal of 100% clean energy.
Check our Sustainability web page to find out more about our actions, commitments and projects.
Visit the Earth Day website to find out more about Earth Day 2025 – Our Power, Our Planet™
About The Difference Collective
We build bespoke, full-service teams to meet your healthcare consultancy, content and communications needs, delivering exceptional results for our clients’ strategic priorities and projects. We work for the best and most ambitious organisations in pharma and healthcare. We’re Different from traditional healthcare communications agencies because we have more experience, we offer better value and – most importantly – we achieve exceptional results.
