SUSTAINABILITY DISCLOSURE (Adopted April 22, 2022)
North Coast Strategies is incorporated as an S. Corp. in Michigan. We are an independent consultancy with one employee/owner. While our goal is not to expand, our model is based on working collaboratively with others worldwide to help our clients meet their objectives and fulfill their purpose.
We are small and mighty, but we want to stay small.
With a home office (even before it was trendy and necessary) along America's North Coast, our impact is made worldwide, thanks to the global reach of the companies that trust us.
Today, we live in a volatile, uncertain, complex & ambiguous world (VULCA), and companies and their boards are under tremendous pressure to say and do the right thing. We help organizations, for-profit and non-profit, face pressure from their consumers, investors, suppliers, and other stakeholders to take a stand and communicate effectively and meaningfully with each stakeholder group.
Investors and consumers also are turning to the private sector to reduce the human impact on climate change and to support the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. As a signatory agency to the UN Global Compact, we center our practice around helping our clients achieve the SDGs — practicing what we preach under our current business model.
We also are involved members of the Carbon Capture Coalition (CCC) Communications Workgroup. The CCC is part of the by the Great Plains Institute. It is a nonpartisan collaboration of more than 100 companies, unions, conservation and environmental policy organizations, building federal policy support to enable economywide, commercial scale deployment of carbon management technologies. This includes carbon capture, removal, transport, utilization, and storage from industrial facilities, power plants, and ambient air.
Live What You Preach
As a home-based business, we have limited carbon emissions and are always asking how we can limit greenhouse gases (GHG) more. We have five focus areas for sustainability, each one linked to our purpose and mission.
We help you manage your reputation by bringing people together to start the conversation & solve real problems. We do this by developing strategic relationships & finding you a seat at the table. We believe that everyone deserves to have their voice heard, and we help them listen to you.
These areas include human rights, labor, the environment, governance, and anti-corruption.
More specifically,
Human Rights
Our purpose is to bring people together to start the conversation and solve problems. This includes supporting and respecting the protection of all human rights and ensuring that everyone has a voice.
As an independent consultancy, we continue to foster a culture and working environment with our clients that respect human rights. This includes creating a culture where people are treated with fairness, honor, courtesy, and respect. We do not tolerate harassment or unfair treatment, and we will speak out when we see injustice being done.
We also work closely with our clients to ensure they are protecting their team members from workplace harassment, including physical, verbal, sexual, or psychological harassment, abuse, or threats, and find a safe place to go if they feel threatened.
Labor
We bring people together to start the conversation and solve problems by finding a seat at the table and sharing stories. Our agency complies with minimum wage standards.
Everyone deserves a seat at the table, and everyone deserves to have their voice heard. That is what we have built our business around.
We also recognize our obligation to protect our most vulnerable people. That is why North Coast Strategies has committed to making sure our most vulnerable people have a voice and that changes in policies are made. This includes issues involving behavioral health, children's mental health, substance use disorders, the hungry, workforce development, and skill-building to help intellectually disabled individuals and others in underserved areas become more independent.
As an independent consultancy, we make a conscious effort to work with other independent agencies who share our values and ensure that employment-related decisions are based on relevant and objective criteria.
Environment
We actively seek opportunities to work with companies to promote more sustainable products and a more sustainable future.
As an independent consultancy, we also limit our impact on the climate and encourage others to follow our lead.
Anti-Corruption / Governance
We also work to educate individuals about the science-based targets, what it means to achieve net-zero, and better understand their overall impact on the environment throughout their entire supply chain.
We are all vulnerable, and sometimes people make mistakes or get caught off guard. We help lead people through very-difficult situations. We also help others mitigate the risks and take steps to ensure they are working against the corruption of all forms. Recognizing our vulnerabilities, we realize the value of trust and adhere to solid canons of ethics to guide our business and how we work with others.
Pioneers in Creating a Sustainable Practice
If we got any smaller, we would be out of business, but we must find ways to become sustainable with no intent on growing. In working with companies bigger than ours, we have been fortunate to learn from some of the best in the world who make sustainability their mission. This includes,
Sustainable Brands' goal is to inspire, engage, and equip business leaders and practitioners who see social and environmental challenges as an essential driver of brand innovation, value creation, and positive impact.
South Pole develops and implements comprehensive emission reduction projects and strategies that turn climate action into long-term business opportunities for companies, governments, and organizations worldwide.
LanzaTech, is a carbon capture technology company focused on creating a post-pollution future, transforming carbon emissions into everyday products.
LanzaJet, whose team is working to accelerate the global energy transition by using our leading process technology to make safe, sustainable fuels from waste a reality today.
Marquis Inc., a carbon management company with the largest biofuel plant in the U.S., focused on developing a net-zero operation.
Fermata Energy, a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technology company, focused on building a resilient electric grid and making EVs affordable for everyone.
Max Burgers, where we helped launch the world's first net-positive menu.
Services to Enhance Potential training for adults with developmental disabilities.
Fritz Enterprises, that takes cars, planes, and appliances at the end of their life, and recycles the ferrous and nonferrous metals for new purposes.
Every day we get to have the opportunity to share our client's journey of disrupting supply chains, shifting the way we think, and giving others around the world a different perspective on what is possible to live in a world free of pollution. Throughout that journey, we have the chance to with other global brands through our clients. This includes work with a few oil and gas companies, utilities, and well-known consumer brands, each dedicated to changing their industry.
In working with these trailblazers, I try to be an advocate for small businesses. As advocates, it is hard to convince small business owners to prioritize sustainability, and we continue to show them how by leading the way.
What gets measured gets done, maybe.
A challenge we face is how to measure our impact. It's easy when we can help our clients, and their success judges us. But how a home-based business defines success in our sustainable journey is a struggle we continue to fight through.
When it comes to staying healthy, our one employee works out regularly, competes in 5Ks, and this year is focused on gravel rides, playing more tennis, and trying pickleball with his spouse. The commute from the bedroom to the home office is eight feet, longer if he grabs a coffee before checking email.
The lights stay off to leverage natural light, and being on America's North Coast, it is easy to leave the windows open for cross breeze most of the year, even finding time to work outside. So, our carbon emissions are limited, and we want to keep it that way.
While our team of one is small, we must have policies in place, so our clients know where we stand, especially when we are showing them the way.
We support accelerating sustainable development with human rights. We stand for equality and strongly support participatory and inclusive societies that dismantle the structures of discrimination that drive poverty and inequality. (Human Rights)
We are committed to fostering, cultivating, and preserving diversity, equity, and inclusion culture. Our human capital is the most valuable asset we have. The collective sum of the individual differences, life experiences, knowledge, inventiveness, innovation, self-expression, unique capabilities, and talent that our employees invest in their work represents a significant part of our culture and our reputation and company's achievement. We embrace and encourage to learn about our differences in age, color, disability, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender identity or expression, language, national origin, physical and mental ability, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, veteran status, and other characteristics that make us unique. And we promise to respect one another for who they are or want to be, what they look like, who they love or for whatever they believe, and wherever they came from, and they should be able to express it. (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion; Rights of Women and girls; Indigenous people, refugees, and immigrants)
We expect the people we work with, but especially our own team member, to always do business ethically and follow the law, along with the values and behaviors we expect of one another. We have a zero-tolerance approach when it comes to bribery and corruption. We do not, and will not, pay bribes or offer improper inducements to anyone for any purpose. Nor do we, or will we, accept bribes or improper inducements or anything that could be perceived as such. We expect the same from our customers, business partners, and third parties we retain or perform services or deliver business on our behalf. Bribery and corruption are not accepted in any form. We also will work to assist our clients accused of such. (Corruption and Governance)
We believe in a work environment that promotes inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all. We will support initiatives that eliminate child labor (Labor Rights, Child, and Forced Labor)
We are committed to protecting the plant and delivering a positive environmental legacy for future generations as we operate and grow our business. We will reduce emissions, conserve water, reduce waste, build sustainably, and protect nature. (Environment).
Finally, we will continue to work to make this world a better place, starting in our community and staying involved and engaged in issues that matter.
We must work hard to make progress.
Nothing comes easy, or it shouldn't, and we have so much to learn. So, we spend a lot of time reading, listening, talking, and asking lots of questions. We learn by doing, and we are adept at adopting what has worked and being flexible to pivot when it doesn't. That is the beauty of working for yourself.
Risk, meet opportunity, look for Hope.
We constantly evaluate our risks and rewards upstream and downstream of our value chain. No matter where we turn, we see Opportunities – Either the luck of hitting the jackpot or learning from our mistakes. Either way, we are constantly learning and continually growing.
Regardless of where we are headed, we hope there is a chance we can work together. So when you are ready,
Let's Start the Conversation!