Prophet Impact: Earth Month Recap

Embarking on Prophet’s Sustainability Journey

In 2020, Prophet embarked on a sustainability journey to assess our climate choices and identify steps we can take towards a greener future. We partnered with South Pole to understand our current environmental impacts, see how we stack up against peers and identify potential areas for improvement. Over the last year, we have gone through piles of data and reports from our enterprise-wide audit across global offices to understand Prophet’s carbon emissions and climate change risks.

SBT’s. GHG. CO2te. Net-Zero. Scopes 1-3. What does this all mean? How does a circular design affect the way we look at our economy? How do we interpret the results of our GHG emission report to guide climate actions? How do we inspire our people to act and have a tangible impact on our clients and in our communities? These are just some of the questions we’ve been asking since we began our sustainability journey and Earth Month presented an opportunity to pose these questions to our larger community at Prophet. We knew it was critical to engage Propheteers to share Prophet’s progress in our sustainability journey and be a part of the conversation.

Earth Month Recap

One day is simply not enough to immerse in conservation and celebrate this beautiful planet we call home. So, with Earth Day on April 22nd, the Prophet Impact Sustainability Team took Propheteers on a month-long sustainability journey. This April, we spotlighted Mother Earth through a variety of programming to spark learning, conversation and action around sustainability across the firm.

Our first event was an inspiring start to Earth Month and exposed Propheteers to the different actors that are working together to slow down the negative impacts of climate change. Special guest panelists, Marc O’Brien, Co-founder of Climate Designers, Rosalia Lugo, Environmental Health Activist, Austin Whitman, Founder and CEO of Climate Neutral, and our very own Tosson El Noshokaty, Founding Partner and Advisor for Good Carbon and Oceans2050, shared their perspectives on the climate crisis and how they are leading a more sustainable future across sectors.

Our second educational event was all about circular design. Propheteers learned about shifting to a circular economy and key design principles to create more sustainable products, services and solutions. Propheteers had a chance to break out into small groups and ideate around a real-life design challenge to apply these circular design principles and learn how these concepts might play into our lives and work at Prophet. We also shared some of the client stories that put sustainability at the center: from working with a nonprofit to protect biodiversity in Vietnam, to partnering with a high growth organization focused on building a sustainable and productive food system, to envisioning a fast-food brand’s future kitchen where material and energy waste is designed out.

Our final event looked internally and provided Propheteers with an overview of our sustainability journey from the South Pole team. Propheteers gained insight into key climate terms like Scope 1-2-3 emissions, carbon credits, and net-zero. In addition to sharing Prophet’s GHG footprint from 2019 and 2020, we also began to explore what actions we might take to start reducing our carbon footprint such as setting a science-based target, leveraging renewable energy, and investing in climate credits.

“We know that our own sustainability journey can always be enhanced and Prophet and our clients can continue to do better for our planet.”

Alongside these educational events, we held an Earth Day Every Day photo challenge, where Propheteers were invited to submit photos in three categories: #Act Now, #Natural Beauty and #Nature Selfie. From photos of a glacier park in Iceland to the mighty Iguazu Falls, Propheteers captured the scenic wonders of our Planet. There were also photos of trash piling up in Hawai’i and an overflowing makeshift trash can that highlighted the urgent need to take action now to build a greener future together. Propheteers across the firm also gathered with their local office teammates in person and virtually to celebrate Earth Day. There was fun to be had- from panting succulents to enjoying a plant-based meal together, to participating in a sustainability-themed trivia.

Prophet’s Next Steps

So where are going from here?

At the individual level, we hope that Earth Month inspired Propheteers around what it means to live more sustainably. Many have committed to making more sustainable choices daily and volunteering their time to participate in sustainability-focused activities during our upcoming Prophet Impact Day.

At the firm level, Prophet will be continuing to partner with South Pole to declare a greenhouse gas reduction goal (e.g., Net Zero), and subsequently develop sustainability strategies and a roadmap to reduce our carbon footprint. On the client-side, Prophet has dedicated resources to building a suite of ESG offers to help business leaders apply a systems thinking mindset that involves the planet and elevates sustainability in their organizations. ESG efforts will be critical to making sustainability more “real” across the business world.

Finally, at the global level, we will continue to spotlight and drive action for more sustainable practices, both within our firm, to our clients and to our networks. We know that our own sustainability journey can always be enhanced and Prophet and our clients can continue to do better for our planet.