IEMA’s Diverse Sustainability Initiative (DSI) was launched in March 2021 and now has 44 partners – and new ones are coming onboard each week. These organisations have made a public commitment to improving diversity, which can be seen on the DSI website (diversesustainability.net).
The IEMA team has been working hard to build this collaboration since March, and is ready to act. At a June meeting of the CEOs of our partners, we discussed current progress and next steps. The majority of CEOs have added diversity to their internal risk registers and are now looking at how to make their board members more representative. Some partners are working on insight-gathering projects to inform new strategies.
The DSI is now looking at how it is governed, to ensure that the voices, challenges and concerns of under-represented groups are brought forward and acted on by the CEOs of involved partners. This has led to a project to put the right structures in place, as well as the development of a Professionals Network for People of Colour. IEMA CEO Sarah Mukherjee will launch the network and invite all members who identify as being part of a minority ethnic group to sign up. It will be open to professionals working in all 44 partner organisations and will seek to bring forward experiences and challenge partners on progress.
Given the success in signing up so many partners, we are recruiting a full-time member of staff to oversee its activity. The DSI is still in its early stages, and we have a long way to go, but conversations are going in the right direction and steps are being taken to transform diversity within our profession.
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