Sustainability LIVE: Climate Week – Kevin Dunckley's Keynote

November 07, 2024

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Building a sustainable future through innovation and storytelling with HH Global’s Kevin Dunckley at Sustainability LIVE: Climate Week NYC

Kevin Dunckley, Chief Sustainability Officer at HH Global, delivered a compelling keynote on the blueprint for creating sustainable impact through innovative marketing, collaboration and storytelling.

Addressing an audience of industry leaders and sustainability professionals at Sustainability LIVE: Climate Week NYC, Kevin outlined a practical approach to advancing sustainability objectives at scale, sharing insights from his experience working with some of the world’s leading brands.

Kevin Dunckley, Chief Sustainability Officer at HH Global

Connecting for meaningful change

Kevin opens by discussing the importance of connection as the foundation for collaboration.

“Before collaboration, you have to connect,” he notes, encouraging sustainability professionals to actively seek partnerships and engage with stakeholders across various sectors.

He stresses that building a network is critical, particularly for sustainability leaders, who often encounter complex challenges and limited resources.

In his work at HH Global, Kevin has developed a sustainable procurement framework with input from a diverse advisory board including clients like Adidas and Coca-Cola, as well as global supply chain partners from multiple continents.

These collaborations have enabled HH Global to drive impactful change by aligning with client sustainability goals, from reducing carbon footprints in packaging to implementing eco-friendly in-store environments.

Kevin highlights the value of uncommon partners — NGOs, tech Start-Ups, and academic institutions — that bring fresh perspectives and insights.

He explains that HH Global’s ‘Conscious Creative’ initiative, for example, was developed with input from circular economy experts who guided designing sustainable products from concept to execution.

Leveraging technology and data for sustainability

With sustainability increasingly becoming data-driven, Kevin points out the power of technology to provide insights and enable businesses to measure and reduce their environmental impact.

HH Global’s sustainable supply chain programme, for instance, relies on data analytics and technology to track the carbon footprint of materials used in marketing campaigns, allowing clients to make informed decisions about reducing their environmental impact.

Kevin shares that when HH Global began measuring carbon footprints for client projects in 2013, the company used a basic Excel-based calculator, which served as a starting point to initiate sustainability conversations.

“We’d go to clients and show them the carbon footprint for Q1, and even if they hadn’t asked for it, it sparked a conversation,” he says.

Over time, these conversations evolved into partnerships, as clients began seeing the value in reducing carbon-intensive materials, waste, and packaging.

Today, HH Global’s approach is more sophisticated, using technology to visualise data and present sustainability metrics in ways that are easy to understand.

This data-driven approach enables HH Global to transition from a supplier to a partner, offering clients valuable insights that drive their sustainability agendas forward.

Kevin Dunckley, Chief Sustainability Officer at HH Global

The power of storytelling in sustainability

Kevin emphasises that effective storytelling is crucial to making sustainability relatable and engaging.

“When you’re talking about sustainability, if you can’t explain it to someone in a bar in 60 seconds, it’s too complicated,” he states, adding that sustainability professionals need to shift away from jargon and complex data to more accessible narratives.

HH Global’s internal ‘Our Earth’ campaign is a prime example of storytelling in action.

Partnering with King’s College London, HH Global created a campaign that allowed employees across 64 countries to participate in selecting nature-based projects to support, such as marine conservation and forestry initiatives.

The campaign engaged nearly every employee, turning them into active participants in the company’s sustainability journey.

Kevin underscores the importance of marketing and creative teams in crafting these narratives, noting that sustainability messaging must appeal to both the left and right brain.

Drawing from the magic and logic framework, he explains that sustainability communications should be grounded in data (logic) but also touch people emotionally (magic). This balanced approach, he said, avoids greenwashing and ensures that the message resonates authentically.

Kevin Dunckley, Chief Sustainability Officer at HH Global

Integrating sustainability into business strategy

In closing, Kevin discusses the importance of embedding sustainability into every function of the business, a concept inspired by Microsoft’s mantra, ‘It’s everyone’s job’.

This requires breaking down silos and engaging departments from legal to finance, showing each team how their work can support the company’s sustainability objectives.

HH Global’s approach includes creating ‘sleeper cells’ within different departments—individuals passionate about sustainability who advocate for change within their functions.

From embedding sustainability clauses in legal contracts to supporting the finance team with carbon accounting, each department is encouraged to contribute to the sustainability mission.

By equipping each team with specific actions and metrics, Kevin aims to make sustainability "just the way the business operates".