ESG policy

So LMC is determined to play its part, working with others, to achieve transformational change.

ESG stands for Environmental, Social and Governance and includes:

• Environmental – our carbon footprint and impact on nature
• Social – our relationships, people, policies and community connections
• Governance – our decision-making, compliance commitments and financial management
  

Our B Corp ambitions

We know that, as communicators and marketers, we have a powerful and influential role in achieving long-term wellbeing for all. Over-consumption and associated environmental damage grew as a direct result of marketing and communications – now we must be part of the solution to help us live better with less.

So we fundamentally believe the impact we have on people and planet is just as important as our business and financial performance. We have growth ambitions, but not at the expense of sustainability or Net Zero.

We exist to create positive impact for the benefit of all. Indeed, this is embedded into our company’s legal Articles of Association, lodged at Companies House. We have made the legal commitment to “promote the success of the Company for the benefit of its members as a whole and, through its business and operations, to have a material positive impact on society and the environment, taken as a whole.” This acts as a public commitment to our values as a company and is an essential part of demonstrating our desire to become a B Corp certified company by 2025.

The process of B Corp certification will measure and improve our entire social and environmental performance. From supply chain and input materials to charitable giving and employee benefits, B Corp certification verifies that a business is meeting high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability.

ESG aims

At LMC, we have made a commitment to:

• Set relevant ESG objectives for the things we can influence (under three headings: Planet, People and PR)
• Achieve a positive impact as a business and individually
• Try to measure and report on that impact.

It’s a constant challenge to refine and improve these objectives and the quantitative and qualitative metrics to measure our impacts (outputs and outcomes), and we are learning all the time.

But for now, here are our top level aims, linked to the UN Sustainable Development Goals:

PLANET:

• Maintaining our commitment to the SME Climate Hub (and UN Race to Zero campaign), with goals to cut our greenhouse gas emissions (Scope 1, 2 and 3) by at least 50% by 2030, from our 2020/21 year base, and a promise to disclose our progress every year.
• Committing to Science Based Targets to measure, manage and reduce our carbon footprint.
• Progressing through a certified and third-party audited programme to help us implement our Net Zero plan and annual carbon budgets.
• Launching new services that support carbon reduction for clients.
• Promoting continued training, incentives and initiatives for all staff to reduce carbon and increase circularity at work and at home.
• Supporting local environmental, biodiversity and social value projects.
• Improving how we spend our own money, prioritising local suppliers with a commitment to improving their own sustainability and EDI impact.
• Promoting new initiatives to reduce consumption, reuse and recycle more within LMC.

PEOPLE:

• Promoting careers in PR and communications via the IBP Internship Scheme and attracting more applicants from under-represented groups.
• Keeping LMC ahead of industry averages on diversity, achieving equal pay across gender and ethnicity, and embedding a highly inclusive culture.
• Encouraging all LMC people to achieve personal development and growth, and ultimately mastery and expert status in the areas that interest them most.
• Achieving professional chartered status for all consultants.
• All senior consultants giving back to the sectors we serve, while gaining experience from mentoring or a non-executive or voluntary role that provides board-level experience.
• Achieving Investors in People certification.

PR:

(Our work for clients, including strategic counsel and all aspects of our digital, external and internal communications and stakeholder engagement work

• Gaining more client projects that provide legacy opportunity and fit with our purpose, vision and values.
• Maintaining our commitment to Clean Creatives, refusing work from any fossil fuel company or trade body that represents those interests (which, in our sector, could include promoting gas and oil heating systems, or promoting building products failing to reduce their embodied carbon, for example).
• Keeping a balanced spread of clients focused on the biggest areas of change in construction, property and the built environment, including energy efficiency and net zero, biodiversity, diversity and inclusion, skills, mental health, social value, digitalisation, building safety etc.
• Having clear purpose statements, carbon budgets and measurable impact objectives for our client work.
• Increasing the visibility, reach and impact of our client work each year, working with increasingly influential media and advocates.
• Facilitating important introductions and inclusive collaborations for clients, and winning awards for these change initiatives.
• Improving the diversity of spokespeople (supporting the BBC’s 50:50 campaign).
• Reducing the carbon impact of all websites, digital marketing and content for clients.

Other activities

LMC aligns its charitable donations with the UN SDGs above, particularly focusing on local charities and community initiatives, or sponsoring individual fund-raising activities. We also commit our support to clients’ own charitable activities – for example, we offer our time and energies for volunteering days to help them achieve their charitable goals.

Staff benefits also include many environmentally focused benefits such as:

• Green travel loans
• Electric car salary sacrifice scheme
• Free electric car charging
• Climate Perks ‘green travel’ incentive
• Home loft insulation
• Greener living workshop
• Free real Christmas tree loan scheme
• WFH space consultation