As we approach the end of 2024, it’s the perfect time to reflect on a year full of achievements, growth, and learning at Genee. While we try to be a forward focused business, we believe it’s equally valuable to pause and consider the lessons learned from our ongoing and completed projects, looking to make things better, and help more people. This year, our primary goals were to expand our team, help more organisations achieve Investors in the Environment (iiE) accreditation (including achieving this ourselves), and secure B Corp certification. Here’s how our year unfolded…
In January, to accommodate for growth in North East Investors in the Environment (iiE) clients and service other projects such as the North East Recycling Forum, we grew our team by making Ellen, at the time a part-time employee, full-time. In the same month, Genee undertook our own Investors in the Environment audit with the national iiE team, achieving Bronze level accreditation. In 2025, we’re going for green! It’s so important for us to ‘walk the talk’, but also lead by example, showing and doing rather than just talking.
In March we became delivery partners on a Business Durham initiative, Enterprising Durham. This is a 12-month programme offering environmental support for start-up organisations in County Durham, providing one-to-one support, training webinars covering the basics of environmental management and sustainability and supporting organisations through the iiE programme to achieve accreditation. We were fascinated to see how we could deliver iiE to brand new businesses and showcase how to be sustainable from the offset. We used our own SME experiences to overcome challenges startups can face and demonstrate how we can develop businesses with the environment in mind. There is an increasingly pressing need to embed sustainability to meet stakeholder demands, but start-ups are entering a competitive market in tough economic conditions, often without sustainability knowledge or capacity. Genee wanted to support start-ups with their environmental management from the get-go, providing funded support to set them up with robust systems which support their growth. You can read more in our press release.
On entering the summer months and having been working on our B Corp application for the best part of 12 months, we were notified in June that we had officially become B Corp certified! We were elated to have been recognised as an organisation with high standards of business, placing social and environmental impact at the forefront. We joined 30 like-minded businesses in the North East, and nearly 3000 across the U.K. We used our Investors in the Environment accreditation to demonstrate our environmental commitments and look forward to working with other organisations wanting to achieve B Corp. It was a huge undertaking for an organisation of our size, so we are particularly proud to be a member of that club.
We continued to support our existing iiE clients through their iiE audit and accreditation throughout August and September, and expanded our offering into the North West, becoming both the North East and North West hub for Investors in the Environment. This began by taking Manchester Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust through their iiE audit, to award them with Green accreditation.
In October, Genee saw the end of the pilot of Going Green Together, a programme of environmental support for the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector across the North East and Cumbria. The first cohort of organisations began their sustainability journey with Going Green Together in October 2022, and by October 2024, 97 organisations had been taken through the programme and benefitted from 12 months of environmental consultancy and training; access to Investors in the Environment resources and accreditation; the SmartCarbon reporting platform; and a network of likeminded organisations. Through the success of this pilot, VONNE have secured an additional 3 years of funding, to deliver environmental support to a further 60 VCSE organisations across the North East and support more organisations to embed sustainability within their organisations and achieve iiE accreditation. It’s been one of our greatest joys working with the VCSE sector, a hugely rewarding experience and we have been so pleased that so many of the organisations aw the value in iiE and continued their accreditations after the funding came to an end. The value these organisations provide to our communities is unquestionable and helping them develop environmental management systems that not only improve their bottom line, but secure further funding has been a highlight for Genee.
In the final quarter of 2024, Genee had the privilege of organising the 35th Anniversary Annual Conference for the North East Recycling Forum (NERF). Genee is the secretariat for NERF, organising quarterly meetings for the NERF network, and facilitating the dissemination of information to the NERF network. Reaching 35 years of activity in the sector is a huge achievement for a non-profit forum, and it continues to be a vital resource for the waste and recycling sector. By inviting expert speakers to cover the current and big issues, and inviting thoughtful discussion, the NERF acts as a useful source of information and networking within the North East and beyond, with many attendees travelling from other areas of the country to benefit from this knowledge-sharing. Moving forward into 2025, NERF want to celebrate the region and its network further, by introducing the NERF Annual Awards. This will be an annual celebration of the successes in the sector, and the organisations driving innovation and progress forward, and we're looking forward to facilitating the awards at the Annual Conference.
Genee attended the Annual Investors in the Environment Awards, which for the first time since covid took place in person in Peterborough. The awards brought together both iiE and non-iiE members to attend workshops on key aspects of sustainability as well as celebrating iiE members successes by presenting awards relating to transport, social impact, and waste reduction, among others. Genee was delighted to have 6 of their Northern members be recognised for their work and come away with awards from across the categories. We could not have been more pleased to have so many members travel to the awards and share such an inspiring day with us, but to take so many of the awards home with them was the icing on the very large cake!
Genee has continued facilitating the Waste and Resources and Land Use planning groups for Net Zero North East. Over the course of 2024, a need emerged out of the Waste and Resources Planning Group to inform organisations of upcoming changes to waste management legislation, in the form of Simpler Recycling regulations which come into effect in March 2025. In November, Genee officially launched the partnership campaign Waste Aware North East, alongside Net Zero North East and North East Recycling Forum, to engage businesses in the upcoming Simpler Recycling legislation, starting with a webinar in December with representatives from DEFRA and WRAP. To help prepare organisations for the upcoming changes to legislation, they have also developed a toolkit and assets which you can access via the webpage.
To increase capacity to support their growing North East, and now North West iiE membership, as well as other projects delivered by Genee, environmental consultant Anne Marie Soulsby was welcomed to the team in December.
Managing Director of Genee, Jo Holmes, reflected on 2024
“At Genee, we’re really passionate about flying the flag for small businesses, walking our talk and demonstrating the impact that small businesses can have on both the economy and the climate! That’s why we pursued our B Corp certification, and Investors in the Environment accreditation. This motivation ripples through all of our work, and we want to support organisations of all shapes and sizes to tackle their environmental impact in an accessible way, empowering businesses to become future proof. We were so pleased to be able grow an exceptional team this year, increasing our capacity for existing and new clients, and are looking forward to bringing this energy into 2025.”
As we step into 2025, we’re excited to build on the successes and experience of this year. From new initiatives to deepening our partnerships, Genee remains committed to driving sustainability forward and supporting organisations on their environmental journeys. We’re grateful for the opportunities and collaborations that made 2024 such a remarkable year, and we can’t wait to see what lies ahead.
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