18% of Sustainability Consulting Firms Offer Peer Networking Services

We're continuing our journey through 13 different services offered by sustainability consultants, and today we're focusing on the #11 most popular type of offering:

11. Peer Networking (18.0%)

Leveraging a network of experts to your client’s advantage.

Why network? By building strong connections with your peers you gain access to some of the top minds working in sustainability today. You will also get the opportunity to work in groups with expert panels and use large organizations for research and support that a future client may need. But finding a group of like-minded peers that you can trust and collaborate with can be tricky, which is why some sustainability consultancies offer this service. Check out the examples below for more insight into how it works.

Common Jargon and Terminology: Working Groups, Research Networks, Consulting Partnerships, Green Roundtable, etc.

Where You’ve Seen It: Viridis Strategy Group offers Working Groups which, “bring together top-level executives with sustainability responsibilities to exchange views, compare experiences, share perspectives, and work together to advance thinking about sustainability management.” Five Winds offers a Product Sustainability Roundtable (PSRT) that is comprised of a membership coalition of corporate leaders from diverse industry sectors that share an interest in advancing sustainable product design and development.” Planet Positive has member companies and SustainAbility offers exclusive member programs, both of which allow access to top minds in the industry.

See the other types of sustainability consulting we've already covered:

• #1: Strategic Planning and Implementation
• #2: Training/Education
• #3: Marketing/Communication
• #4: Sustainability Reporting
• #5: Stakeholder Engagement
• #6: Benchmarking and Competitive Analysis
• #7: Built Environment Consulting
• #8: Energy Auditing and Operational Efficiency​
• #9: Carbon and Renewable Energy​
• #10: Product and Value Chain​

Check out our past blogs to follow the “State of the Sustainability Consulting Industry” series:

• What Sustainability Consulting Is (and Isn’t),
• Types of Sustainability Consulting Organizations,
• By the Numbers: U.S. Sustainability Consulting Market,
• and State of the Sustainability Consulting Industry to learn more about the background for these findings.

If you are a new or aspiring sustainability consultant and would like to take your practice to the next level, check out the 2013 Consultant Cohort: a 6-month intensive program hosted by the International Society of Sustainability Professionals (ISSP) and led by SSC President Jennifer Woofter.