Nicole Sullivan has many career highlights — from managing the Green Star Solutions team for the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA), to leading the publication of the first Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) registered in Australia under the EPD Australasia Programme. Nicole has built a relationship with thinkstep-anz stretching over almost a decade. While she was Technical Manager of Sustainability for BlueScope, Nicole worked with us on a life cycle approach to sustainability and product sustainability.
Now having moved into sustainability consulting with thinkstep-anz, Nicole talks about the importance of sustainability strategy and why it is a central focus in her new role as thinkstep-anz’s Head of Strategy and Impact Australia. She also shares her pivotal role in bringing industry-leading initiatives to the forefront of the manufacturing and construction sectors during her time at BlueScope and GBCA.
When did you realise sustainability was something you wanted to follow as a career?
I’m not a tree-hugging greenie — I’m a pragmatist and can see the science. Years ago, when I was still a graduate engineer, I managed the health of a drain. Within six months, I watched it improve from being barren to having little frogs, crabs, and fish living in it. I felt like I achieved something. That was one of the early indicators that sustainability is something that really matters to me. My interest only grew as I got more and more involved in environmental management.
What was it like working in sustainability roles at BlueScope?
At one time I was responsible for the environmental management of the biggest project at BlueScope in many years. There were over 1000 people onsite every day, and most of the time I was the only woman there in a hardhat. It was very fulfilling to be part of such a huge and successful effort.
Half of my most recent role at BlueScope was doing Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) and deeply technical work. The other half was the translation side of things — working out how to communicate our findings. We published a set of EPDs that were the first of their kind in Australasia (pictured below). The wider industry can draw on them as a model for good communication.
How have you combined both your technical and translator roles?
We can do LCAs till the cows come home — produce all these numbers and significant figures, but they mean nothing unless you give them context and meaning. So I took all my manufacturing, engineering, and environmental knowledge into a marketing direction to then be able to communicate the sustainability attributes of the products.
I take great pride in communicating environmental information effectively. The skill is doing that in a simple way — good communication doesn’t use big words to show how much we know! I love to see the ‘lights go on’ as people understand technical concepts for the first time.
Based on your experience of over two decades working for industry, what are some of the challenges facing manufacturers?
I think both the challenge and opportunity with the sustainability of supply chains is that manufacturers are crying out for consultants who really understand industry from the inside, who have genuine manufacturing expertise, and have experience with challenges in the market. My background in process engineering, and insights from developing strategies to support products in the sustainability market enables me to support manufacturers in this area. I’ve found that supply chain companies really appreciate consultants who understand their frustrations and their unique circumstances.
What did you discover at GBCA about understanding and helping clients?
I come to thinkstep-anz from the GBCA where I was responsible for running the Green Star certification scheme for four years. We found that it comes down to a single-minded focus on looking after your stakeholders and understanding their needs. We understood that in the building industry, turnaround times on construction projects are really short — we needed to be quicker to meet their needs better.
Likewise, building products are in a highly competitive environment where they need to see business value in sustainability. I like to create links between economics, environmental, and social sustainability — the nexus of all three is (by definition) the heart of sustainability. We need to make sure we apply commercial good sense to everything!
How does your experience at GBCA contribute to your new role at thinkstep-anz?
To create a more sustainable built environment, we need everyone to be able to understand Green Star and how to achieve a better standard of buildings. The GBCA has created the Responsible Products Framework to shine a light on the sustainability trends that are picking up pace. I love helping product manufacturers and suppliers get ready for the trends the GBCA has highlighted.
Coming into the consulting field with thinkstep-anz makes me available to work with companies on how to actually do Green Star and put together a Green Star strategy. I’m not looking to do the nuts and bolts of Green Star projects; I’m passionate about being an enabler of others to carry out Green Star projects well.
What can we look forward to seeing from you as Head of Strategy and Impact Australia?
My focus is simple. I want to help companies develop their sustainability strategy and outcomes so that they achieve good commercial results. We need to look at managing and reducing our impacts, and to start doing ‘more good’ rather than simply ‘less bad’, as the co-founder of Cradle to Cradle, Michael Braungart says. We live in a world where companies need to interact successfully with their markets. I love to help communicate stories in a way that is technically accurate and that resonates with what the market is looking for.
I’m already helping numerous organisations with many diverse projects, including:
- creating sustainability strategies
- increasing uptake of responsible procurement
- forming Green Star strategies
- running industry workshops
- deep diving into circular economy
- improving sustainability of manufacturing
- presenting at board level on the trends driving building products forward.
There is so much good to be done, and so many enabling tools in our kit bag. I love having conversations about how to make it all happen!
You have succeeded in enabling others to succeed sustainably in your career; whether it be as a technical guru or as a translator. How are you feeling about adding consultancy to the list?
My passion is to inspire, empower, and enable industry to succeed sustainably. Working as a consultant is my opportunity to make myself available to assist companies to understand and develop their sustainability pathway.
For some companies, they’ve been on quite a long sustainability journey and their next step is quite lofty. For others, their next step might be their first step and there’s a whole spectrum in between. This is something I’m keenly focused on — understanding their particular challenges and working with them to evolve to the next step, wherever that is.
Nicole brings her extensive experience in manufacturing, green buildings, and marketing to thinkstep-anz in her role as Head of Strategy and Impact in Australia.
February 2021