Green Success Stories had a great conversation with Kirstin Skyrm, Sustainability Specialist at Preferred By Nature (PbN). We discussed her move from the financial sector to follow her passion for sustainability, and her ability to bring her analytical and quantitative skills to her work in mitigating deforestation and ecosystem conversion, and other green efforts. Kirstin described her work with PbN developing sustainability due diligence systems within company supply chains, as well PbN’s wide range of assurance, certification, advisory, capacity building, carbon footprint management and other initiatives. She invites readers to connect via LinkedIn and to learn more about PbN at http://www.preferredbynature.org.

Tell us a bit about your sustainability journey.

My background is a bit unique as I started my career in finance with no intention of ever working in a sustainability role. However, very quickly I realized that my interests, values, and more specifically, my growing list of must-listen-to podcasts and audiobooks were more closely aligned with a career in sustainability than one in finance.

After a lot of “research” and some soul-searching, I realized that I was quite drawn to this intersection between agriculture, climate, and supply chains. Ultimately, I decided to pursue a master’s degree in Agriculture, Food, and Environment at Tufts University. During this period as a graduate student, I had the opportunity to gain firsthand experience in many fascinating parts of our food system. I conducted research on local food hubs and regional food supply chains, worked as a Garden Educator on a rooftop farm, volunteered with a sustainable oyster farm, became certified in Sustainability and Climate Risk, and even worked on a small permaculture farm that raised sheep and dozens of varieties of perennial nuts and fruits. It was also at Tufts that I had the opportunity to collaborate with dozens of CPG companies, food manufacturers, and farmers all focused on food system sustainability, as part of Tufts’ Food & Nutrition Innovation Institute. This experience provided considerable insight into the challenges that companies face when implementing sustainable sourcing practices and informed the next steps in my sustainability journey.

When I eventually landed at Preferred by Nature, I knew I had found a place where I could combine my skills, knowledge, and experience to create real impact on climate change and environmental sustainability.

Tell us a bit about the product or solution you offer.

At Preferred by Nature (PbN), we have a range of sustainability offerings and are best known for our assurance/certification services, having conducted third-party audits for over 25 years across more than 20 schemes. We also provide sustainability advisory support, capacity building initiatives, carbon footprint services, and resources such as the Sustainability Framework, which is a universal set of sustainability principles that applies along supply chains and across all commodities and sectors.

My role within PbN’s Sustainability Advisory division focuses on helping both for-profit and non-profit organizations tackle sustainability challenges. We specialize in addressing deforestation and other sustainability risks linked to commodities such as soy, cattle, palm oil, cocoa, coffee, rubber, and timber. Our services include implementing robust sustainability due diligence systems, developing responsible sourcing policies and goals, supporting companies’ efforts in complying with sustainability-focused regulations, verifying and supporting carbon projects and SBTi goals, and providing training to companies and vendors on regulatory impacts and sustainability programs.

Additionally, we assist organizations in managing their carbon footprint through our Carbon Footprint Management Support and Verification Program, and we offer the Ecosystem Restoration Verification Program to evaluate and guide restoration efforts. We verify carbon projects under leading standards such as Verra, the Gold Standard and Plan Vivo, focusing on nature-based solutions to address climate and biodiversity issues.

Finally, through our capacity-building initiatives, we have trained thousands of delegates on topics like sustainable agriculture, forest management, timber legality, and carbon footprint management. These efforts not only empower businesses to make more informed decisions but also support broader goals of biodiversity conservation and climate action.

Share a green success story with us – how have you helped customers or other businesses in the fight against climate change?

Over the past year, much of my work has centered around developing sustainability due diligence systems within companies’ supply chains, which supports companies in identifying and mitigating risk of deforestation and ecosystem conversion in their agricultural and forestry products. This work has been driven in part by the EUDR, as well as other reporting regulations and voluntary sustainability commitments. Part of our system development advisory support includes providing tools, recommending changes to processes and policies, developing new processes and policies, and conducting trainings across supply chain constituents. The output of all of our work and advice will allow our clients to identify, assess, and mitigate or completely avoid potential risks of deforestation and illegal production practices in their supply chains, with a goal of reducing emissions driven by deforestation and ecosystem conversion.

What would you do with $1 billion dollars?

I would invest in the technology needed to better measure and account for ecosystem services. We derive so much value from the natural environment, and often those resources or costs to the environment are unaccounted for. Maybe it should come as no surprise, but as a former financial professional, I believe that if we were able to quantify more of the value we obtain from natural resources (e.g., carbon cycles, pollination, water cycles, nutrient cycling) and the costs that we impose on nature (e.g., resource extraction, habitat degradation, pollution), we might be able to better encourage or discourage certain behaviors at a system level. Of course, such a solution would be imperfect as there is no way to quantify every value that nature provides, but $1Bn could certainly help get us started and bring awareness to the benefits of supporting healthy, diverse ecosystems.

How should readers get in touch with you and/or your organization?

Feel free to get in touch with me over LinkedIn – I am always happy to chat!

For more information about our advisory services, assurance/certification services, and donor-funded projects, visit our website at http://www.preferredbynature.org. We are also active on most social media channels and would love to connect with you there as well. Follow us to stay updated and engage with our latest initiatives.

Kudos

Many thanks to Kirstin Skyrm and Preferred by Nature.

Green Success Stories is happy to support and highlight your efforts! We invite you the reader to do the same.

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