Our Focus Areas
We work with organisations of all shapes and sizes to be more sustainable in everything they do - from their environmental footprint to people and resource management. Our clients include charities, businesses and local government.
What We Do
We help our clients to make changes, showcase their impact and pursue new opportunities.
People
Successful organisations know that people are their most valuable and precious resource. To be truly sustainable you need strong effective teams and robust systems which are also flexible enough to accommodate the demands of a changing world. We can draw on over 20 years of experience of organsational development and change management, bringing our best practice expertise and understanding to bear on each new project. So, whether its structure or systems, your team or your Board, we can help.
Planet
Sustainability in all its forms is at the heart of Achill Management’s approach. Whether you are at the beginning of your sustainability journey or have been working on your environmental impact for some time, we can help. Audits, toolkits, resources and consultancy are all part of our joined-up solution to helping people and organisations support our fragile world.
Profit
We know that good sustainability equals good business. We can help you develop an approach to running and managing your business that will not only cut your costs but generate income through enhanced engagement and productivity – while reducing your impact on the planet.
Equal Seats Equal Say
21st November 1918 was a historic day in Parliament as it saw the first female MP take her seat in the House of Commons – Lady Nancy Astor. Nancy Astor was not in fact the first MP to be elected, that milestone went to Constance Markievicz who as an Irish Republican followed the Sinn Féin policy of abstention and didn’t take her seat.
Exactly one hundred years later on Wednesday 21 November 2018 women made political history once again – as for the very first time the number of women in Parliament outnumbered the men
Deeds and Words – 100 years on and we have some way to go! Join us for a celebration of women’s voices marking the centenary of suffrage
2018 is a significant year of anniversaries for women in work and public life. In February we marked the centenary of the Representation of the People Act which gave a limited number of women the vote, followed by the passing of the Parliament Act on 21 November 1918 which allowed women to stand for election. Men still outnumber women in parliament by more than 2:1 and at the current rate of progress it will take 50 years to achieve parity in the Palace of Westminster. Clearly, we still have some way to go.
Plastic friend or foe
Hardly a day goes by without someone mentioning single use plastic – whether it’s a large corporate announcing they are single use bottles in the canteen, a major retailer axing take away coffee cups or a school declaring itself a plastic free site – the focus on single use plastic continues. Just type #single use plastic into twitter and you encounter a tsunami of tweets on the subject. So does this obsession with plastic herald a sea change in our attitude to waste and recycling or are we just sweating the small stuff and losing sight of the overall picture? If we can’t tackle the really big sources of waste in supply chains and packaging then worrying about straws down the pub is missing the point – or is it?
We would love to have a chat about how we can help you
The Achill Team
Amanda Carpenter
Amanda has had a lifelong passion for the planet having been an active member of conservation groups at school and University, she spent time as a volunteer at Friends of the Earth before moving into wider conservation fields and then back into sustainability with her consultancy Achill Management. For the last 25 years she has worked with organisations of all shapes and sizes across all sectors trying to help them be more sustainable operationally, financially, strategically and environmentally. Her commitment to her local community and the causes she cares about are evidenced by her non executive roles which include School Governor, Non-Exec on her local PCT, and trustee roles, the most recent as Chair of Board for Applause Rural Touring Kent. She is also active in women’s politics and an adviser to 50:50 the campaign for equal representation in Parliament.
She believes that a sustainable future will only be possible it we take a pragmatic approach to things and get everyone to take steps however small, everyday forever. While time is running out together we can make great changes happen: it is never too late. Amanda is married to Peter, who is a teacher and poet, and has two grown up daughters on whom she is relying to save the planet for the next generation.
Jim Haywood
Jim is an ex-Royal Navy nuclear submarine engineer with engineering and technology in his veins (as well as a touch of salt!). He also has many years’ experience in the private, public and charitable sectors leading environmental and sustainability programmes. His career has included blue chip multinational corporates, the Environment Agency and Business in the Community (leading that charity’s environmental campaign on behalf of HRH The Prince of Wales). Jim is now an independent sustainability consultant and works alongside Amanda as part of Achill Management. In other roles he chairs the certification Impartiality Committee for the Carbon Trust and sits on the sustainability audit committee for the Royal Warrants Association
As a keen bird watcher and artist, Jim is constantly bowled over by the beauty (and fragility) of the natural world and believes passionately that – appropriately applied – technology can play a significant role in protecting it for future generations.