Capgemini Invent sustainability solutions, changing how we do what we do

Aiman Ezzat, Chief Executive Officer at Capgemini, has made sustainability a priority, with a target to help our clients save 10m tons of Co₂e by 2030.

In the UK, the Sustainability Solutions team are a growing, dedicated community of 18 expert practitioners and specialists who collaborate across our business to bring the best of Capgemini to our clients so that they can align sustainable development and their strategies to transition our economy.

The team have learned from decades of experience that there is only one way to make a business truly sustainable and that is by embedding it into how you do what you do. So, our vision is to provide clients with ‘sustainable by default’ consulting solutions. We want every client project or challenge to have sustainability built into our delivery, and our services, making it the default approach.

We believe that complex, systems issues, like sustainable development, require expertise. To live our vision, we have committed to educating colleagues from across our Invent business; giving them knowledge on critical topics, membership to our Sustainability Champions Network and ongoing support to work side by side with our expert practitioners and specialists so that they can continue to learn by doing.

In 2021, we partnered with the University of Exeter and its internationally renowned climate scientists and sustainability experts to create a bespoke programme for our consulting organisation, the ‘Capgemini Invent Sustainability Solutions Leadership Development Programme’.

The aim of the programme is to provide education that instils confidence and creates a foundation to build on that will bring value to our clients and our developing solutions. The first co-hort saw colleagues from all grades, including our UK Invent CEO, Christian Kroll, and business practices, benefit from an intense 8-week programme, consisting of in-person lectures and applied workshops, led by teaching faculty from the University.

Alongside our Sustainability Solutions team, our wider Invent UK sustainability community is now growing exponentially. We are preparing to scale the programme to educate an additional 500 colleagues in our Northern European countries (UK, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, and the Netherlands).

“The Capgemini Invent Sustainability Solutions Leadership Development Programme so far has been a great opportunity to dive back into face-to-face learning, learn from top- notch professors who have a lot of weight in the game, and collaborate with peers on a specific sustainability related problem. The content itself has been fascinating. Some of it lends to the science elements of sustainability whilst other parts have helped me to start thinking about how to bring these points across to client work.” – Leyla Delcorde, frog Managing Consultant

“We are thrilled to partner with the University of Exeter. The ability to co-create the curriculum, leveraging the University’s scientists and our practitioners has allowed us to develop a Capgemini- specific programme to meet the needs of our clients. We are looking forward to scaling our impact and living our ambition to offer ‘sustainable by default’ services.” – Courtney Holm, VP Sustainability Solutions

“It’s critical that business leaders everywhere have the skills to execute net zero strategies and for me, it’s key that our teams in Capgemini Invent have the knowledge to support our clients on this crucial topic.

From my own experience of going through this programme, I can say how much of an impact it makes in building the skills needed to show leadership on Sustainability, and to make a difference to our clients and our planet.” – Christian Kroll, CEO, Capgemini Invent UK

“It was great to work with Capgemini Invent in delivering the Sustainability Solutions Leadership Development Programme. Faced with a climate and ecological emergency, we all need to challenge our thinking and action – but it is easy to feel paralysed by the complexity of the situation. I welcomed the team’s enthusiasm to engage with systems thinking to identify positive tipping points towards sustainable solutions. And I am excited by the opportunity they have, coming out of the programme, to be more empowered to create positive change.” – Tim Lenton, Director, Global Systems Institute and Chair in Climate Change and Earth System Science at the University of Exeter

Courtney Holm

Sustainability Solutions at Capgemini Invent UK

Courtney Holm has worked in sustainability for 21 years with experience across all aspects of sustainable development and leads the drive to build sustainability solutions as a strategic capability for Capgemini Invent UK.