The Australian Supply Chain Sustainability School (the School) is celebrating its five-year anniversary and reflecting upon the industry and school’s trajectory.

 School CEO, Hayley Jarick says that “organisations are leading the charge to a more socially, environmentally and economically sustainable future in the ‘decade of change’. They know that the only way to make a difference is to act collectively and enable their partners to act."

 Sustainability knowledge has moved from being niche to an operational imperative and the School has come into its own and is well placed to meet growing industry demand.

 “There is a lot of opinion readily available and expert information is becoming harder and harder to decipher through the noise. The School cuts out the noise and provides our members a free learning platform about the topics that matter in our industry,” says Jarick. 

Since the School launched in 2015, it has grown steadily from just 8 founding Partners, 200 Members and 10 learning modules. Now, the School boasts 30 Partners, 1,684 Member companies, 2,698 registered users and there have been over 4,300 learning resource views.

 So, what is on the horizon for the sustainability industry and how will the School continue to adapt to the needs of the market?

 Jarick says that a lot of people in the sustainability field come from an environmental perspective with a tremendous ability to influence people with a like-minded desire to take care of the planet.

 “We are seeing a trend for broader social and economic sustainability to be incorporated into this mix which had brought with it challenges and benefits.”

  For instance, people are taking on board the intent of the Modern Slavery Act and changing their management approach of those who don’t initially comply with sustainability goals.

 Instead of blacklisting and avoiding non-complying companies, now the trend is to use your position of influence to work with others towards compliance.

 This is transformational for the industry and means that many in the industry will need to learn or refresh their emotional intelligence and conflict management skills.”

 Jarick states that “the School is constantly evolving to changes and future needs. We are evolving the types of resources we have, to cater for changes in how people want to learn.”

 “We are adding new resources every month and reviewing old resources to ensure our catalogue only contains the best resources. We are also looking to expand the School in new markets, so watch this space.”