The PRIME Principles

PRIME Principles for environmentally-sustainable and responsible business.

#1 | BEING ENVIRONMENTALLY BETTER

Responsible Consumption

Only buying what your organisation actually needs; opting for reduced packaging and eliminating wastage.

Waste Reduction / Recycling

Reducing waste sent to landfill, reusing and recycling materials and packaging wherever possible.

#2 | EMBRACING SUSTAINABLE INNOVATION

Sustainable Sourcing

Choosing what you buy, and where you buy it from; preferring sustainable alternatives (like renewable energy) and locally-sourced produce.

Welcoming Change

Recognising that the ‘old ways’ aren’t always the best and striving to embrace modern and efficient ways and means.

#3 | SPREADING THE WORD

Promoting Change

Both inside your organisation, and beyond. Recognising that, together, we can all achieve so much more.

Working Together

Creating a culture of sustainable practice within your organisation and sharing best practices and collaborating outside of it.

#4 | DELIVERING IMPACT

Leading by Example

By this, we mean ‘walking the walk’. Looking beyond your organisation, leading from the front and celebrating others’ successes.

Striving for More

Looking beyond your immediate intents and results to effect a sustainable and longer-term impact through your organisation.

#5 | MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Championing & Valuing Diversity

Building a culture of equal treatment, diverse and varied perspectives and, most importantly, equal opportunity for all within your organisation and your sector.

Supporting Charities & Local Communities

Delivering a local impact through your organisation’s initiatives, donations and operations.

Acting Ethically and with Integrity

Competing fairly, marketing honestly and paying your supply chain promptly. We can all make a bigger difference from a level playing field.

#6 | BEING ACCOUNTABLE

Transparency & Publishing Performance

Engaging with the PRIME Principles and sharing the details of your PRIME journey to help inspire others and demonstrate your ongoing commitment.

Learning & Asking for Help

The PRIME Principles don’t provide a ‘set-and-forget’ solution for sustainable and responsible business. Learn from your mistakes, and don’t be too proud to ask for help.
Anatomy of a PRIME Principle

Each PRIME Principle is made up of:

  • A Focus;
  • A Principle; and
  • Indicative Behaviours.
Focuses

The PRIME Principles are developed in support of environmentally-sustainable and responsible business.

We believe that sustainable success in business is measured not only with balance sheets and income statements, but also by the impact we can make on our environment and society.

For this reason, the three focuses for the PRIME Principles are:

  • The Environment;
  • Community / Society; and
  • Good Governance.
Indicative Behaviours

The Indicative Behaviours are just that – examples of how the Principles can be satisfied.  They’re deliberately phrased very widely.

Necessarily, these may not apply to your organisation.  What they are designed to do is to give a flavour of the sort of outcomes that the Principles are designed to achieve.

For Principle 1: Being Environmentally Better, the two Indicative Behaviours are “Responsible Consumption” and “Waste Reduction / Recycling”.  This describes what we mean by “Being Environmentally Better”.

Each Indicative Behaviour then has a description – eg, by “Responsible Consumption”, we mean, “only buying what your organisation actually needs; opting for reduced packaging and eliminating wastage.”

When carrying out a Self-Assessment, or submitting a request for an Official PRIME Score, you don’t need to satisfy every Indicative Behaviour – you are scoring against the Principle – but the Indicative Behaviours can be helpful in assessing how well you satisfy a Principle.

Using the PRIME Principles

The “Gold Standard” use of the PRIME Principles is in using them to help guide and inform your own Environmental, Social and Governance goals and representing the same with your Official PRIME Score.

You might also use them in setting internal staff Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s), developing your marketing and communications messaging, or, if you are a social enterprise, in developing initiatives to give back to your community.

Scoring

The PRIME Principles are statements of ambition for how organisations (particularly SME’s) can satisfy Environmental, Social and Governance goals.

As the old adage goes, however, if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.  With this in mind, we have developed a challenging and sector-agnostic PRIME Scoring system so that you can track and manage your progress against the Principles.