Environment & Sustainability

We will say this plainly: Veynuus is a professional services firm. We do not manufacture products, operate heavy infrastructure or run supply chains. Our direct environmental footprint, the energy our offices use, the travel our work requires, the paper and devices that support our operations, is modest relative to many of the organisations that fill sustainability reports with large numbers and ambitious net-zero pledges.

We do not think that excuses us from this conversation. If anything, it clarifies what our role in it actually is. Our responsibility is not primarily about what we emit. It is about what we advise, what we research, what we publish and who we choose to work with. That is where our environmental influence lives, and that is where we intend to exercise it.

Our commitments

Applying a sustainability lens to our advisory work

When we support clients on strategy, policy or institutional development, we bring environmental and sustainability considerations into that work. We ask whether the decisions being made today account for their long-term environmental consequences. We encourage clients to think about sustainability not as a box to tick but as a factor that shapes outcomes, reputations and the communities they serve.

Choosing clients and engagements responsibly

We do not accept engagements from clients whose operations or practices we believe cause clear and avoidable environmental harm. This is a straightforward boundary for a firm of our size and it is one we hold. As we grow and our work expands, we intend to formalise this into a written client screening approach that is available publicly.

Reducing waste in how we operate

Within our own operations we commit to minimising unnecessary waste, favouring digital over print, reducing unnecessary travel where remote engagement is equally effective, and making considered choices about the suppliers and services we use. These are small commitments for a small firm, but they reflect a habit of mind we want to build into how Veynuus operates from the beginning.

Research and public awareness on climate and environment

Through our Research, Data and Policy work, we intend to engage seriously with environmental and climate-related topics that affect the region, from the impact of drought and displacement on public health and economic stability, to the policy frameworks Somalia and neighbouring countries need to build climate resilience. Writing about these issues honestly and making that writing public is one of the most direct contributions a firm like ours can make.

A precautionary approach in everything we do

As a UN Global Compact signatory, we are formally committed to a precautionary approach to environmental challenges, meaning that where there is reasonable doubt about whether an action causes harm, we err on the side of caution. We do not wait for certainty before acting responsibly. This principle applies to our own operations and to the advice we offer.

We are not going to make promises on this page that we cannot keep. We are a young firm, still building our practices and our capacity, and the most honest thing we can say about our environmental commitment is that it is real, it is growing, and it will be held to account, by ourselves first, and by anyone who reads this.

As Veynuus develops, we intend to formalise our environmental practices, begin tracking and reporting our operational footprint, and deepen the sustainability lens we apply to our advisory and research work. We will update this page as that happens, because a commitment that does not evolve is not really a commitment at all.