Essex CCC boast producing a variety of England’s greatest cricketers, from knights of the realm and England captains in Sir Alastair Cook, Nasser Hussain and Graham Gooch; to less internationally acclaimed stars like James Foster, who many purists regard as the most skilled wicket-keeper in the world to have played this century. Playing out of their picturesque base in Chelmsford, Essex have dominated the longer format in recent years winning three out of the last four titles, as well as being T20 champions in 2019.
Greenleaf co-founder, Steve Bullen cites a speech a recent Essex star gave to members and staff after winning one of their latest titles as to why Essex CCC are so important in the push for sustainability. The star said, “We’re a small club (referring to their capacity of just under 5000) that has consistently punched above their weight.” This statement may well have also been a reference, or in spite of, monetary imbalances between the counties that host men’s internationals and those that don’t – which has typically reflected the distribution of silverware in times gone past. Counties like Middlesex, Surrey and Yorkshire being successful English red ball cricket through the ’10s and Nottinghamshire’s recent successes in white ball cricket pay testimony to that.
Nonetheless, Co-Founder Bullen says, “the Essex mentality is the precise attitude needed to achieve anything significant in sustainability. It’s the driving force behind organisations going above and beyond to achieve and set new standards of excellence. This is exactly why we have been so keen to work with Essex CCC – take their success and their unrelenting will in not throwing excuses up on the path to success; set the example of that approach in the sustainability movement and watch serious progress be made quickly.”
Greenleaf are always seeking out the chance to celebrate an organisation willing to turn their attention to sustainability, this is one of four reasons why Greenleaf developed their app. Using Greenleaf’s unique skills and software helps entities manage their footprint in a simple, effective, non-disruptive and cost-efficient way. Greenleaf’s services are designed to help their partners make progress towards their objectives, long, medium or short, by adopting sustainable practices – and Greenleaf do this from the outset. The first thing coming from any partnership with Greenleaf TDG is a certification of sustainable practice and accreditation. This explicitly gives partners something to help them stand out from the masses straight away and tap into the 33m strong eco-conscious audience in the UK.
UN Sustainable Development goal 17 is Partnership for Goals and Greenleaf are the only business out there making environmental accreditations accessible for the engine room of the economy- the SME. Whilst Essex CCC aren’t an SME, this partnership reflects Greenleaf’s adaptability to work with businesses of any size and align them with the sustainability movement and incoming legislation in the area. Greenleaf believes that the partnership will help reach out to businesses across the Essex and wider South East regions – letting them discover a way to become distinguished through excellence when it comes to environmental sustainability.
Part of the terms that were frequently visited by both organisations was Essex CCC accessing Greenleaf’s audit and accreditation service, and the commercial deployment of the Greenleaf app to help the county more accurately track their environmental impact. With Greenleaf’s keenness to get involved with Essex’s highly successful, no-punch-pulling model, the proposed partnership started with a spark of excitement and terms were a joy to agree. In the coming months, Greenleaf will look to set about verifying Essex CCC as a sustainable organisation or lay out the pathway to get the organisation there.
In the meanwhile, Greenleaf will be using it’s benefits as a Premium Business Club Partner to bring Greenleaf app users a variety of amazing discounts, such as the chance to win free tickets to Royal London one day games at Chelmsford. Keep an eye out too, as Essex CCC just may be bringing even more amazing value to the Greenleaf app with a variety of offers and discounts throughout the club. On top of this, such benefits have been made all the more accessible by Essex’s new partnership with Iqoniq!
2020 may have been tough, but the deals Essex have been working hard on are definitely going to ensure 2021 is the best and the easiest time to be Essex CCC supporter!
