Australian sustainability consultancy Edge Impact joins RSK
Sustainability consultancy Edge Impact has joined global player RSK, providing impetus for the firm’s ambitious growth agenda while continuing the latter’s recent push into Australia.
Established in 2008, Edge Impact operates from five offices in Australia, New Zealand and Chile, its team of 80 professionals assisting government and leading private and public sector clients through end-to-end ESG services.
Based out of the United Kingdom, RSK has meanwhile built up a massive global presence over recent years, its portfolio of around 200 companies worldwide now including eight in Australia since the firm first stepped up its local ambitions in 2021.
“RSK will continue to invest in Australian businesses that are playing their part in delivering sustainable solutions,” said co-founder and CEO Alan Ryder. “Edge Impact specifically is an excellent fit for RSK with its impressive track record of supporting blue-chip companies to develop and implement ESG strategies. We see countless opportunities for revenue synergies across the group.”
Billed by RSK as ‘Australia’s largest independent full-service environment and sustainability consultancy’, Edge Impact was established as ‘Edge Environment’ by Jonas Bengtsson and Tom Davies on Sydney’s Northern Beaches sixteen years ago before later gaining B Corp status and rebranding to its current name in 2022 as a better reflection of its purpose and expanding range of services.
That broad portfolio – grouped around three core lines; ‘climate & and nature’, strategy & transformation’, and ‘reporting, engagement & communication’ – has since catered to the ESG needs of numerous high profile clients operating in the infrastructure, consumer goods, retail, and travel sectors among others, including Coca-Cola, Optus, and Transurban as just a small sample.
“Since founding Edge, we’ve pursued a singular mission to catalyse sustainable economies for future generations,” Bengtsson and Davies said. “While we’ve steadily expanded our services and impact, we recognise that the climate crisis demands unprecedented scale and speed. This critical decade requires more than organic growth; it calls for bold collaboration and exponential impact.”
Growth agenda
Both companies have been open about their ambitious growth plans; Edge with a view to building to 250 staff globally and $60 million in revenues before the end of the decade, and RSK aiming to double the number of businesses under its umbrella over that same time-frame while upping its headcount from 15,000 to 40,000 and almost quadrupling its revenues to more than £5 billion.
Australia, RSK says, represents a key plank in its bold strategy, earmarked to contribute $1.4 billion of that target and 5,000 – or one eighth – of its global workforce by 2030, up from its recent figures of $240 million and 450 professionals after arriving in just 2021. Its local purchases since then have included SJA, which has seen the launch of a global dispute resolution line co-led out of Sydney.
“With RSK’s global reputation for leading on sustainability, our investment in Edge Impact makes perfect sense,” stated Australia managing director Mark Haydock. “Everything we do stems from a clearly defined purpose – to help our clients progress towards a resilient, future-ready Australia, and we’re confident that investing in Edge Impact will add great value to this commitment.”
Alison Rowe, who took over as Edge CEO earlier this year, meanwhile said the deal provides the firm with a unique opportunity: “Within RSK, we can realise the innovative growth we strive for while enjoying the support of a group that shares our values. Achieving lasting sustainability impact is so important to the business that we have all worked so hard to create.”
