About us

Brook Lyndhurst is an independent research and strategy consultancy. We work on projects that are concerned with understanding, promoting and delivering sustainable development. Since coming into being in 1999 we have worked for clients through the UK that share our commitment to the need to build a more sustainable society; and who understand, too, that the practical steps by which this can be achieved need to be based on robust evidence, creative insight and bold vision.

Whilst retaining our core belief in the importance of sustainability, our work has both shaped, and evolved to reflect, emerging priorities. Currently, we focus on four key areas – climate change; waste & resources; food; and sustainable lifestyles. Across these areas we synthesise economic, social and environmental analysis. We retain the view that significant changes in individual, organisational and governmental behaviour are needed to bring about a more sustainable society, and much of our work is concerned with ‘behaviour change’.

Reflecting the breadth and complexity of the issues we tackle, our team is an eclectic mix. We have backgrounds in economics, anthropology, geography, international development, environmental science, social studies, journalism, market research, the Middle East, philosophy, political science and history. This variety means that our meetings are rarely dull, our thinking is rigorously tested and our analysis is invariably challenging.

Describing our approach in a blurb such as this is tricky, however, so rather than attempt a single, succinct adjective, or blather on about our ethical procurement policy or our flexible working patterns, we threw all the things we think apply to Brook Lyndhurst and ran it through Wordle. The resulting image, below, is as good an idea of what Brook Lyndhurst is about as you’re likely to get.

Tree

Brook Lyndhurst Blog

  • Rules of the game

    I experienced an intriguing juxtaposition of meetings last Wednesday that revealed much about the challenges facing us if we are truly to embed sustainability within the decision-making mindsets of the powerful. The first meeting comprised a lunchtime seminar organised by Consumer Focus. Drawing on a recently published paper, the seminar had been convened to discuss a [...] 

  • The A-B-C of CBA

    Cost-benefit analysis [CBA] techniques currently have a central place in policy evaluation in the UK. CBA assesses projects and policies by assigning monetary values to the costs and benefits expected from them. These values are then summed, allowing policy makers to make judgements about whether those initiatives with higher net benefits should be prioritised over those with [...] 

  • The Daily Mail and the value of evaluation

    We generally don’t bother commenting on misleading reporting of environmental issues. Journalists (and I speak as someone who used to be one) have been putting a sensationalist spin on stories (and non-stories) since newspapers began. Moreover, anecdotal evidence from discussion groups we’ve run suggests that much of the sceptical coverage on environmental issues has very [...]