As part of our ongoing Meet the Team series, we sat down with Pamela to learn more about her role in certification and auditing. Based in Singapore, Pamela supports clients through ISCC audits, strengthens supply chain sustainability and is actively expanding her expertise in greenhouse gas (GHG) verification. In this interview, she shares insights into her day-to-day work, the challenges clients often face and what motivates her in such a detail-driven field.
Q: Where are you currently based, and how long have you been with DoubleHelix?
I’m based in Singapore and I’ve been with DX since October 2020.
Q: What does your day-to-day work in certification and auditing typically involve?
Typically when not on onsite audits, I am reviewing documents and management system processes to identify gaps (and highlight them to clients if needed), or helping clients with queries regarding the ISCC system and standards. When onsite, it’s usually about ensuring that clients have all the necessary processes in place to meet the requirements, and identifying any areas for improvements or gaps that need closing. Clients often use this time to clear up doubts related to their own operationally specific situations.
Q: You conduct ISCC audits in Singapore and beyond – what are some of the common challenges or areas of focus during these audits?
A common challenge faced is getting clients to understand that the purpose of the audit is less about penalising them and more about identifying areas to improve on. Most people have the misconception that an audit is to ‘nitpick’ and find issues with them, but really it’s about making sure they understand what they need to do to adhere to the requirements.
Q: You’re also building expertise in Greenhouse Gas (GHG) verification – what does that involve, and how does it complement your existing work?
It involves keeping an eye on what courses I can take to improve my skillset and knowledge and how useful it will be to my current work. The GHG world is very vast and not all of it might be relevant to my work so it takes a bit of sifting to figure out what topics or information is relevant. Many of our clients that pursue ISCC are also interested in improving sustainability efforts in their company and thus GHG becomes a popular topic. While most of the time it is not required to the audit simply due to the scope and profile of most of our clients, it is still a topic that comes up often. Having the knowledge of the fundamentals of how GHG is calculated and verified definitely helps when these conversations arise.
Q: What do you enjoy most about your role?
I most enjoy learning while performing my role. Every company and industry is different and I find myself learning from the clients just as much as they learn from us. It’s very interesting to see how similar principals or values can translate differently across different markets or how some industries can differ significantly (eg. in terms of traceability), even though the purpose might be similar.
Q: Why is third-party certification important in the context of supply chain sustainability?
Third-party certification helps improve traceability within supply chains. It provides credible and independent verification that a user adheres to a certain sustainability standard. By providing trustworthy certification, it also reduces the burden of individual players in the supply chain as they can be confident that their upstream suppliers also meet the required standards even if they do not have access to their internal information/data.
Q: What kind of impact do you hope to make through your work?
I would hope that my work helps reduces the barrier of entry for companies to pursue sustainability initiatives. Many times, the concept of sustainability or carbon puts people off as it comes off as something difficult to pursue – I hope that I help make these concepts easily understandable and tangible in a way more people can understand.
Q: What helps you stay motivated in a role that involves so much detail and technical rigour?
I think I’m motivated to be detailed because I would prefer to do a good job and get things done the first run through rather than possibly having to revisit it and redo things because I had left something out the first time. There are also aspects to auditing that go beyond technical or document scrutiny – sometimes it’s just about talking to people in a way that gets them willing to talk to you too. A good portion of it is really navigating social response and circumstance which provides a break between all the document/technical rigour in a way.
Q: What do you enjoy doing in your spare time – any hobbies or ways you like to unwind?
I enjoy building Legos and going to concerts when I can!