Strategy and communications firm ChangeMakers is expanding its sustainability and climate consulting capabilities and pursuing new markets with its acquisition of Halifax-based consultancy R&G Strategic.

In early October, Toronto-based ChangeMakers announced the acquisition of R&G, which advises organizations on sustainability strategy and reporting, stakeholder engagement, climate consulting, communications and marketing. R&G advised more than 100 organizations on sustainability planning and outreach, including QuadReal, Ubisoft and Rayleigh Solar Tech.

The acquisition brings in R&G’s co-founder Liz Gosselin and sustainability leader Michelyn Dion as vice presidents within ChangeMakers’ social impact consulting practice. R&G co-founder Sarah Riley will serve as an advisor.

The acquisition adds “deep subject-matter expertise” in sustainability to ChangeMakers, its social impact consulting president Alyssa Melnyk said in an interview with Sustainable Biz Canada.

Building out ChangeMakers' sustainability expertise

Formed out of a union of six agencies in 2022, ChangeMakers operates in various sectors such as health, technology, government, Indigenous relations and natural resources. The firm’s services include business strategy, marketing, governance and public affairs, with primary markets in Canada and the U.S.

Although ChangeMakers had worked on projects involving sustainability, it had not “necessarily worked to target it as an area of practice on its own,” Melnyk said. It started talks with R&G for an acquisition over a year ago about the opportunities within the changing sustainability industry, Melnyk said, focused on how both companies could evolve with the move.

R&G’s three full-time employees bring a “creative and entrepreneurial view,” along with expertise in greenhouse gas consulting, sustainability reporting and creative communications, Melnyk said. Additionally, it adds R&G’s business relationships in Atlantic Canada to ChangeMakers.

“What excites us about ChangeMakers is the scale of what becomes possible when we connect the expertise and relationships we’ve built with a larger, multidisciplinary team,” Gosselin said in a release. “For our clients, it means access to more capabilities and new ways to tackle increasingly complex challenges without losing the entrepreneurial approach that has always defined R&G.”

Melnyk declined to disclose the value of the acquisition.

Sustainability is here to stay, Melnyk says

The acquisition comes amid reports of waning corporate interest and commitment to sustainability.

Melnyk countered the “sustainability conversation is evolving, it’s not going away.” Though sustainability is undergoing a shift in its language, regulations, politics and economics, the underlying business challenges remain, she continued. Melnyk pointed to climate risk, energy security, supply chain resilience, resource development and access to capital as examples.

Organizations are being asked to demonstrate how their sustainability pledges tie into operational performance, financial resilience and competitiveness. The combination of ChangeMakers and R&G “becomes really interesting” to answer this question, Melnyk said, as it helps organizations move beyond commitments and reporting to actions.

ChangeMakers, Melnyk said, expects to find new opportunities in critical minerals, government and Indigenous relations with the acquisition of R&G.

“There’s that desire and I think real belief that bringing disciplines together is really going to do something stronger for our clients,” she said.