Sustainable Future News speaks with Stuart McLachlan, CEO of Anthesis Group and author of The Adventure of Sustainable Performance, on redefining ESG for business leadership, the regulatory landscape, and the leader who inspires him. Have you ever been charged at by an elephant? Stuart McLachlan, CEO of Anthesis Group, has – and the experience turns out to be a useful reference point for sustainability-focused leadership. There are two traditional elephant analogies in business. Either you are told to eat it one bite at a time as a metaphor for accomplishing large projects gradually, or it is the elephant in the…
ESG regulations and frameworks can overwhelm even the most diligent sustainability leaders. Is it time for a more nuanced, product-oriented approach to stop data being treated like an ‘operational exhaust’? It is always fascinating to watch history repeat itself. When the global financial crisis struck in 2008, a litany of regulations were enacted to ward against any future collapse, from Dodd-Frank to Basel III. BlackRock called the subsequent 10 years the ‘decade of financial regulatory reform.’ The regulations touched ‘virtually every financial firm’ and demanded more stringent data reporting and collection. The problem was that the banks didn’t know what…
While sustainability is a top priority for businesses of all sizes, small to medium businesses may face unique challenges in implementing decarbonisation strategies. Here are some key steps that small to medium sized businesses can take to get started. For small to medium enterprises (SMEs), of which there are 5.5 million in the UK, the need for sustainable change is evident – but it is difficult to turn words into actions. According to a February 2023 study from the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), almost four in five (79%) of SMEs polled were taking action to reduce their carbon footprint…
Much of the attention for sustainability is focused on the big companies, who need a lot of time to turn their vessel around but also have the space to do so. For smaller firms, it’s just as important, but without the resources. So what should you do to communicate your green ideas? If you are a small business owner, you might think that communicating effectively about sustainability is a game where only the enterprise need apply – if that sounds like you, it’s time to think again. It’s undeniable that a significant proportion of the media lens is focused on…
The Global Energy Transition series from Reuters Events are seen as one of the most important gatherings in the sustainability business calendar, bringing together stakeholders across industry. The message of collaboration and innovation was hammered home in a speech by Baker Hughes CEO Lorenzo Simonelli. The global energy transition is gathering pace: according to Bloomberg NEF, 2022 saw global energy transition investment equal fossil fuel investment for the first time. While fossil fuel investment grew by $214 billion year-on-year – admittedly not a great sign – energy transition spend was up $261bn. The figures included what Bloomberg NEF called a…
Plenty of chips are being placed upon carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology as the answer to improve the sustainability of industrial supply chains, with the UK government recently pledging £20 billion over two decades into such projects. What is the state of play and where is the future direction of travel, asks James Bourne. March 2023 saw the two-year anniversary of the launch of the North Sea Transition Deal (NSTD). Don’t worry if you missed it – most people did. But within this deal is a very important development in terms of carbon capture and storage (CCS). The 2021…
Shopify, the software as a service (SaaS) eCommerce platform provider, is one of the world’s largest corporate purchasers of carbon removal. The company is much more prominent in sustainability than you might think, as head of sustainability Stacy Kauk tells Sustainable Future News. “If everyone’s running in a certain direction, it’s really important to look elsewhere and see what other opportunities are being overlooked,” explains Stacy Kauk, head of sustainability at Shopify. It is a mantra which fits the eCommerce platform provider in more ways than one. For one thing, the company does not have a particular interest in ESG…
What is sustainable procurement – and how best should you go about it? Generally, when someone talks of sustainable procurement, they talk of ‘how businesses can identify and reduce the environmental impacts of their supply chains’, per the Oxford College of Procurement and Supply, as well as ‘integrating specifications, requirements and criteria’ into a company’s procurement processes and decisions ‘that are compatible with the protection of the environment and society as a whole’, per the definition from EcoVadis. More specifically, this can involve integrating CSR (corporate social responsibility) principles or ESG (environmental, social and governance) goals into your company’s procurement,…
In February, Ingersoll Rand, a manufacturer of mission-critical equipment for industrial and process applications, announced a partnership with Aqualung, a provider of membrane technology, to design a modular, scalable, and instantly deployable carbon capture solution. The Head of Agreement (HoA) contract brings together Ingersoll Rand’s blowers and vacuum pumps with Aqualung’s patented technology. Almost half of Aqualung’s carbon capture unit costs are attributed to machinery – hence the need for a supply chain partner. The key element of the Ingersoll Rand and Aqualung partnership is a common goal to make carbon capture viable and available to medium- and smaller-scale operations,…
It is safe to say that sustainability is now mission critical across industry. Take the verdict of business school IMD as an example, citing Accenture and McKinsey research. “Simply put, sustainability is a business approach to creating long-term value by taking into consideration how a given organisation operates in the ecological, social, and economic environments. Sustainability is built on the assumption that developing such strategies fosters company longevity. “The message from COP26 rang loud and clear for global corporations: align your business strategy to sustainability targets and reap monetary rewards. Drag your feet and you’ll lose out.” But what does…
