I enjoy delivering talks on Sustainable Development and Corporate Responsibility. The most current work is sustainability within the steel sector and ArcelorMittal. I can talk about how steel contributes to a low carbon and circular economy. I can outline list the challenges facing the company and sector and the approaches we are taking to overcome those challenges.
Rethinking Corporate Sustainability – If only we ran the planet like a shop!
The dream is a world where every company, every organisation in the world answers this question:
My product’s positive and negative contribution towards helping the world achieve 9 billion sustainable lifestyles by 2050 are…
This pamphlet explains the thinking behind such a dream.
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Gone Surfing – Can you specify a sustainable lifestyle?
Cornwall in South West England, is both one of the poorest county’s in the UK but also the happiest. What does this say about sustainable development?
We know we want sustainability, but a sustainable what and what will it look like? I argue that we should be talking about sustainable lifestyles, not just for those in developed economies but all the economies of the world. That means nine billion quality and sustainable lifestyles by 2050. Since all companies’ products and services are designed in one way or another to improve people’s lifestyles, having a clear “specification” or “project brief” of what a sustainable lifestyle could look like should inform the direction of any company’s sustainability plan. Once again, this part of my narrative is reflected in one of my presentations, characterised by the “Plasma TV person”.
This speech is based on a thought piece I completed whilst serving on the U.K. Sustainable Development Commission.
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If products could talk – what would they say?
Sustainable development seen through the lens of products we use in our daily lives. At the simplest good corporate responsibility is knowing what your product story is and being comfortable that it is in the public domain.
It is Saturday night, you are slumped on the sofa watching TV, and that familiar theme music for your favourite chat show host comes on. You are a MD of a company, or maybe a buyer or marketing manager. The host strolls on to the screen, “Tonight I will be talking to …,” he says, but this time it is not the usual A and B list celebrities, “A cabinet door, from Indonesia; flown in from India, especially for us, a brass door knob and we have potting compost from Yorkshire.”
What would they talk about? Well, in chat show style they would talk about their life story. These are just as interesting as those of Posh and Becks and Elton John.
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Choice editing versus informed consumer choice
The ‘choice editing’ phrase came out of the report I co-authored called ‘I will if you will’. In simple terms, I believe that in general, it is public policy makers and retailers who should choice edit ranges, making sure that they do not offer products that perform poorly from a sustainability point of view. Perhaps, I argue, we should talk less about “informed consumer choice”.
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Product stewardship and certification proliferation
This building block of my narrative follows on from my ‘if products could talk’ and ‘choice editing’ papers. Many retailers and manufacturers aim to offer products that don’t damage the environment or violate accepted social standards. The way they do this credibly is by signing up to recognised, independent certification schemes. That’s good news but now there are so many different schemes that duplicate each other and can be confusing to their end users. Are there too many and would they benefit from a more co-ordinated approach?
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Ebola and HIV – a case study of private sector and their contribution in epidemics and disease
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Can we recycle carbon – Carbon Capture and Utilisation, a new approach to carbon
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The circular and low carbon economy – a dream or a vision?
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What is your moon boot? The simple but board room questions to help shape a corporate approach to sustainability
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