The scale and urgency of the sustainability challenges we face mean that having a future-fit strategy is vital. These strategies must also be able to support the transformational change needed, both in how your organisation operates and its wider operating context.

By 2030, organisations must move well beyond the idea of ‘doing less harm’ to embrace regenerative and net positive approaches. In order to meet the challenges we face, we all need to be putting back more into society, the environment and economy than we take out. It means tackling structural inequalities in your sector and moving towards more resilient business models.

‘Sustainability is a dynamic process which enables all people to realise their potential and to improve their quality of life in ways that simultaneously protect and enhance the Earth’s life support system.’ Forum for the Future

We brought together speakers to look at Sustainability from different perspectives:

Jonathon Porritt – Founder of Forum for the Future; author of 9 books; environmental campaigner and speaker
Juliet Davenport – CEO of Good Energy, a 100% renewal energy provider
John-Henry Looney – Founder Sustainable Direction
Caroline Aistrop – Creative Director Green Spark Marketing & PR
Colin Curtis – Founder Support the Goals & tbl Services

John Henry Looney introduced us to the UN Sustainability Goals

The 17 SDGs (sometimes called ‘The GlobalGoals’) is a collection of independent but interconnected goals carefully designed to give all of us on our planet a better future, with hundreds of targets and measurement indicators geared toward a date of 2030. The goals were created with businesses in mind, providing a path — for any business to harness their power by directing their efforts toward specific global objectives.

The goals themselves to be simple and direct, but powerful, ranging from ending poverty to building sustainable cities. Any individual can find something on the diverse list of Sustainable Development Goals to work toward. Small and medium-sized businesses, however, are uniquely positioned to make significant impacts on the SDG targets.

https://sdgs.un.org/goals

Watch the recording of the session

John Henry Looney – Sustainable Direction

My passion for sustainability has been developed in over three decades’ experience operating across consultant, advisory and non-executive capacities to embed transformations and behaviour changes for a diverse range of organisations. These have included large multinational corporations, SMEs and government bodies spanning 30 countries.

In all engagements, I work closely with stakeholders at all levels of seniority, including in the boardroom, to identify their opportunities for improved efficiencies, productivity, innovation and performance. We then develop strategies that enable these opportunities to be realised, and I’ve executed a portfolio of projects, programmes and transformations to deliver these results.

I’ve held several board appointments throughout my career, in which I’ve established new companies, turned around struggling operations and embedded excellence in board governance and performance.

Download John Henry’s Slide from Leadership Week: SDL Sustainability 1.0 210324

jh.looney@sustainabledirection.com
https://www.sustainabledirection.com/

Caroline Aistrop – Green Spark Marketing & PR

Green Spark is a sustainability storytelling specialist. We help our clients to future-proof their business and future-proof the planet. Not by telling them how to be sustainable, but by helping them to tell the rest of the world about what they’re doing to be sustainable. Three-quarters of consumers say they deliberately buy from companies they know and trust are being responsible towards the planet, and nearly half of small companies have been asked about their sustainability practises by larger ones. Green Spark helps companies and organisations to turn their green commitments and activities into inspiring stories and authentic PR that raise their profile, create a marketing edge, and encourage others to make greener choices. We draw on over 30 years of experience in communicating sustainability through PR, awareness raising campaigns and environmental journalism. We’d love to hear your story and see if we can help you effectively communicate it to your target customers.

Contact Details:

hello@greensparkmarketing.co.uk

https://calendly.com/greensparkmarketing/discovery-call-appointment

Colin Curtis – Support the Goals

As former Group Head of Sustainability for one of the world’s largest technology companies, I spent years helping business leaders understand the importance of balancing people, planet, and profit. Prior to this, my career spanned a diverse range of roles including marketing, HR, business development, and technology.

I’m passionate about the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the role that businesses have in helping to achieve them. I’m a straight-talking Lancastrian and I pride myself on my ability to keep things simple and honest. Sometimes this gets me into trouble.

Support the Goals is an initiative to rate and recognise the businesses that support the UN Global Goals. The key aims of the initiative are to :

Raise awareness of the Global Goals in the business community

Promote a structured approach to planning, target setting, and reporting in respect of the goals

Give young people work experience in corporate sustainability, so they understand how business can contribute to a better world

We are working to achieve these aims by building positive publicity, encouraging gentle competition and promoting the scaling of activities across supply chains.

Contact Details:

Download Colin’s Slides from Leadership Week: Support the Goals – presentation for C2S Leadership Week-compressed

colin.curtis@tbl-services.com

https://supportthegoals.org/