The G8 summit: why it is now up to business leaders to save the planet
Photo courtesy of G8 UK Presidency Advisers, like PwC always urge the private and public sectors to work together however, it can clearly be seen from the G8 conference’s Lough Erne declaration statement from this week that dealing with climate change is not a priority by any means for global political leaders. As expected, talks regarding the Syrian conflict dominated the summit with economic issues coming next, but once again, issues about climate... Read More
When will sustainable business simply be business?
As with all sound moves in society and business in particular, there comes a time when there is no need to refer to a particular initiative specifically, because it has been adopted universally and has become part of doing ordinary business. I was in conversation with Jonathan Steel of Change London recently and he reminded me about the e-business revolution which came to a natural end because all business now considers how to operate effectively... Read More
Cleantech: is it time to wave goodbye to the Severn Barrage scheme?
The first Severn Barrage was proposed almost a century ago It is nearly a century since the first proposal to build a barrage across the Severn to generate power from the tides. Since then we have developed our National Grid, embarked on a dash-for-gas and built a fleet of nuclear power stations. Yet, still there is no Severn Barrage. And now the fate of the latest proposal – led by private consortia Hafren Power – hangs in the balance.... Read More
Thatcher’s green legacy: an Iron Lady tinged with verdigris
Following the Iron Lady’s demise, the media has been quick to analyse and assess her political legacy. Few commentators have considered her contribution to environmental policy. Whilst this is perhaps not surprising – the Tories are not known to be best friends with the planet – it is nonetheless an omission – a gap in the coverage which I feel is worth correcting. Environmental friend or foe? There is no doubt that Thatcher made several powerful... Read More
Fantastic without the plastic: turning plastic waste into eco friendly initiatives
The amount of plastic bottles and cans generated globally that ends up in landfill is estimated to be around 340 billion. That is a lot of bottles. We’ve been working with SodaStream to raise awareness of the environmental impacts of plastic bottles. We’ve found communities in the world who have turned this plastic waste mountain into eco-friendly initiatives. Some of the examples were too good not to share: 1. The house that plastic built Meet... Read More
Inspiring, green and innovative: why I came away impressed by RegenSW’s Renewable Energy Marketplace
What do an electric four-wheel vehicle you can peddle, unobtrusive secondary glazing and a bit of brass piping that makes it less expensive to run a combi boiler have in common? They all originate from the southwest and they were all being showcased at RegenSW’s Renewable Energy Marketplace (REM) this week. Attending the show at Exeter’s Westpoint not only made a refreshing change to London for me (my last show was Ecobuild at the Excel),... Read More
Sustainable food: the Cool Farm Tool and cracking the nut of agricultural emissions
By applying human ingenuity, we can make generators, boilers, air conditioning units and other mechanical devices more efficient so that they use less fuel and emit fewer greenhouse gas emissions. But opportunities for improving the efficiency of the food supply chain are a little more limited. Our bodies are already efficient ‘engines’ – digesting fats, carbohydrates and proteins to provide us with what we need to maintain life. That leaves... Read More
Green marketing: should we do away with eco labels?
A few weeks ago Ramon Arratia, European Sustainability director at InterfaceFLOR launched his book, ‘Full Product Transparency: Cutting the Fluff Out of Sustainability’. In the short paperback (you can read it in 90 minutes according to the publisher), Arratia argues that a decade down the corporate sustainability journey, we’ve ended up with “lorry loads of corporate reports, and a plethora of green labels and marketing claims”, but failed... Read More
Energy and water: our utility companies are failing us but we can take action
We’ve all felt the pain of crippling increases in our energy bills. And this week, it was the turn of the water companies to announce that they were hiking up their prices – those rises due to come in April will average around 3.5 per cent in England and Wales. So why are we paying more for our water? Talk to the water companies and they will tell you they are having to invest billions of pounds in improvements. But these are privately-owned... Read More
How do we measure social value?
What social value does Coca-Cola’s sponsorship of the Olympics bring? The new Public Services (Social Value) Act, which came into force on January 1 2013, not only affects all those public authorities who procure services but any business that wants a slice of the UK’s £677 billion public sector spend. In other words, most of us. Contrary to what is suggested by the title, the Social Value Act requires public authorities to consider the economic... Read More
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