To watch this event, you can rent or buy the video here.
Thursday 2nd July 2020 saw The Future Economy Network run a unique online lunchtime event, “We’ve Declared a Climate & Ecological Emergency: What’s Next?”. The topic and fantastic panel brought many FEN and non-FEN members alike to join us on the day to unpack the declare process and learn how to improve our business practice and #buildbackbetter after the covid19 crisis.
The team introduced everyone to the virtual events space and gave quick training on how to make the most out of the interactive webinar and networking opportunities. Once everyone had gotten used to the space and enjoyed the novelty of something brand new, the seminars began. Tatum Hodgkinson, Memberships & Communications Lead at The Future Economy Network, welcomed attendees, highlighting the benefits of joining the Network and also sharing updates about The Future Economy Network’s Carbon Neutral Hub in Bristol, Future Leap. Katherine also briefly ran through the plans for The Festival of Sustainable Business, and you can check out the video here.
Fiona Ellis from Business Declares kicked off the presentations by outlining the organisation’s history since last April, which came about after discussions with Extinction Rebellion. She then spoke about their story so far, including key events such as working with the B Corp movement and working on the Planetary Emergency Partnership. Fiona highlighted the impacts Covid19 has had on the declare movement, having brought about a sense of a “triple emergency”; people, climate and nature. Business Declares support the Green Recovery strategy and have been working closely with those committed to “Build Back Better”. She went on to explain what it means to declare, and then used the Zoom whiteboard engagement tool to ask people to stamp where their company sits on the declare journey. After this, she asked the audience what factors usually make businesses declare, ranging from improving efficiency to stability and reputation. She then explained the steps businesses take after declaring, where a full leaflet can be found on their website.
Next, we welcomed Ian Barrett from Avon Wildlife Trust who set the scene for the importance of highlighting the ecological emergency as well as the climate emergency, giving sobering statistics on the decline of species globally. AWT highlight the importance of insects to the planets’ survival, and their detrimental decline mostly due to farming practices. Ian warned of the very real danger of losing so many species, and summarised a recent IPCC report where a global warming of 1.5 degrees still may lead to a 20-30% species extinction. He was careful to highlight the good news – that it is not too late! He ran through actions businesses have a huge role in, such as stopping pesticide use and focusing on supply chain impacts. With successful ecological protection, we can achieve climate-busting habitats – good ecology, good climate! He gave examples of how local businesses and communities have supported AWT’s campaigns, such as Network member Burges Salmon and their support in creating a wildlife corridor in Easton.
After a 10 minute break, where attendees either grabbed a cup of tea or stayed in the Zoom room asking the speakers questions, we welcomed Rob Delius from Stride Treglown to share their journey from a built environment perspective. He introduced the company and explained that they had set an aim to be carbon neutral when they built their offices from scratch ten years ago. He then outlined a timeline of the company’s actions since then, including the Bristol Downs turbine proposal, their own Green Week for employee and customer engagement, electric vehicle purchases, Passivhaus implementation, Dock Water cooling and much more. Rob then highlighted a sobering statistic he came across, of which 40% of global energy-related carbon dioxide comes from buildings and construction. Since then, Stride Treglown joined the Landscape & Architects Declare. He explained the format and questions they used in their recent Board Strategy meeting, highlighting the importance of educating the Board. Rob then gave the company’s next steps, including another Green Week and rolling out their embodied carbon calculation software. He finished his presentation by showing an attractive infographic highlighting their Zero Carbon Task Force.
Next, we invited Stephanie Biden from Bates Wells to speak about the topic from a law perspective. She introduced the company and their commitments, including business strategy changes and seeking to use the law to protect the environment. She then showed photos of the team at various strikes and events, highlighting that their staff can take two additional volunteering days annually for these events when lawful. Stephanie then highlighted what actions these commitments led to, including their zero waste to landfill policy and keeping up momentum with an internal project board. They have introduced ethical pensions, environmentally sound catering, and climate perks (if you would like to hear more about climate perks, look out for our event). In conclusion, Stephanie emphasised that law can really maximise environmental protection and reduce carbon emissions if done correctly, and issued guidance in doing so.
Last but not least, we welcomed Simon Pickering from Ecotricity, who spoke about the importance of adaptation and mitigation. He looked at the floods in Stroud and business’ decisions to adapt or move when dealing with climate change effects. He emphasised that all businesses pay business rates, therefore have the right to ask their local authority what they are doing to help the local area adapt to climate change effects (such as flood defences). He then ran through the actions all businesses can take in relation to measure and monitor, avoid, reduce, substitute and offset (in this order). Simon gave an example of this by looking at how prescription drugs are the NHS’ biggest carbon emissions emitter, and looking at how people can be healthier (avoid) and use more environmentally friendly products (substitute). He then looked at Ecotricity, and their key sustainability areas (energy, transport, food and nature). Ecotricity’s next steps included moving to more sustainable offices, investing in electric vehicles, and committing to being carbon neutral by 2025. His final thoughts were:
- Numbers matter
- The importance of honesty
- Take everyone with you
- Understand and avoid greenwashing
After all the speakers had finished, the audience were split into four break out groups facilitated by Business Declares, Ecotricity and Bates Wells to discuss “What opportunities and hurdles exist for business to declare and act on climate transition now?”. The 30 minute session was extremely engaging and many people spoke up from various industries and business sizes.
Finally, Greener Energy Futures, 3 Step IT, Economic Pluralism & C.H.E.E.S.E Project gave a 60 second pitch - a popular opportunity at these events that continues despite the virtual nature of our events. Everyone was then able to network in different groups using facilitated break out rooms, before the event finished.
A huge thank you to the speakers and attendees - without this ongoing interest and support we would not be able to continue hosting such interesting and thought-provoking discussions.
