Video transcript: Convening to accelerate change June 2024

Transcript

Zubin Randeria

We convene Chief Sustainability Officers regularly, and we get them together because it's a fabulous network to discuss topics of what's going on in the market and share stories.

Leo Johnson

So events like this, they're about getting together the people who are driving change.

And we're at this point of transition between a system that doesn't work and one that doesn't yet exist, where there's no one institution that can do it alone. This is about collaboration.

Zubin Randeria

It's really important that we run this program for three reasons.

Firstly, it's an opportunity for us to all swap stories around the content, regulatory updates to upskill people.

The second thing is if we can help Chief Sustainability Officers be more effective in the boardroom, then that's going to help organisations transform, because CSOs play a critical part of this story.

And finally, on the network, it's really important that we bring CSOs together because they can meet, collaborate, because this requires system-wide change.

Lizzie Jones

We work all throughout the year to do our sustainability strategy and reporting, and we don't get that many chances to get out and speak to other sustainability professionals who are trying to engage a massive level of change in big corporate businesses.

How do we solve all these problems? You need to speak to lots of other people in a similar position to figure out, okay, how have you done that and what worked, what didn't work.

Wendy Watford

It's incredibly important for people working in sustainability to catch up and talk to each other.

Some of the topics that you end up talking about on a daily basis can be quite overwhelming, and to be able to actually have a network of peers that are going through the same thing can really help with that resilience.

Leo Johnson

This is about collaboration between the big in the small, the start ups and the big beasts, the private sector, the public sector. That's the type of collaboration we need to foster. That’s the type of sharing ideas that we need.

Clare Richardson

I had the privilege of speaking on the panel today and we were really centred on how to engage the workforce around the sustainability agenda.

What do we need from leaders, coming up with a vision around such topics, all the way through to the skills and capabilities required and how to build that momentum within the workforce.

Zubin Randeria

Now, I was speaking to the CSO of one of the largest companies in the World, a FTSE 5 company, and they've made really ambitious climate Goals.

When I asked him, “what's your biggest challenge”? It wasn't how are we going to deliver the climate goals at the same time as deliver the returns to investors? It was “where is my data?”

Iain Anderson

So technology and data sits at the heart of everything that clients need to do all of their work around sustainability, in particular the regulatory reporting and meeting their sustainability objectives as organisations.

Lizzie Jones

The actions I'll take away from today would be looking at our data management timelines and how we are going to think about our annual cycle of check ups, linking our greenhouse gas data to our net zero plan.

Mike Allen

I think the event was really useful. I particularly like the opening session, how you try and integrate sustainability into your business strategy. I think that's the key to making it win.

And on the last session, I think it was really good to talk about how do you get your workforce geared up to net zero. I think it goes a bit beyond that. You need to get your suppliers geared up to net zero, because in our case, about 80% of our carbon scope 3 comes from the supply chains. So, internal job to do and an external job to do.

Zubin Randeria

This CSO programme is a living, breathing, dynamic thing. We listen every time to what CSOs want to cover, and we tailor the programme accordingly. In all my years as a business leader, the sustainability agenda is one of the most interconnected challenges facing businesses.

And therefore, it's really critical that you get not just the individual companies, but a whole communities of businesses coming together at events just like this today.