Business Life After The Virus: A Greener Future
A shift in leadership is required: business and political
Thank you to everyone who joined us for the Jericho Conversation on A Greener Future - with Mike Barry; former Director of Sustainable Business at M&S; Dr. Mallika Ishwaran, Senior Economist and Policy Adviser, Shell Scenarios; James Alexander, Director of Future Agenda and founder, #voicefortheplanet; and Julia Pyke, Director, Sizewell C.
"Businesses shouldn’t just wait to be regulated. They have a responsibility to drive the change."
Mike Barry
Mike on business needing to step up
"What makes now different and how do we make it stick - when resilience has been sacrificed on the altar of efficiency for so long?"
"Sector partnerships are essential: we have to work together to share the burden. Practical, industry sector decarbonisation plans are needed; no one business can do it alone.""CEOs: while 80% of your efforts will be on survival, keep 20% focused on the bigger change lurking around the corner. That means dealing with the climate emergency."
“We need an emotional movement for change.”
Julia on leading with facts
"Particular issues are magnified by the media and commentariat. We need to deal in facts: nuclear is the safest way of generating electricity, according to the OECD.""Germany has among the highest carbon emissions in the world, having closed down its nuclear facilities, post-Fukushima. This is not a good thing and we must do more to communicate the realities."
"The UK nuclear programme is an engine of social mobility, as well as vital for a net-zero future.”
“We must engage with the reality of people’s lives and not simply lecture them."
Mallika on responsible divestment
"There’s a risk that, post-crisis, we will revert to old and trusted ways of stimulating the economy - but instead we should ask how we do this while also supporting transitions to a better and greener future?""Responsible divestment is key - we want to be part of the societal transition.""Transparency is a fundamental requirement for companies who want to do good. We must look beyond green-washing to see what companies are actually investing in."
James on ‘change starts with me’
"We should be talking about the climate crisis and the biodiversity crisis: they need to be addressed together.”“We currently sit in the middle of what most scientists recognise as the world’s sixth mass extinction event. Unlike the ones before, this one is entirely man-made. We need to take action now.""Do we really know where our money is being invested? What our pensions are invested in? It’s very easy to point fingers - but change starts with me. It starts with individuals. We must become better informed.""We can’t let the Treasury and “old” economics drive the future. If we do, we will #BuildBackWorse."
If you would like to (re-)watch the webinar in fullyou can do so here.
#JerichoConversations – Next Up
Join us for Jericho Conversations: London in Recovery, Friday 19 June 12.30 – 1.45pm (London).How will London emerge from the crisis? Is its status as a super-city now under real threat? – and will it need to take the brunt of paying for some of the extraordinary national measures that have been taken? Can it afford to do this?
The conversation will be led by Professor Tony Travers, Director, LSE London. A challenging panel includes: Georgia Gould, Leader, Camden Council; Justine Simons, Deputy Mayor, Culture & the Creative Industries, GLA; and Shashi Verma, Director of Strategy and Chief Technology Officer, Transport for London. Richard Brown, Deputy Research Director, Centre for London, will join as Expert Commentator.
#JerichoConversations – Join In
A huge thank you to those who have been tuning in every week and enriching the conversations with questions and comments. We really appreciate both the feedback and the encouragement – keep it coming.We conceived #JerichoConversations to ensure that we continued to challenge and address the big issues out there, intensified by the COVID-19 crisis. We are determined to not shy away from the uncomfortable. We must all embrace this inflection point with pragmatism as well as optimism if we are to truly Build Back Better. As one panelist noted earlier today, we cannot afford a return to Business As Usual, still less to Build Back Worse.Keep well. Stay safe. Take care.
Matthew, Robert, Becky, Becca, Roxi and Team Jericho
June 12 2020
