Sustainable Business Magazine - Issue 112.

The Power of Climate Education

Education is the most impactful tool we have to prepare our youngest generations for the single biggest challenge of their lifetime.

- EARTH WARRIORS

The Global Good Awards

A New Purpose-Driven Take on Awards Ceremonies, by founder Karen Sutton. – GLOBAL GOOD AWARDS

As we look to enter the second quarter of 2023, our word of the moment is positivity. At a time when we are continually receiving the stark global climate and environmental concerns from all angles - it’s felt refreshing to hear and also be able to share with you, so many positive sustainability news stories within this edition.

Starting with the Global Good Awards, whose award process, honours leaders who have achieved practical real world impact. The founder Karen Sutton shares with us how the organisation’s path has been mirrored by her own personal and professional journey of ethical and sustainable change and growth.

We also hear from DelAgua who are leading an extraordinary project in Rwanda. Their Communication Director Kate Bruges tells the amazing story of their commitment to provide cooking stoves to every single household in the poorest rural areas in Rwanda. It’s been an incredible journey so far and their ambition and drive to roll this scheme out further internationally is inspiring.

Lastly, we are sending our warmest congratulations to KC Candy on celebrating their 100 year anniversary too. We have been speaking with their CEO Satnarine Bachew, to find out more about how the company is celebrating such a lengthy and thriving history

The Sustainable Business Magazine Team

Issy Joslin

THE POWER OF CLIMATE EDUCATION

Authors: Keya Lamba and Shweta Bahri, co-founders of Earth Warriors

Education is the most impactful tool we have to prepare our youngest generations for the single biggest challenge of their lifetime, and it must play a crucial role in the world’s response to climate change.

Earth Warriors is a global social enterprise delivering climate education resources to young children around the world. We founded the business on our belief in the immense potential of climate education to help the next generation understand the climate crisis and take action.

With studies showing that 77% of children today worry about climate change more than anything else, it is clear that action on a global scale must urgently take place. But parents and educators often don’t have the knowledge or resources to educate their children on the subject without exacerbating this anxiety.

Our lessons and resources have been developed by teachers for teachers - we’re

the first to provide a comprehensive global curriculum for 3-to-11-year-olds on climate and sustainability issues.

HOW DID THE IDEA COME ABOUT?

We met in 2019, working for sister non-profit organisations in London. We became good friends and often talked about starting something together down the line. We found our working styles were compatible and have always had a lot of respect and empathy for each other, as well as a strong friendship.

We had many conversations about how difficult it is to change adult behaviour, and we’ve seen how easily young children absorb new habits. We talked about how powerful it would be if we could instil environmentally-aware habits and behaviour from a very young age as young people all over the world are desperate to understand the climate crisis.

We did some research and couldn’t believe something like Earth Warriors didn’t already exist - something that combined early childhood education with environmental awareness and activism.

There were a lot of places we found such as WWF, NASA Kids, or National Geographic Kids, that were offering single lesson plans or resources on climate education - for example, a lesson on recycling or greenhouse gases or whatever it might be. But those were all part of a broader environmental curriculum as opposed to

a specific climate change curriculum. They also weren’t necessarily a series of lessons that built on themselves week after week, year after year. It wasn’t comprehensive.

We also came across the Stanford School of Earth, which had created a very comprehensive climate change curriculum for middle and high school students (one of their scientists now actually peer reviews Earth Warriors’ curriculum!). But there was really nothing for younger ages, despite it being such a critical time for development.

We’ve seen that climate education resources for teens is a rapidly growing market. However, education resources for younger age groups are lacking. In the UK, schools do not have a unified strategy to educate their students, leaving many children without sufficient knowledge of key climate concepts and issues.

With climate change taking a huge mental health toll on children, and with eco-anx-

iety on the rise, we wanted to give children the tools they needed to feel empowered in the fight against climate change.

We won a grant from the Harvard Mittal Institute with the idea for Earth Warriors, and that made us realise other people believed in our idea too. It gave us the push we needed to get started.

HOW DOES THE EARTH WARRIORS PROGRAMME WORK?

When we founded Earth Warriors, we initially designed a curriculum for 3-7 yearolds only. But then we visited some of the schools that were piloting the programme and we spoke to the students. The seven year olds asked us what they were going to do in Earth Warriors next year and said how excited they were to continue learning about the environment - that’s when we realised we had to expand our curriculum to encompass all of the primary school years.

WE WON A GRANT FROM THE HARVARD MITTAL INSTITUTE WITH THE IDEA FOR EARTH WARRIORS, AND THAT MADE US REALISE OTHER PEOPLE BELIEVED IN OUR IDEA TOO. IT GAVE US THE PUSH WE NEEDED TO GET STARTED.

The teacher resources, guides, activities and lesson plans are delivered via our online portal, which also allows teachers and students to connect with other classrooms around the world following the curriculum, including the UK, the US and India. We also organise events and competitions that allow children across the globe to interact with and learn from each other. We know over 90% of teachers want to teach about climate change but the majority don’t feel confident to do so - our resources alleviate this burden.

Our lessons and resources have been developed by teachers for teachers, and can be implemented in schools anywhere in the world and teachers are guided on how to contextualise the activities and resources for their local context. We recently launched the Earth Warriors programme in 20 rural schools in Zambia and Botswana and customised the curriculum to teach the students about the region’s most urgent environmental challenges, including droughts and flooding.

Our curriculum uniquely takes a positive, solutions-focused approach which is key to combating climate anxiety and empowering children to take climate action. We want to generate “Warrior Awareness” among the nursery, primary and prep schools. Teach the teachers - and the school decision-makersthat climate education must be an essential part of their classroom offering.

We’ve received a lot of support so far. We were recognised as a UNESCO green citizens initiative for our innovative approach in 2022, and received funding from National Geographic to create the world’s first animated video for 3-7 year olds teaching them about climate change and sustainability.

We also recently received funding from Theirworld, which is chaired by respected women and children’s rights campaigner Sarah Brown - which allowed us launch the programme in the schools in Zambia and Botswana. This is the first time pupils in these schools will receive a comprehensive climate curriculum - it is also being delivered to Botswana’s Dukwi Refugee Camp, which is home to 3,500 refugees from across Africa.

THE CHALLENGES

We started Earth Warriors in 2020, so one of the biggest challenges in launching was that all of the schools were shut down and doing virtual lessons. It made it very difficult to test our curriculum, but we did it! We decided to use that time to continue developing our product. We worked with Harvard and Stanford professors to develop the global learning standards on climate and sustain-

ability education for 3-7 year olds, and had our entire curriculum peer reviewed. We spoke to teachers to understand what their barriers were to educating their kids about climate change. In hindsight, that time was so valuable because it only made our curriculum that much stronger.

We’re confident in our base content, we know what we have. But we’ve learned to be very adaptive in how we package that content - we originally developed Earth Warriors as a full year curriculum. Now we’re hearing from some schools and teachers that they want only one term, or a half term, or an after school club. So we’ve learned how to pivot, how to alter what we have to answer our schools’ needs.

THE FUTURE FOR EARTH WARRIORS AND CLIMATE EDUCATION

We see Earth Warriors as a global brandwe’re already in six countries, have reached over 15,000 students and have trained over 1000 teachers. So, in five years’ time we want to have a strong presence in the UK and India, and a fast-growing network of schools in other countries around the world.

We want to be the go-to platform for climate education for young children. We will always have our school curriculum, that’s our bread and butter. But we want to expand on that - we see teacher training becoming a big part of Earth Warriors’ future. Parents have also been approaching us, asking for books and videos that they can use to explain climate issues to their kids.

Education must play a crucial role in our collective response to climate change – it is the most impactful tool we have to prepare for the single biggest challenge of our lifetime. When people think, ‘climate education for young children’, we want them to think of ‘Earth Warriors’. That’s our ultimate goal. c

If you’d be interested in hearing more about Earth Warriors, you can get in touch on hello@earthwarriorsglobal.com or visit the website earthwarriorsglobal.com

THE GLOBAL GOOD AWARDS

A New Purpose-Driven Take on Awards Ceremonies, by founder Karen Sutton.

I founded the Global Good Awards in 2015 because I wanted there to be a truly independent, purpose-driven awards programme that rewarded businesses, NGOs, charities and social enterprises of all shapes and sizes around the world, that are making strides towards a better world for people, the planet and the global economy. We’re not tied to any large publishing or event company, which means that our decisions and actions are not influenced by any vested interests or operational restrictions, and we are free to develop the Global Good Awards in line with our ethos.

The GGAs recognise leaders who are achieving practical, real-world impact that is both scalable and replicable – and who have inspiring stories to tell. We are in the final decade to save our existence on this planet, so we only reward entrants for action – not aims and targets. Our independent and impartial panel of judges has considerable experience in all areas of purpose driven sustainable development and we match that

experience to the most appropriate category, to ensure each entry gets the most thorough evaluation possible. Ten members of our panel have been judging the awards since 2016 and it’s really important to us to have that consistency throughout the judging process.

We have a strong and consistent team and we only work with partner companies that share our values. This approach has undoubtedly made the awards stronger year on year. We also draw upon the knowledge of a steering group of individuals with many years’ experience in sustainability, to ensure that the Global Good Awards remain effective, credible and keeps up with the latest trends in the sector. One such shift has been the growing B Corp movement, and we’re proud that our B Corp following is extensive, from past winners to suppliers, sponsors and partners.

The Awards have also led me to a personal epiphany and a much more sustainable lifestyle. Before the GGAs I rarely gave

a second thought to where I bought things, how they were made and where my money was invested. Now, I am truly inspired by what organisations of all sizes are doing in their communities, for their people, for the planet and for their bottom line. I am fully committed to promoting change and so not only do I now run the Global Good Awards but also run a consultancy for other awards and event organisations to help them work in a more sustainable and ethical way.

OUR ETHOS

Our ethos is what makes us stand out from the crowd. I really believe that if we are to recognise and reward change across all aspects of purpose-driven sustainability and social impact, then we have to be walking that talk ourselves. That is why the Global Good Awards is leading the awards sector by being something of a disruptor in the overall events industry space. Each year, we continue to push the sustainability boundaries further. We question everything

we do, and every penny we spend to ensure we’re as sustainable as possible. ; but most importantly our programme has a purpose.

We donate 1% of all turnover from sponsorship, entry fees and ticket sales to charity through 1% for the Planet, as well as donating either £5 or £10 per entry to protect a tree or plant an Inga Bean via CoolEarth. All our venues meet certain sustainable standards or have ethical or social values, our ceremony hosts often utilise 100% renewable energy and hold a Green Tourism accreditation. Since 2018 we are proud to have worked with BMA House (certified Green Tourism Gold) and their caterers CH&CO (certified 3 Star SRA) deliver a fully plant-based menu that demonstrates that you don’t have the ‘be’ vegan to ‘eat’ vegan. All our alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks are vegan too, as well as biodynamic and/or organic. Our printers, Seacourt are the highest-scoring B Corp printing company in the world, and with the help of Erjjio Studios, our website is not only hosted with 100% renewable energy, but also optimised to reduce carbon emissions on page loading.

We encourage a ‘freshly-eco’ dress code where people wear something sustainably made, something from a charity shop or dig something out from their wardrobe and ‘reuse’. I have worn some really fun sustainable outfits in the past, including my notorious ‘crisp packet dress’! This year, I have a new outfit in mind, suitable for a daytime event. You’ll have to wait a while longer to find out more, but it’ll be colourful and very stripy (which is a bit of a clue)!

Our trophies are true works of art, made by one of Britain’s leading contemporary fused glass artists, Siobhan Jones, they are all unique and Siobhan shares the ethos of our awards in her daily life and business. The awards are all made from offcuts and fragments of glass from her workshop with the bases made from reclaimed wood.

Finally, the sponsors we work with must be able to demonstrate their purpose-driven sustainability and good governance – we don’t allow brands to greenwash through our programme!

In 2018, we were the first scheme in the world to be accredited as ‘Outstanding’ by the Awards Trust Mark and we’ve held onto this every year since. The Awards Trust Mark scheme is a not-for-profit accreditation programme with the goal, as the name suggests, of enhancing trust between those entering awards schemes, and the organisations running them. Award schemes must

prove that they are running their entry and judging process and their entire programme ethically, fairly and transparently. The rating reflected GGA’s commitment to running a scheme with the highest standards of ethical behaviour and transparency.

We strive to have the most ethical awards programme out there. We are open to all organisations with no restrictions; however, we will refuse entries if we feel they pose a risk to our ethical and responsible practices. We don’t take any fees until the final entry has been submitted, descriptions and criteria are on the website and, once registered with us, entrants have immediate access to the application form questions without payment being required. The judging process is fair, transparent and robust. Judging is scored online using a clear and effective system removing any possible bias or inconsistency. Although judges can enter their own organisation, they will not take part, be notified or consulted about a category in which they entered. They will also have no commercial interest in the decisions made.

We provide free feedback to all entrants, whether they were finalists or not, immediately after the awards ceremony, including scores and written feedback. If an entrant requests information about the score given to the winner of their category, they will be supplied with the percentage mark for the benefit of benchmarking. We don’t do long shortlists to sell more ceremony tickets and we don’t charge finalists and winners to use our logo or widgets, they are sent to all finalists straight after the ceremony. We also provide quotes for press releases, winners photos, the event video and we are one of very few award programmes to publish a fullpage promotion of each category winners on our website that will remain there indefinitely.

2023 AWARDS

Since 2015, I have been constantly working to make sure the Global Good Awards are as purpose driven as our entrants. This year I decided it was time to turn traditional awards ceremonies on their heads by introducing a more inclusive and purpose-led ‘Winners’ Showcase’ event in addition to a virtual winner’s ceremony.

I was becoming disillusioned by selling tickets to companies that I knew hadn’t won an award and having an environmental impact by encouraging people to travel to a ceremony that was really just about having a few drinks and doing some networking. Past participants had said to me that they would be really interested to learn more

about the winners, their projects and how they had got there, so I thought it might be an idea to split the GGAs into two parts: a free virtual ceremony for all, which will be held on 12 July, followed by a jam-packed day of purpose-led content on 12 October; and event for any organisation to attend but with discounted tickets for those who have entered in 2023 We also have a very exciting partnership to announce on 12th April so watch this space!

The October date will be held at BMA House in London and will include practical, purpose-led workshops on trending topics, with insights and advice from sector experts and our very own judges. They’ll be joined by 2023 GOLD winners who will share their success stories and best practice, what worked, what didn’t and what were the biggest challenges they faced. They’ll also take part in a ‘What good looks like’ in-plenary session where a host will give each winner a quick and punchy, five-minute interview.

There will also be a Secrets from the C-Suite session where C-Suite leaders from some of GGA’s most successful winners share their insights in a special Q&A session.

The entry period is now open and the main deadline is 21t April (ext. 28th April), but we do offer a 20% early bird discount for entries in before 24th March. You can enter and find out everything you need to know at globalgoodawards.co.uk c

LIVE WELL, COOK BETTER

Sustainable Business Magazine speaks to Kate Bruges, Communications Director at DelAgua, about the company’s incredible project to provide stoves to every poor rural household in Rwanda – and how its doing it through carbon credits.

DelAgua is engaged in an extraordinary project in Rwanda. It is committed to providing every single household in the country’s poorest rural areas with a brand new, highly efficient cooking stove. Crucially, the company is on track to complete this feat by 2024.

Kate Bruges, Communications Director at DelAgua, shares with Sustainable Business Magazine how the company started on this road – and why its name is DelAgua:

“Neil McDougall is the Chairman and founded the business. His background is in the international water industry and he achieved considerable success including the privatisation of a UK water business. McDougall wanted to really give back, so he worked with the University of Surrey on the development of a very robust water testing kit. These kits are still produced today and used by aid agencies when they want to test the quality of the water particularly, for example after a natural disaster. That’s the reason for the company’s water-based name. DelAgua then identified an innovative household water filter for individual households. It enabled almost any water to be filtered into potable water, and it was the product that McDougall first took to Rwanda.

“However, over time and after discussions with the Rwandan government, it became very apparent that clean cooking was a bigger issue. If we could provide a clean-cooking stove, then we’ve automatically given a family the ability to create clean water through

efficient boiling. As a result, we very quickly switched to a clean cooking stove program. That was about 10 years ago.”

DelAgua’s long-running Rwandan stove program – called Tubeho Neza, which means “Live Well” in Kinyarwanda, the local language, began slowly, but more recently has picked up speed rapidly.

“To put it into context, until the end of 2021, we had given out 600,000 free stoves,” says Ms. Bruges. “That is a very substantial number of stoves. Yet, by the end of 2022, we’d ramped up that number to 1.2 million stoves in Rwanda. Today, we are fully funded and on-track to provide 2.3 million stoves by the beginning of 2024. That will be one stove for every single rural household. It’s the biggest stove project of its kind in Africa.”

IN IT FOR THE LONG-TERM

A stove is little help by itself, though. That’s why DelAgua nests the stove within a program of support and long-term care. Ms.

Bruges explains how the program does this:

“It’s not enough simply to provide a stove. You can’t just drop the stoves, do a bit of training and go. So the way we work is by providing the stove along with an integrated education and support program that exists throughout the stove’s life.

“In Rwanda, we work with community health workers (CHWs). They are a community-based network formed by local people. We then have an agreement with the Government of Rwanda to train and pay those CHWs to work with us: help distribute the stoves, visit and educate the households, and provide long-term support for the stove. We currently employ 6,000 CHWs in Rwanda.

“A CHW will visit for a one-on-one visit with the woman of the household – and it’s usually women – after she has collected the stove. The CHW spends about an hour with them, showing them how to use the stove, and crucially, explaining why they should use it. This part is very important due to the air pollution of traditional cooking methods.

Many families either cook inside, or cook in an outbuilding that’s effectively indoors, creating a very smoky atmosphere. Because it is women and children doing the cooking, they are the ones that ultimately suffer.The CHW visits empower women to understand and appreciate how changing their cooking habits will transform the health of their families and this leads to long term behaviour change.

“Following the one-on-one session, CHWs visit every single household with a stove twice a year. They conduct a survey, which is around 125 questions, to gather data that is then uploaded to the cloud. They are physically with the family so they can see the stove is still there, and they can see that it’s still functioning. If it isn’t they’re able to help with repairing or replacing the stove.”

A FUNDAMENTAL SHIFT

In maximising accessibility, DelAgua designed its stove for simplicity of use.

“What we’ve found is that when a family receives the stove at the distribution, they

might not get the household visit for maybe three or four days after that,” Ms. Bruges says. “They’re told not to use the stove until they’ve had their household visit, but they are so easy to use that the households tend to open them up and use them from day one.”

However, simplicity of use wasn’t DelAgua’s only concern during the design process. It needed the stove to work for women, and not the other way around. That’s why, as Ms. Bruges explains, the company spent time understanding the daily reality of households in Rwanda’s poorest rural regions:

“There have been stove programmes in the past that were technically advanced but not so great for actually cooking. They were given to the women and didn’t get used. The issue we tackled was not to fix the women but to fix the stove.

“Our stove’s fundamental shift is that it uses 71% less wood than women currently use for cooking. It uses tiny little sticks. You can put three or four sticks in a little tray and it lights very quickly. You can go from

an unlit stove to boiled water in 10 minutes. The women cooking have, in the past, had to spend four or five hours a day gathering enough wood for the fires before they even start cooking. Sometimes they don’t find enough wood, so they then can’t cook. Our stove is actually the world’s most fuel efficient domestic rocket stove and helps remedy these issues. That’s why households across Rwanda have continued using our stoves.”

DelAgua’s stove distribution program doesn’t only benefit households in Rwanda’s rural regions. It plays an important part in supporting both the local and regional economy. While every stove it distributes is free, the company is paying the CHWs that support the program.

“The 6000 CHWs, they’re all deep in those rural communities, that’s where they live,” Ms. Bruges explains. “We’re able to give them high-quality, long-term paid employment. That’s incredibly scarce. It’s scarce anywhere in Rwanda, but it’s very scarce in the rural areas because it’s effectively it’s just a subsistence lifestyle there. And, of course, the CHWs also receive a stove for themselves.”

Furthermore, the manufacture of the stove takes place in nearby Kenya. As Ms. Bruges outlines, this gives DelAgua the opportunity to support the regional economy:

“One thing we get asked is why don’t we use a stove that’s built in Rwanda. Well, it’s really important that we give these women a stove that is a step change in performance compared with what have now. Otherwise, the environment doesn’t gain and they don’t get the health benefits. Although the stove looks relatively simple, producing a stove of that standard and with such high quality materials isn’t possible in Rwanda right now. The good news is that we work with Burn, based in Kenya, so it’s building the regional economy and helps keep shipping costs relatively low.”

GLOBAL GOOD AWARDS

DelAgua’s work hasn’t gone unnoticed. In October 2022, as the company’s Rwandan stoves program was reaching its tenth anniversary, it was subject to a milestone accolade: a Global Good Award for Community Partnership. Ms. Bruges explains what this meant to the company and its people:

“It was brilliant in two very important ways. Firstly, it helped lift international awareness of the work our people do. Initially, we were completely below the radar. Our global team is very small, there’s currently ten of us. Our model is about recruiting local talent, so nearly all of our resources go towards that. All our local Country Directors, all our teams, they’re local within the country. We only started building our public profile about two years ago, and that decision was made because we realised we needed a wider audience to know about what we do as external investment is crucial to ramping up the program.

“Our upfront investments are demanding. We have to purchase stoves and set up the whole programme before it even begins, and that costs millions of pounds. Therefore, we needed to put our head above the parapet and raise awareness. The Global Good Award is really helpful for that. It carries the reputation of integrity through the objectivity of an informed judging panel that has looked

at what we’re doing. That sort of thing boosts confidence in investors.

“The second important impact of the award is that it helped our people feel like their difficult work is truly valued. They already know they’re doing something phenomenal that no-one else is doing at this scale and pace. During the distribution season, which in Rwanda is May to October, the team across Rwanda will be providing up to 5000 stoves every single day. But there wasn’t any clear way of understanding that the work is valued not just by those communities but by others too. As a result, the Global Good Award, when we received it, was so motivating for our staff. It also helped us attract interest from more local talent that we want to work with as we expand. As our programs are expanding very quickly right now, the award couldn’t have come at a better time.”

It’s clear that the Global Good Award was an important moment for the company’s future prospects, both in terms of financial and human resources. However, there’s one further significant impact it has had.

“Our project is registered under VERRA’s Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS) programme. Our carbon credits are Verified Carbon Units (VCUs) issued by VERRA , for the voluntary carbon market, and this carbon market is increasingly important today” Ms. Bruges says. “Every commentator will tell you that we will not reach our climate and net zero goals unless we have a very active voluntary carbon market. But one of the big challenges of the market is investor confidence, which is built around the integrity of the carbon credits. Investors quite rightly ask questions such as: ‘Are the credits generated by this project really doing what they say they’re going to do?’ DelAgua is already very transparent about every aspect of the project and what differentiates us is the ongoing monitoring and data capture on usage of every single stove through twice yearly household visits. We back up the data with photographic evidence of each stove at each visit so we know the stove is present,

with the same family, and understand exactly how much it is being used. We welcome recent measures to improve the registries’ evaluation of projects and the establishment of bodies such as the Integrity Council-Voluntary Carbon Market. (IC-VCM). We know not all carbon credits are equal so it’s important to be able to differentiate those that have measurable impacts and do the most good, such as Tubeho Neza. Having third party independent scrutiny of that, though, is a really key way for us to demonstrate the absolute integrity of what we do – and therefore the value of the credits. That attracts further investment. The Global Good Awards, because of the way they’re set up, because of the way they’re judged, and because of the integrity around them, it builds a sense of objective assessment of us.”

THE GAMBIA

DelAgua expects to have delivered one of its Tubeho Neza stoves to every poor rural household in Rwanda by the beginning of 2024, approximately 12 years after the project began. However, that isn’t the end of its work. Buoyed by the increasing rapidity of its success in recent years, DelAgua has already started rolling out similar programs in other countries.

This includes The Gambia. It is a very small country and most of the population are reliant on wood-fuelled fires. We’re starting there initially with 25,000 stoves, which we’re distributing in the Lower River Region. the

goal will be 125,000 stoves, one for every rural household. This one is very interesting from an environmental perspective because as well as the deforestation from the woodland, families there are also harvesting mangroves to cook with. Mangroves are really important parts of the ecosystem as they lock away a lot of carbon and also provide a unique habitat for a range of wildlife which can only survive there. Saving mangrove swamps is going to be very important benefit of what we’re doing in the country.

“There is also a very different social structure to contend with in Gambia. As I said before, when selecting the stove we try and start with really understanding the women, the reality of their lives, and adapting what we do to work for them. In Gambia, polygamy is the norm. We would normally provide one stove per household, but if you’ve got a household with a number of women living within one household, how do you manage that?

“We also know that in Gambia, unlike Rwanda, people tend to cook rice in one pot and then a stew in a second pot. As a result, we are providing one stove for each wife, so there will be multiple stoves in a household. Through our education programme we encourage women cooking communally and taking turns to cook each day, to pool the stoves to cook one meal for the household. That’s just a little example of how we understand local lives and adapt what we do to fit them.”

SIERRA LEONE

In Sierra Leone we have just launched Liv Fyn (Live Well) .

Our partnership with the Government began in 2022 and we are currently distributing 2,000 stoves to households in the Bo and Bonthe Districts in the south of the country, a coastal region with extensive mangrove swamps. A further 25,000 will follow in April and the overall programme goal is to provide 1.2 million stoves, that’s one for every rural household currently without access to modern energy efficient cooking.

THE NEW VANGUARD

Beyond that, there are other LDCs on DelAgua’s list where work is in its infancy, including Liberia. Having started out as a relatively low-key operation, the company is now making global waves with its incredible hard work. But it hasn’t forgotten its roots in Rwanda, as Ms. Bruges points says in finishing:

“What’s really exciting is that some of our Rwandan team, who have been with us through thick and thin for ten years, are now getting the opportunity to be the vanguard in other countries. For some of them, it’s the first time they’ve ever left the country or flown in a plane. They are going out there with senior roles setting up the logistics of the operation internationally. That’s exciting for us to see DelAgua talent thrive, and it’s exciting for them.”

WHY COMPANIES NEED TO START COMBINING CLIMATE AND NATURE RELATED DISCLOSURES

The COP27 summit may have generated lots of headlines, but the reality is that meeting the global 1.5 °C warming target is as far away as ever. Indeed, the recent UNEP Emissions Gap Report1, having analysed the updated national pledges since COP26, has concluded that there is currently no credible route to get to the target set by the Paris Agreement.

The analysis shows that policies currently in place around the globe will lead to a 2.8 °C temperature rise by the end of the century and that even if all current pledges are implemented, this will be limited to a 2.4-2.6 °C temperature rise. The report concludes that urgent system-wide transformation is required to reduce greenhouse gases by 45% by 2030 to give us any chance to reach the 1.5 °C target.

At the same time, human activity is also eroding the world’s ecological foundations. The unprecedented growth in economic output, life expectancy and

reduction in poverty over the last 50 years is mirrored by the unprecedented decline in the natural systems that underpin life on Earth. Human activities have already severely altered 75% of land and 66% of marine environments.2 Approximately 25% of plant and animal species are threatened by human activity, with a million species facing extinction, many within decades, and ecosystems have declined in size and condition by 47% globally compared to estimated baselines.2

A recent study by Swiss Re3 estimates that the world economy is set to lose up to 18% of GDP from climate change by 2050 if no action is taken. Economies in Asia would be the hardest hit, with Singapore at risk of losing 46% of GDP in a severe scenario and China 24%, with the world’s biggest economy, the US, predicted to lose 10% and Europe 11%. Meanwhile, research by the World Economic Forum4 estimates that $44 trillion of economic value

generation – more than half of the world’s GDP – is moderately or highly dependent on nature and its services and is therefore exposed to nature loss.

COP15 – BIODIVERSITY’S PARIS MOMENT?

While COP15 didn’t generate as many headlines as COP27, the delayed summit went ahead in Montreal before Christmas where delegates from around the world met to agree a new Global Biodiversity Framework.

Twenty-three new targets were agreed, the most notable of which was target 3, which commits all signatories to protect 30% of all land and sea by 2030, known as 30x30. Alongside this, target 2 seeks to ensure that at least 30% of all degraded terrestrial, inland water and coastal and marine ecosystems have been brought under effective restoration by 2030. Taken together, targets 2 and 3 will, if fully imple-

mented, provide a sound basis for halting the destruction of the natural world and set us on the right path for reversing the damage that has been caused to global biodiversity to date.

The Global Biodiversity Framework has also set targets for reducing the impacts of pollution on biodiversity. Target 7, which considers pollution from nutrients, pesticides and plastics, does not set absolute targets but specifies that by 2030 signatories will reduce pollution risks and negative impacts of pollution from all sources to levels that are not harmful to biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services, and consider the cumulative effects of all pollution sources. This includes reducing excess nutrients lost to the environment, reducing the risk from pesticides and hazardous chemicals to biodiversity, and preventing, reducing and working towards eliminating plastic pollution.

Target 10 of the GBF commits countries to ensure that areas under agriculture, aquaculture, fisheries and forestry are managed sustainably through a substantial increase in the application of biodiversity friendly practices. Target 18 also identifies harmful subsidies as an area for improvement, stating

that by 2025 signatories should identify and eliminate/phase out incentives and subsidies harmful for biodiversity, reducing them by US$500 billion per year by 2030. A recent study by the B Team and Business for Nature estimates that globally at least US$1.8 trillion, equivalent to 2% of global GDP, is spent on subsidies that are driving the destruction of ecosystems and species extinction. The majority of these subsidies are given to the fossil fuel, agriculture and water industries, but forestry, construction, transport and marine fisheries industries also receive substantial subsidies each year.

Targets 4, 5 and 6 deal with species protection, wildlife trade and invasive species. Target 4 commits signatories to urgent management actions to halt human-induced extinctions and to significantly reduce extinction risk. Target 5 commits nations to ensure the use, harvesting and trade of wild species is sustainable, to prevent overexploitation, minimise impacts on non-target species and ecosystems and to reduce the risk of pathogen spill-over. Target 6 commits nations to prevent the introduction of priority invasive species and to reduce the rate of introduction and establishment of other known or

potential invasive species by at least 50% by 2030.

Other notable commitments made by the GBF include calls for nations to update their biodiversity strategies and action plans, and for greater integration of biodiversity across policy areas and business, as well as commitments on financing and consumption.

While this didn’t turn out to be the ‘Paris moment’ that everyone had hoped for, the commitments made at COP15 have still been broadly welcomed as a moment of historic importance for nature. However, the enormity of this task should not be underestimated given that we have a little under 8 years to meet these targets, and this will require urgent and coordinated action from governments, businesses, NGOs and other stakeholders to halt and reverse global biodiversity decline.

WHAT MEANINGFUL ACTIONS CAN BUSINESSES TAKE?

In response to the climate crisis, and partly driven by legislation, many companies have begun to address their impacts on climate by measuring their carbon footprint, setting science-based targets to get to net zero carbon and disclosing the financial risks that climate change poses to their companies using tools such as the Taskforce on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) framework. Having formulated their decarbonisation plans, it’s now time for companies to turn their attention to biodiversity and begin to develop strategies and plans that consider not only direct impacts and dependencies within their financial or operational control, but also their indirect impacts and dependencies (i.e., those that sit within their value chain).

Many companies rely on complex supply chains (and less complex distribution chains) to generate profit, and, more so than ever, these supply chains are often global. Raw materials often extracted in biodiversity hotspots across the world are processed and turned into products that are then shipped around globally to generate profit elsewhere. While carbon emissions, due to their release into the atmosphere, have a global impact, the destruction or loss of biodiversity results in local impacts, albeit with global repercussions.

A number of companies are beginning to understand this and are therefore starting to give biodiversity the same attention that they have been doing for GHG emissions. Fortunately, our understanding of how to assess and evaluate a company’s

global biodiversity footprint has come on a long way in recent years and it is now, like carbon, possible to set science-based targets for nature (SBTN) and to disclose the financial risks that biodiversity loss poses to companies by following the Taskforce on Nature-Related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) framework.

Because companies have already begun their journey to net zero and are only starting on their journey to become nature positive, they have already grasped the nettle of preparing their TCFD disclosures but few as yet have begun to think about TNFD disclosures. By tackling these tasks separately, companies run the risk of overlooking the synergies between carbon and biodiversity, both from an assessment perspective but also from an action perspective. The work required to set science based targets for carbon requires an in depth analysis of not only a company’s

direct operations, but also an analysis of that company’s value chain.

This often involves trying to map Tier 1 and Tier 2+ suppliers to understand their activities, energy use and carbon emissions. Similar information is required when setting science based targets for nature, and because climate change has an impact on nature, GHG emissions are required as input data for both climate-related and nature-related disclosures. In addition, once companies have taken all the action they can to reduce their GHG emissions, they will, inevitably, have to offset their residual emissions to achieve net zero. In most cases this will involve planting trees or other habitats equal in value to the carbon emissions. Tackling carbon and biodiversity together makes sense, whether setting science based targets or disclosing the financial risks that either of them pose. By taking a more holistic and less siloed view, companies will be able to take advantage of the synergies that exist between nature and carbon, and the assessment needs of both. This will result in a more integrated strategy which will be easier to embed in existing business strategies and processes,

is likely to reduce reporting and assessment time and costs, and will require less governance than if dealt with separately. c

Dr Rossa Donovan is Technical Director of Nature Positive

1. United Nations Environment Programme (2022). Emissions Gap Report 2022: The Closing Window – Climate crisis calls for rapid transformation of societies. Nairobi. https://www.unep.org/emissions-gap-report-2022

2. IPBES (2019). Summary for Policymakers of the global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.

3. Swiss Re Institute (2021). The economics of climate change: no action is not an option swiss-re-institute-expertise-publication-economics-of-climate-change.pdf (swissre.com)

4. World Economic Forum (2020). Nature Risk Rising: What the Crisis Engulfing Nature Matters for Business and the Economy. WEF_New_Nature_Economy_Report_2020.pdf (weforum.org)

Famed for his role as the former Chairman of the White House Climate Change task force, Roger Ballentine made great strides for climate sustainability while serving President Bill Clinton. He is currently the President of Green Strategies Inc, a consulting firm dedicated to helping corporate clients reduce their environmental impact. In the world of sustainability, Roger is leading the charge for our planet, by educating and empowering businesses to be more sustainable.

In this exciting interview courtesy of The Sustainability Speakers Agency, Roger discusses the economic power of sustainability, the role that capitalism has played in climate change and how sustainable values can lead to corporate success.

What did you learn from your role as the former Chairman of the White House Climate Change task force?

“Oh, I learned so much! It was an absolute trial by fire in needing to learn the substance, learn the science, learn the economics, learn the technologies. I learned so much, but [that’s] what I love about my job, I will say, is learning new things every single day.

“But it was real trial by fire. It was also, you know, a tremendous privilege and honour and responsibility to be in charge of this issue across the federal Government. At times, it was very frustrating and part of it was, you know this is 1998, 1999, 2000, there wasn’t a lot of consensus.

“I should go back to the inspiration and give some credit where credit is due and that’s to President Bill Clinton, who himself passionately believed that dealing with climate change was a nearly unprecedented economic opportunity - if we seized it and did it right. I said to him when I was leaving the White House; ‘your vision there... is going to be my career’.”

What is the economic benefit of sustainability in business?

“Well, I give hour-long talks on this, so I’ll try to put this in a really simple way!

“Sustainability when done right starts with a company looking at itself through a different lens. I like to talk about how it’s like putting on a pair of night vision goggles and suddenly you see things you didn’t see before; it may be some waste, stuff that you’re throwing out.

“Now, some companies are still discovering this but the leading companies, they’ve done all been doing this. You start

Roger Ballentine

looking at things in different ways, tracking different metrics, like waste - there’s a metric. Energy use, there’s a metric. And you start looking at them in slightly different ways and one thing you find, is opportunities to save money.

“So, if we actually increase the energy efficiency of this device, this process, this building, what does that lead to? It lowers our energy costs. What does it also lead to? It reduces emissions. You may start by looking at it from an emissions perspective but what you find, at the end of that journey, are monetary savings.”

“That’s one clear benefit, but it’s more than that. I don’t want to imply that this is superficial, but reputation matters and there’s a direct correlation - millions of studies have shown this - between having a positive reputation and your bottom line. Brand value, it matters and today - this was the case when I started, but today – it is absolutely the case that more and more of your customers, your employees, your potential employees care about this stuff.

“They want to see that a company is taking positions and taking actions on issues like climate change... or they may shop somewhere else, they may use somebody else’s services, they may work somewhere else. You can’t compete and succeed as a company without talent, and obviously, without customers.

“Now, it was in the beginning that this was primarily understood by consumer-facing brands. Competitive brands, Coke or Pepsi, you know, are in such competition that they think, ‘maybe if we at Coke do a little more on climate sustainability, then consumers may grab a Coke instead of a Pepsi.’ Things like that, pretty straightforward. But today, it’s much more than that.

“I’m working for a business-to-business electronics company, who came to me because they’re like, ‘we’re actually losing jobs because the businesses we’re selling to - these are not consumers - they’re asking us about sustainability, and they don’t think our answer is good enough. They’re going to our competitor.’

“Wow... so, that’s business value. Having a sustainability program will almost always make you a more efficient, aware, innovative and competitive company.

What is the role of capitalism in climate change

“I think it’s fair to say that historically capitalism was a major, if not the greatest cause, of man-made climate change to begin with. This is, you know, simple economic principles that historically, fossil fuels were

Former Chairman of the White House Climate Change task force

cheaper than alternatives, fossil fuels enabled the modern economy.

“I’m not criticizing this; this is obviously all the things that we’ve done as a society. So much of it was built on a fossil fuel economy of inexpensive and accessible energy, the flaw was that the cost, the price of that energy, didn’t reflect all its cost, like carbon emissions. Capitalism was consuming resources, in this case the atmosphere, for which it did not pay, so it sent a distorted market signal about how inexpensive these fossil fuels actually were.

“Capitalism was very, very effective at privatising gain and socializing cost, so the profit motive - which is one of the great drivers of human behaviour, again not criticizing that - is very effective and impactful. In many parts of the world, it has created tremendous wealth, putting aside how that wealth is distributed, the marketplace, profit motive and capitalism can be ruthlessly efficient. If there’s a market flaw in there, the result may not yield appropriate social gain and outcome.

“My starting proposition is, ‘well, capitalism was so good and so effective at getting us into this problem, what if we turned those

efficiencies, those natural human forces, the powers of the market, around to actually help solve the problem.

“That’s what I think is beginning to happen. Capitalism is only going to behave this way if it is creating profit, and I firmly believe that going forward, the greatest pathway to value creation and profit is going to be through a climate change mitigation aligned pathway.

“It’s not just climate, it has to do with natural resources and water and land and, you know, all of that! It’s all really the same principle.

“I also think it is necessary because I don’t believe we’re going to just regulate our way out of this problem - certainly that’s the case in the United States. I’m not saying capitalism is going to solve this problem and we don’t need policy; I’m absolutely not saying that. What I’m saying is, we need both - that’s the size of the problem.” c

This interview with Roger Ballentine was conducted by Jack Hayes. Roger is regularly booked to discuss the power of including sustainability in your corporate mission and is available to hire through The Sustainability Speakers Agency.

BEST PRACTICES FOR DEEPENING PARTNERSHIPS TO ADVANCE VALUE CHAIN SUSTAINABILITY

Kyra

Whitten, Vice President, Sustainability, President, Flex Foundation, Flex

An organisation’s influence does not begin and end within its walls, especially when it comes to sustainability impacts and outcomes. Net zero targets need to be hit by 2050 and in order to meet this deadline, organisations must prioritise the creation of science-based plans and deepening their value chain partnerships to minimise both direct and indirect emissions.

Reducing Scope 1 and 2 emissions, which refer to a company’s direct greenhouse gas emissions and the emissions associated with its purchase of power or fuel, is no longer enough. There is an urgent need to tackle Scope 3 emissions, which

extend to the emissions from other segments of a business’s value chain. These include emissions from transportation and distribution activities, among others, and can often be difficult to capture and measure. So, what are the best practices that organisations can look to embrace to start making an impact?

IDENTIFY CHALLENGES TO INFORM YOUR GO-FORWARD PLAN

Identifying your organisation’s respective hurdles is critical to informing a go-forward plan and identifying foundational efforts to curb Scope 3 emissions. This can look dif-

ferent depending on your business’s operations, where you are in the value chain and the maturity of your partners’ sustainability efforts. Having a solid grasp of obstacles enables a thoughtful, systematic approach to engaging value chain partners in both the short and long run.

For manufacturers, tackling Scope 3 emissions is especially challenging, requiring expert knowledge, measurement tools and resources as well as the ability to collaborate across the value chain in scalable ways. A few of the common challenges encountered include:

• Aligning with suppliers around common, shared values while recognising that they may be at different points in their own sustainability journeys

• Ensuring value chain partners have a strong understanding of how to report their emissions

• Using a standardised disclosure framework to collect and report data

• Guiding supplier goal-setting efforts, which can be time and resource-intensive endeavours

RECOGNISE THE VALUE OF TRANSPARENCY AND COMMUNICATIONS

Given that organisations can’t address Scope 3 emissions alone, transparency and ongoing dialogue with partners are paramount to articulating the importance of concerted efforts, securing stakeholder buy-in and scaling knowledge and best practices. By keeping in close communication with suppliers, vendors and customers, businesses are better equipped to take their next steps on their sustainability journey and successfully bring others along with them. By having open and honest discussions, teams can avoid running into problems later on such as a lack of alignment. They can also identify ways to enhance processes together, and ultimately, enrich partnerships.

As environmental regulation continues to grow, having established relationships with trusted value chain partners will be vital. Working with suppliers and vendors who are invested in sustainability and take pride in their own ESG performance will make for a smoother and stronger partner-

CREATING A MORE SUSTAINABLE FUTURE DEMANDS ACTION, ACCOUNTABILITY AND COLLABORATION ACROSS GOVERNMENTS, NONPROFIT ORGANISATIONS, COMPANIES AND COMMUNITIES.

ship. It is also important to acknowledge that sustainability is evolving every day, and while we don’t have all the answers, establishing good quality partnerships allows businesses to make changes easier.

PRIORITISE STANDARDISED MEASUREMENT AND DISCLOSURE FOR SCALABILITY

Measurement and disclosure are tenets of any impactful, credible sustainability effort. This ethos can also be applied to reducing emissions or any other environmental impact for that matter, in collaboration with customers and suppliers. Baseline data serves as a foundational jumping-off point to not only gauge current performance but also establish a strategy and goal-setting.

When working with value chain partners, it is critical to understand where they stand in their sustainability journey and goals. Questions to consider include:

• Is a trackable sustainability strategy or metrics system in place already?

• Is ESG data reported to any regulatory bodies and is there assurance of the data?

• Does their sustainability roadmap align with your own and where does it diverge?

• Are goals, commitments, and measurable data aligned?

Remember, robust and reliable reporting systems can take time to integrate into an organisation, so planning, prioritisation and standardisation is key. It is therefore essential to select areas with partners which are the most critical areas to track, while also being mindful of cost and resource limitations.

For example, if an organisation works with smaller suppliers, it may not be reasonable to have them report to an intensive framework that is targeted towards larger, publicly traded companies. But, it does make sense to establish a baseline reading of their emissions, water usage, and waste management to assess your own business’s overall environmental impact.

Sharing best practices and learnings from your own company’s sustainability journey and disclosure efforts can support value chain partners embarking on their own mission. This allows you to advise value chain partners on methodologies and metrics that will be easy to implement while setting a foundation that allows for future scalability with additional partners, not taking an all or nothing approach right from the start.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE INDUSTRY?

Creating a more sustainable future demands action, accountability and collaboration across governments, nonprofit organisations, companies and communities. In the case of businesses, it also requires that we take a broad and critical view of our entire value chain and review whether our partners are in alignment with our sustainability roadmap.

Actively working with suppliers, vendors and customers to take continuous strides to make sustainability a part of the entire value chain is becoming increasingly important. Whether working together

to lower emissions, minimise waste, or identify the right circular economy solution for your customer’s needs, businesses must strive to maintain an open channel of communication and transparency with all those involved.

As organisations continue on their sustainability journey, it is important to remember that a true and in sync partnership cannot be achieved without ensuring that not only the businesses but also the people relationships are aligned on the same goals, vision, and overall mission to make the world a better place and create a more sustainable and eco-conscious future. c

Sally Uren

Chief Executive Forum for the Future

Dr Sally Uren, Chief Executive of Forum for the Future, is a sustainability champion. The trained environmental scientist creates and delivers truly transformative sustainability strategies for global businesses and organisations, leading to systems change. Among her impactful projects, Dr Sally Uren has helped to develop and embed the Net Positive goal to which many organisations aspire.

In this exciting interview with Dr Sally Uren, courtesy of The Sustainability Speakers Agency, discover her message for businesses not already combating climate change and her top tips for integrating sustainability policies in your daily operations.

What are your top tips all businesses should adopt to improve their sustainability policies?

“First of all, focus on your big impact areas.

“Sometimes, sustainability policies don’t focus on where you can make the biggest difference. So, for retailers, there’s been a preoccupation with the plastic bag, which is not a material impact area. However, where and how you’re sourcing raw materials, really is a much bigger impact area, how you are helping your customers lead more sustainable lives through the use phase of products, is also much bigger than a carrier bag. Focus on those big material impact areas.

“Then the second is, be specific to your business. You see lots of sustainability policies where you could erase the title and switch them over - they’re a bit vanilla. A really good sustainability policy should be really specific to your business.

“Tip three is set targets, put targets in your policy. Science-based targets for climate are the targets for customers reach with new products, for example, or revenue sales from sustainable products.

“And finally, be honest and authentic. Use your policy to talk openly and honestly about your progress.

“If you do those four things - focus on the material impact areas, include targets, make your policy specific and be honest and open about your progress - I think we’d see a general uptick in performance.”

Do you believe leading businesses and brands are doing enough to combat climate issues? If not, why not?

“No, they’re not - nobody is. “Why not? Partly because of the constraints of the economy that we’re in, and also the economy that is fuelled to a considerable extent on short term profit maximisation. And so, whilst there is a really strong business case for sustainability, you may need upfront investment in, for example, solar panels or other renewable types of energy. You may need to enter into long term contracts with your supplier and actually commit more resources upfront as a way of building resilience in your supply chain.

“If you are having to meet really short term demands on profitability, then that longer term investment becomes harder - even though you can show the rate of return. So, one of the biggest barriers is this drive for short term profit maximisation. It’s really great that investors are beginning to realise that short term profit maximisation without a view to long term value creation is really short sighted for long term prosperity of the market.

“I think there’s another barrier which is much more human, which is, I just don’t think we’re ambitious enough. I think we’re too comfortable. We’ll tweak things here, tweak things there. I think another barrier is what we would call mindset, there’s a lack of ambition in some quarters and a lack of creativity.

“If we can be bold and ambitious, then I think you’ll see an acceleration [of sustainability].”

In the last few years, we have seen a big move to large-scale brands bringing sustainability positions into the boardroom. What do you think has driven this and are you seeing enough change in their actions?

“I think what has driven sustainability entering the boardroom is an understanding that this isn’t a peripheral agenda, that this agenda really does impact business prosperity.

“Also, people really care about it. Many employees now really are expecting their organisations to do the right thing by this agenda - all the change we’ve seen over the last few years has created a really compelling business case to take this issue seriously, that’s why I think it’s headed to the boardroom.

“The rate at which sustainability is entering into those conversations is fairly good. Again, in the pandemic, it’s increased. So last year, the number of organisations adopting science-based targets doubled in the pandemic.

“Is it fast enough? Probably the rate at which the conversation is heading into the boardroom is fast enough. What isn’t fast enough, though, is the response. We’re still seeing too much hand wringing dialogue, what we need are big, bold targets, and commitments to new business models, commitments to new ways of offering products into the marketplace. “We need action.”

How is sustainability shaping consumer shopping trends?

“In many different ways, and particularly heightened as a result of the pandemic. Heading into the pandemic, awareness and understanding of sustainability was on the rise. What the pandemic has done, has really shown us all the deep interconnectivity between our natural system and us as humans, so that link with the health of the planet.

“Covid-19 started with illegal wildlife trading in Wuhan. But actually, it started before that... the theory is that illegal deforestation gives rise to these zoonotic viruses that then enter our food system and make us sick. I think that understanding of the interconnectivity between our natural world, our health and the economy has been heightened by Covid-19. As has the importance of community, so creating products and services in ways that build community resilience.

“I think consumers are asking more now than they were before the pandemic, in terms of, ‘how has this been made? Who made it? And what are the benefits of buying this product for the bigger causes?’.

“There was a really interesting report that came out about three weeks ago, a survey by one of the United Nations agencies. They surveyed over - I think it was 50 million people, over 30 countries. And 2/3 said, ‘the climate emergency is real, and we need to do something about this’.

“I think that sustainability issues are really shaping consumer sentiment. The big flare up around racism that we had in the last few months, the million-dollar question is, ‘how is that translating into active purchasing choices?’ I think that is beginning to happen, because we’ve shifted from a situation where sustainability brands or retailers tended to drive the prices of organic or sustainable products. And therefore, there became a narrative that sustainability cost more. It actually doesn’t, it saves you money.

“So now, we are in a situation where we’ve got products that are more sustainable than the one next to them, and they’re the same price. I think that’s going to tip the market.”

Many stakeholders believe that going sustainable costs more, what would you say to convince them to implement sustainable practices?

“Just do a long-term cost reward calculation… “We used to worry that the price of renewable energy was too much higher than the price of fossil fuel. It’s actually now cheaper. Those organisations that did a long-term pricing analysis, they’re doing really well right now because they’ve got access to the energy that they need. They’ve got into long term contracts. Actually, the price of renewables will go up as a result.

“I think it’s really important to not just focus on the short term, but to imagine your business five years from now, 10 years from now - where and how will you be sourcing your energy? Who will be your customers? What will you be selling? Because it won’t be what you’re doing today!

“The business case is really strong today - cut carbon, you save money; cut waste, you save money; cut water, you save money. You build brand trust, building strong customer loyalty programmes. If you don’t act now, the chances are that as a business, you’re being uncompetitive and maybe out of business in five years from now.”

This interview with Dr Sally Uren was conducted by Jack Hayes. As a leading voice in the battle against climate change, Sally is available to hire for your event or online seminar through The Sustainability Speakers Agency.

SWEET TASTE OF SUCCESS

Last year, K.C. Confectionery Limited also known as KC Candy celebrated 100 years of business. Sustainable Business Magazine spoke to its CEO, Satnarine Bachew, to find out more about how the company is celebrating such a lengthy and thriving history.

The K.C. Confectionery tale began 100 years ago in 1922, beneath the humble Preysal home of Abdul Razack Khan and his wife Zainab. Using a coal pot, a marble stone and scissors, the couple began making candies, with their children rendering assistance. In 1936, when Abdul passed on, his son Ibrahim Khan continued the enterprise. With his wife Korisha, he hand- wrapped the sweets and using his father’s bicycle, he traversed the miles to sell the homemade treats all across Trinidad, becoming known as “sweetie man’’. Success was slow but steady. In 1957 the first factory was opened in Cou-

va. In 1966 the company began exporting to neighbouring countries including Barbados, Jamaica and Guyana.

However, as KC Candy CEO Satnarine Bachew explains, the best was yet to come:

“In the 1980s and 1990s, building on the successes in the CARICOM region, the business decided to expand to a truly international market including the US, Dominican Republic, Panama, and the UK. It was the era of globalisation and trade liberalisation, and that enabled KC Candy to take big new strides into the world. To do this, we expanded the production line

and started developing new products. Today we currently export to 22 countries and have tailored our products to suit each local market.”

STAKEHOLDERS, NOT SHAREHOLDERS

Maintaining a business for 100 years is no easy feat. As Mr. Bachew explains, it demands care across all sectors of the company in equal measure:

“KC Candy has designed its business around its stakeholders and not only its shareholders. That includes our suppliers,

customers, and employees. A lot of emphasis has been put in these areas.

“Employees, for example, are mainly from our catchment area in Couva. A lot of our employees will join at a very early age and stay with us throughout their careers. A lot of our employees have 20 to 40 years service. Such a low turnover rate shows the high level of loyalty from our employees. That’s because when they have issues, they can come to management and some level of support will be provided, whether it is financial or otherwise. The company is always there. The company’s relations with its employees is very strong and resilient.

“In terms of our customers, the same thing applies. Most of our customer arrangements are not even written contracts – they’re word of mouth. A lot of them are relationships that we’ve had for 40 or more years. We can call up customers or they can call us up when issues arise, and we resolve them very quickly. There are no legal battles, it is not that kind of business. The same thing goes for our suppliers. We have 30-year relationships with most of our suppliers for different raw materials and packaging materials.

“The other important element to our business is, of course, the consumer. Without

“SOCIETY, ENVIRONMENT AND ECONOMICS. ONCE A COMPANY CAN MARRY AND FIND A GOOD BLEND AMONG THOSE THREE THINGS, IT ALL GOES WELL.”

National Canners Ltd.

them we wouldn’t have a business, so its essential for KC Candy to stay in touch with what the consumer wants. We continue to reinvent and redesign our products to suit the needs of our customers. At one point we had more than 300 products on the market. Now we have narrowed that down to about 80 products, based on what is and isn’t selling. Consumers’ tastes change and, today, people want healthier products. They are looking at everything on the labels: what does a product contain? What kind of flavours are there? Are they real? Artificial? Is it halal? And a lot more questions. At the same time, people also want high energy products. So

we are redesigning our products to suit these needs. That is one of our key sustainable drivers, and it has kept us competitive in the market. The mere fact that we are still here 100 years later means we are keeping in touch with our customers.

“This is what has made KC Candy as sustainable as it is, and still in business despite a lot of turmoil and ups and downs.”

Some of the company’s most turbulent times have come over the past few years, first with Covid and then with the Russian war in Ukraine.

“We had two Covid years where our business dropped drastically because of our

relationship with China,” says Mr. Bachew. “We get a lot of our packaging materials from China, so the impact of supply delays and huge increases during the Covid period had a massive impact on us. Freight from China went up significantly. Then, after Covid began to recede, the war in Ukraine started. All of our glucose came from there, so the entire supply was halted. Given that glucose is one of our three main raw ingredients along with sugar and flavouring, it was serious. However, we weathered it and found new supply chains, helped by our long-standing partnerships with suppliers worldwide.”

Congratulations KC Candy on your 100th anniversary

PROUD SUPPLIER OF PEANUT BUTTER TO KC CANDY.

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS

With a century behind it, KC Candy was keen to celebrate its historical successes by engaging in a number of new initiatives. One such venture is KC Kids In Need (KIN) Foundation.

“Recently we started a new foundation called KC KIN (Kids in need),” Mr. Bachew says. “As you can appreciate, kids form a big constituent of our customers and there are lots of kids in need in terms of health, economics, and education. Our intention is to support those disadvantaged kids as best we can. We set up that foundation up

in August 2022, and 2023 is the year we are going to really make an impact with it.”

Mr. Bachew highlights another special event led by KC Candy for its centenary anniversary – the creation of a stamp:

“As part of our 100th year celebrations we have launched a stamp alongside the country’s postal service, Trinidad and Tobago Postal Corporation (TTPOST). We have stamps with some of our products and history. It’s a good innovative piece of advertising we have out there.”

The company is also working on a particularly ambitious piece to celebrate its history: branding its hometown of Couva. “We want to create a welcome arch in Couva,” explains Mr. Bachew. “They will say KC – Candy City – reflecting the connected histories of the town and our company. We are currently working with our local authorities to see how best we can do this.”

And to top it all off, the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce recognised KC Candy’s contributions and awarded the company in October 2022:

“Recently, we won the ‘Internationally Known… T&T Owned Company of the

Year’ that was awarded by the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce. It is a very proud feather in our hat. The award illustrates what a small company can achieve, and it has helped provide an incentive to countless companies in our country. It highlights the vision that you have and the confidence it takes to thrive. It reminds companies not to think of themselves as a small player, but to think globally while acting locally. That way you can really make a difference.”

SOCIETY, ENVIRONMENT, ECONOMICS

KC Candy would not have received such accolades without putting in hard work. One of its most important considerations in short- and long-term planning is sustainability, which Mr. Bachew says is built on three pillars:

“Society, environment and economics. Once a company can marry and find a good blend among those three things, it all goes well.

“For a company like ours, the question of the environment is a big one. We

Chairman of the Board of Directors of KC Candy, Mr. Imran Khan, President of Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Mr. Charles Pashley, Minister of Trade and Industry of Trinidad and Tobago, Senator The Honorable Paula Gopee-Scoon, CEO, KC Candy, Mr. Satnarine Bachew.

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discharge effluent from the factory, which can be glucose-based or sugar-based. We have also emissions from our manufacturing going into the air. These are things that we monitor and manage all the time and are always looking for the best solutions. At the moment, for example, we are in the process of constructing a wastewater treatment plant. That will treat all our effluent and discharge, so that whatever we discharge is pure clean water. Meanwhile, our emissions are very clean and the impact is minimal. We frequently test our levels, and they are

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IN CELEBRATION OF ITS 100TH ANNIVERSARY, THE UNVEILING OF OUR NATIONAL STAMPS

The first time in Trinidad & Tobago, (TTPOST) Trinidad and Tobago Postal Corporation launched a scented stamp. The stamps will contain a candy aroma that will be activated once scratched. The QR code is also embedded in the stamp design.

well within all environmental standards. We are very conscious of sustainable development and all the sustainable development goals identified at COP27.

“In terms of society, we give back to all our surrounding schools, religious organisations, and anyone that comes to us for contributions. A lot of people do because they know we like to help. It’s not usually on a big scale individually, but when you add it up at the end of the day, it’s a significant amount used to help our local communities. KC Candy is on board with important

issues such as poverty eradication, gender equality, and equal access to education for everyone. We are very conscious of that and almost all of our decisions are centred around that. It’s a very customer-centric, environment-centred business, and we contribute what we can to achieving sustainable development goals.”

BUILDING A FUTURE ON THE SUCCESS OF THE PAST

The goal for KC Candy’s future is deceptively simple: continue doing what’s made it successful for the last 100 years. What’s made the company so successful, though, it the exact opposite: not sitting still, but constantly moving and adapting.

“We’re at a juncture now looking for the new paths, asking: ‘What do we need to do to continue?’” Mr. Bachew says. “How do we expand our production line to keep up with demand? How do we grow our export market? Those questions are the main driver for us right now. Our local market is very small. We have a population of 1.4 million people in Trinidad and Tobago. If we are going to continue to grow this company, it must be in the export market.

“We’re at 22 countries right now, and our intention is to nearly double that in the short-term future so we can expand and widen our global footprint. We want to export to 40 countries within two years.

Building that takes a lot of product development, logistics planning, and understanding of markets so that we know how to be competitive. These are the burning issues right now that we are looking into as we plan for the next 100 years.”

However, KC Candy displays strong confidence in its capabilities, the same confidence that helped it win the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce’s prestigious award.

“It’s a big task but we can do it,” says Mr. Bachew. “We have the strength, fortitude, technical competence, and skill sets to go out there and expand and build on the successes we’ve had over the last 100 years.” c

“WE HAVE THE STRENGTH, FORTITUDE, TECHNICAL COMPETENCE, AND SKILL SETS TO GO OUT THERE AND EXPAND AND BUILD ON THE SUCCESSES WE’VE HAD OVER THE LAST 100 YEARS.”

ACHIEVING NET-ZERO IN HEAVY INDUSTRY

A SUSTAINABILITY LEADER’S GUIDE

Sustainability is the defining challenge of our time. Not a year goes by without seeing a horrifying new headline, be it soaring temperatures, deforestation, wildfires or the increasing frequency of floods. The climate emergency requires urgent action not just from individuals and governments, but from businesses, too.

Yet, while organisations of all sizes and from diverse sectors understand it’s a critical issue, they don’t always know how to bring about significant change – particularly in energy intensive processes. An encouraging trend is the boom in sustainability leadership roles appearing across more and more businesses. In the UK alone, sustainability job listings have increased by 91% since 2016.

Sustainability practitioners – especially those in heavy industries – understand the scale of the task ahead better than most, so they will naturally be at the heart of any effective decarbonisation journey. As more organisations hire and challenge their own leaders in sustainability to drive this change forward, the closer we will get to taking control of the climate crisis.

But while sustainability leaders will be at the very forefront of making the vision for net-zero a reality across their organisations, they also face increasing pressure to get results quickly and highlight progress towards their goals – especially as 93% of businesses will reportedly miss their sustainability targets unless they double the pace of decarbonisation. They must make

sure their voices are heard, that they have the right partners, and can access the right data to demonstrate their impact.

THE CHALLENGE FOR INDUSTRY

Despite sustainability rising rapidly up the agenda of both heavy industries and less energy-intensive sectors, the challenge is daunting and in some cases will require efforts to develop new materials and new processes and bring them to scale quickly.

It’s not simply a case of switching energy production to renewable sources. In some industries, such as chemicals or

pharmaceuticals, energy demand is so high that such a switch is not easily made, and many of these processes are perceived to be locked into fossil fuels. Others may not be able to easily access renewables infrastructure yet.

There are options available to decarbonise some processes, including electrification of heat, carbon capture, and zero-carbon material conversion processes. But investment in energy efficiency continues to have an important role to play. Sustainability begins with the fuel that isn’t used – and when high-energy parts of

BY FINDING A TRUSTED PARTNER AND ENSURING A SYSTEM THAT IS DIGITALLY-CONNECTED, INSIGHT-DRIVEN AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, EFFICIENT, SUSTAINABILITY LEADERS CAN BRING THEIR ORGANISATIONS EVER CLOSER TO NET-ZERO.

infrastructure, such as steam systems, are well controlled and managed, the energy reductions can be dramatic.

That’s why for most businesses, the pathway to achieving their sustainability goals involves working across the greenhouse gas management hierarchy to avoid unnecessary emissions, reduce through efficiency and optimisation, substitute though onsite renewables generation or quality renewable energy contracts such as Power Purchase Agreements, and ultimately to compensate for unavoidable residual emissions. These must now be seen as complimentary processes.

INFLUENCE AT THE TOP

As sustainability practitioners know, they can – and must – influence the C-suite investment decisions that will lead to the most substantial emission reductions. While this might be a harder process and conversation in some industries than others, the task remains no less important.

The good thing is that buying conversations are evolving to include a wider range of voices. New budget-holders are appearing across organisations and sustainability leaders are increasingly finding themselves in this new class of crucial decision-makers. As such, they are increasingly better positioned to highlight new ways of working, new partners and new technologies to their boards.

While factors such as thermal processes and energy use requirements might once have been the remit of the Chief Operations Officer or the Head of Engineering, sustainability leaders are now well placed to influence the important decisions that could cut emissions. They can also consider decisions from a different angle, taking a more holistic view of the impact of investment. And this is only set to continue, with a recent survey by EY highlighting that more than 60% of sustainability executives expect to spend more in 2023 to address climate change than they did this year, showing their increasing impact as budget-holders.

PARTNERS IN PROGRESS IN DECARBONISING HEAT

The scale of the challenge for sustainability leaders cannot be overstated. But that doesn’t mean they need to implement these changes alone. Businesses need a considered, tailored approach that suits their individual needs and sustainability goals. For heavy industries with high-energy consumption and significant thermal requirements, any solution needs to be bespoke to their specific system infrastructure, industry, needs

and energy use. Every heating system is built from different components, and is of varying ages and efficiency levels – meaning decarbonisation is not a one-size-fits all process.

For many industrial manufacturers, heating systems that involve steam are essential to their processes and simply cannot be taken out. That’s why sustainability leaders need to partner with experts who can optimise their systems and reduce carbon impact, as well as guide them towards options for decarbonising their processes, while retaining most of their existing steam infrastructure and keeping disruption to a minimum.

DATA-DRIVEN IMPACT

Advances in digital technologies are enabling industrial plants to be monitored more closely than ever before and provide better visibility of asset performance, providing sustainability leaders with crucial intelligence to drive efficiency.

Thermal partners can extract information from all parts of a plant and then create reports that detail actionable insights and help sustainability practitioners track progress for their organisations. Indeed, without this data, opportunities will be missed and changes might look insignificant or go unnoticed, resulting in less budget and buyin from the top. The key to this insight is

data. IBM’s research points out that a lack of data insights on progress is a top challenge for 44% of senior leaders when it comes to achieving their sustainability targets.

But once a business unlocks that data, it can understand exactly how efficiently a facility is running– and make steps towards significant carbon reductions. Establishing this holistic view allows a business to determine which parts of the system are running well and which parts are performing sub-optimally, and therefore hindering the facility’s overall efficiency and – ultimately – sustainability.

With a more intelligence-driven approach in place, it will become easier to integrate emerging technologies such as AI and ML, which are becoming increasingly available and more sophisticated. There is a real opportunity to integrate these into the facility’s ecosystem to enable predictive maintenance, adapt energy usage based on varying requirements across the plant, and automate monitoring and reporting.

OPTIMISATION IN ACTION

To take an example of data driven efficiency gains, we can look to a recent project that Spirax Sarco completed at a US-based chemical plant that produces basic chemicals, intermediates and resins. The plant experi-

enced a steam system water hammer incident that resulted in a safety hazard, incurred high repair costs, and lost production.

Our experts then conducted a plant-wide survey of the site and found that 10% of the steam traps were ‘failed open’, while a further 34% of drip traps were ‘failed closed’, meaning that steam passed through traps without providing its full potential while using additional boiler fuel – driving up operational costs and resulting in unnecessary emissions. Our team was able to pinpoint the failed drip traps to the crucial issues of energy, safety and reliability and provide optimisation recommendations for plant management.

The optimised steam traps went on to provide an annual energy saving of $570,000 within a year, heightened productivity, and crucially, reduced the plant’s carbon footprint by nearly 5,000 tons a year. Numbers like these are exactly what sustainability leaders can deliver to their boardrooms, alongside cleaner and more productive plants.

TACKLING THE CARBON FOOTPRINT OF THE HEAVY INDUSTRIES

Decarbonisation is a significant long-term challenge that will shape industry for decades to come. There’s no doubt of the scale of the task at hand, nor the stakes. Be it pharma, manufacturing, chemicals or any other heavy industry, the time to act is now.

The encouraging thing is that the tools and innovations sustainability leaders need to not only implement initiatives, but also monitor and measure their energy systems more closely, are evolving all the time with many ready to be deployed now. By finding a trusted partner and ensuring a system that is digitally-connected, insight-driven and most importantly, efficient, sustainability leaders can bring their organisations ever closer to net-zero.

WHY MANUFACTURERS NEED TO CONSIDER SUSTAINABLE DESIGN FOR CIRCULARITY

As the UK races to achieve ambitious net-zero goals, there are numerous opportunities to make new product designs more sustainable - from integrating greener materials to exploring efficient manufacturing methods to help cut emissions.

Here, Rory Ingram, Design Engineering Team Lead at the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland (NMIS), operated by the University of Strathclyde, discusses why manufacturers should put environmental sustainability front and centre during the product and system development phases.

For any business, global conversations over the last few years have rapidly moved environmental sustainability up the agenda. Net-zero has been spoken of publicly

more in the last decade than ever before and, as the UK and Scottish Governments set targets of achieving net-zero by 2050 and 2045 respectively, there has never been more pressure on businesses to take action to limit their impact on the planet.

Hardware manufacturers must consider environmental sustainability within their emerging or evolving operations, not least in product and system development. Sustainable design from the outset allows them to meet emerging demands and avoid being left behind.

UNLOCKING POTENTIAL

When it comes to manufacturing, the design phase of any project unlocks the most potential for achieving sustainability

within a product or part. Here, decisions are made that impact the sustainability of part manufacture, how environmentally friendly it will be in operation and what happens at the end of life when it is beyond repair or remanufacture.

Questions we’ll explore include whether the selected material is making the part too heavy or whether the coating makes it more difficult to recycle. We’ll also consider where the material is sourced from, is it the opposite side of the planet, when a suitable alternative could be sourced locally?

Asking these questions before manufacture is essential because decisions made during this phase can have a negative effect later on, such as during decommissioning. Responsible, forward

thinking manufacturers will also focus on user friendliness and ensure that parts are serviceable, allowing maintenance, repair and remanufacture.

A GLOBAL DRIVE FOR SUSTAINABLE ENGINEERING DESIGN

There is a global drive to achieve more sustainable engineering design and this is echoed within many of the R&D projects coming through to the Design Engineering team here at the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland (NMIS).

In fact, funding for R&D is increasingly much more likely to be awarded for a sustainable project and we’re noticing that sustainable designs across all sectors are more likely to attract investment, providing

a real competitive edge to businesses on the front foot.

The linear models once accepted –where a part goes to landfill after use – are being replaced by circular models where the hardware, or elements of it, are reused. Instead of cradle-to-grave, design should look to achieve a cradle-to-cradle model with a new lease of life at the end, recapturing a significant portion of value.

At NMIS, the Design Engineering team is completely agnostic; we’re not tied to any sectors or technologies, meaning we redeploy our significant and diverse industry experience and the tools we’ve developed within any project. We consider ourselves process experts instead of application experts, making it low risk to work with us. As

part of the High Value Manufacturing (HVM) Catapult family, we’re here to create impact. We want your projects to be successful –bringing the very best of manufacturing back to Scotland and the wider UK with sustainable solutions that support net-zero targets.

TIME TO RETHINK FOCUS ON RECYCLING

There are many benefits to be reaped from using recyclable materials. Virgin material is scarce, rarely local to the UK and the sourcing of it can be incredibly harmful to the planet and people. Using a material that has been recycled will reduce carbon footprint and extend the lifecycle of the material. There are also added benefits associated with reduced material costs for manufacturers.

However, when it comes to sustainable design, recycling sits relatively low in terms of impact and those focusing purely on recycling material at the end of life will be left behind. Within the Design Engineering team at NMIS, we work to a hierarchical five ‘R’ strategy, which shows the order of precedence and impact each ‘R’ can have.

The first ‘R’ with the highest impact is rethink: improving the utilisation of a product and moving away from the linear model. Where it’s typical to sell a product to every user, for example, businesses may consider alternative models such as lease, hire or servitisation, or it might be that a product can have additional functionality built in to negate the need for multiple products.

Next on the list is reduce, where manufacturers should consider optimising parts, minimising the energy and material usage in manufacture as much as possible. Cutting back on the number of fasteners and total part count, reducing size and material usage, ensuring every feature has a function, and minimising energy usage are all important considerations in the design phase. As we look to the next generation of products and systems, reduce will be essential as we cut back on waste material and excess energy consumption. There is the added benefit here of reductions across costs in the long term.

Remake is the third focus area with the goal of designing a part that can easily be restored or serviced back into ‘as new’ condition for use. Materials that allow for repair options are preferred and it’s important that the design can be disassembled and easily inspected and cleaned, enabling remanufacture, repurposing and refurbishment as appropriate.

Recycling comes in next and, at design phase, it’s important to lock in the use of materials that can be easily recycled, avoiding using additives, coatings and painted finishes that make recycling harder. Likewise, avoiding a mixed material component, if possible, helps. Using materials which have already been recycled or recovered in your design is another worthwhile consideration if a robust, reliable and repeatable source is available.

The last ‘R’ of the five is recover. This is where, at end of life, manufacturers would incinerate the material to recover energy if all else fails. At design phase, using materials that give off harmful fumes when burned should be avoided and replaced with materials incorporating high combustion energy. It may be at the end of the list with the lowest impact, but this is a critical final option if none of the previous 4 R’s have been possible.

The design phase greatly influences product-related environmental impact and crucially, it is irresponsible for manufacturers not to consider circular strategies by design. These five strategies can transition

product life cycles from a linear to a circular economy and highlight why recycling is one of the last things you should be planning for. Of course, we want to extract the most value possible from material used at end of life, however there are more steps to be taken before we get there.

BRINGING SUSTAINABLE DESIGN TO MANUFACTURE

Sustainable design applies to all sectors but is more challenging for incumbent products and systems, particularly in high integrity sectors, where there are strict regulations, codes and standards. Here altering design can be more complex, with costs associated with redesign, requalification and certification often prohibitive. That’s not to say it can’t be done but focusing on the sustainability of new and emerging products and systems is likely to be more widely supported unless customers, legislators and taxation intervene.

You may be surprised by the number of companies we encounter, even those seeking to develop new net-zero focused technologies, who have failed to consid-

er the sustainability of hardware due to being focused on more efficient operational performance. These manufacturers should embrace circularity to enhance the through-life sustainability of their technologies, possibly further differentiating them from competitor offerings.

As we race closer towards net-zero targets, we’re supporting the businesses we work with through R&D support as they design for a sustainable future and reduce their impact on the environment. Those that are not sustainable will eventually fail to secure investment or find support. The manufacturers leading the way here are set to see a real competitive advantage as consumers, industry and governments invest in the future.

Further information on this topic can be found in the Product Design Scotland Toolkit series. Guide number 12 ‘Sustainable Design, ‘ found here: https://productdesign-scotland.com/design-toolkit/ c

For more information on the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland visit www.nmis.scot

THE DANGERS OF

HOW IT HARMS SUSTAINABILITY EFFORTS

Greenwashing is a marketing technique that creates the illusion of a company or product being environmentally friendly. It is a deceptive tactic used to make consumers believe a product is more sustainable than it actually is. It is suspected that more than 95 per cent of consumer products claiming to be green are guilty of at least one count of greenwashing. Meanwhile, 72% of business execs admit their own company engages in greenwashing.

Throughout 2022, a flurry of companies were called out for greenwashing. There were class action lawsuits, brands sued for falsely marketing products, and companies whose reputations were being shredded to tatters in the media when a greenwashing news story broke concerning one of their brands.

Yet still, greenwashing happens and results in misleading consumers, and also harming sustainability efforts. When businesses greenwash, they are hindering the fight against global warming, and helping to maintain the status quo through misinformation. The truth is, with the world falling desperately short on climate goals, we simply can not afford for greenwashing to take place.

Organizations can’t truly become sustainable if they are not honest about the environmental impacts of their products, and greenwashing prevents that from happening. It can also harm the progress

of other organizations that are actually striving to be more sustainable and reduce their environmental footprint. As businesses, stakeholders and consumers alike, it is essential to be aware of the dangers of greenwashing and how it affects sustainability efforts.

WHAT IS GREENWASHING?

Greenwashing is a form of false advertising that is used to promote products or companies as environmentally friendly and sustainable, when they are not. Products can be falsely advertised to appear as more sustainable than they are by using misleading marketing techniques such as false advertising about their ingredients, sourcing, or manufacturing process. Greenwashing can also occur when products are advertised as being better for the environment, but then are distributed in packaging that is not recycled or does not have recyclable materials. Or that it is carbon neutral by purchasing low-grade carbon offsets or undertaking unsustainable tree planting programmes. The list of potential greenwashing tactics is limitless.

GREENWASHING MISLEADS CONSUMERS

Many greenwashing claims are not based on facts, and many products that are advertised as being environmentally friendly are actually

not sustainable. Greenwashing can take the form of sustainability or carbon pledges that are not matched up by action, corresponding deadlines or completed projects.

Every single action misleads consumers into believing that products are better for the environment than they actually are because they are not being honest about the environmental impact of their products. In a recent study by McKinsey, it was reported that eighty-eight percent of Gen Z doesn’t trust eco-friendly claims. However, many consumers still look for sustainable products when shopping, which is a positive change.

Unfortunately, with the growing number of sustainable products and marketing claims about them, most of which are not backed up by robust data or reporting,consumers can become overwhelmed trying to navigate their choices. Greenwashing often confuses consumers and misleads them into buying products that are not sustainable. This can cause them to purchase less sustainable products in the future, especially if they lose trust in sustainable products.

Meanwhile, if sustainable product claims are not genuine, this can lead other organizations to lose trust in the entire product category. In turn, this can cause them to lose trust in other sustainable products and avoid purchasing them in the future, which can be harmful to a sustainable supply chain. It’s an ever decreasing circle.

Surely it’s time for businesses to lift the smoke screen and empower consumers to make the right choices by being open and transparent about their sustainability efforts?

ERADICATING GREENWASHING

Greenwashing exists because of a lack of transparency and accountability. It is all too easy these days for companies to make big PR announcements of climate friendly projects without then having to back it up with action. However, the environmental responsibility of companies has never been greater, and simply pledging to be carbon neutral or negative by 2030 or 2050 without being able to back up these targets with action simply won’t cut it.

At Permutable, we have developed an AI tool to identify greenwashing to hold companies accountable to their claims and provide transparency concerning their sustainability claims and reported actions.

We use cutting edge machine-learning techniques enabling a highly trained and rigorously tested AI to review each and every company’s history of carbon pledges. This is then examined in detail to determine whether there is evidence that these pledges are supported by sufficient actioned projects or initiatives. It also looks for excessive use of greenwashing language in corporate literature – for example, in company and brand websites or literature as well as on marketing and publicity messaging and activity.

This, for example, includes summary statistics of emission pledges and project announcements looking at the number of net-zero announcements, future project announcements, past project announcements and total number of project announcements. We then look at the monthly aggregates of

ORGANIZATIONS CAN’T TRULY BECOME SUSTAINABLE IF THEY ARE NOT HONEST ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF THEIR PRODUCTS, AND GREENWASHING PREVENTS THAT FROM HAPPENING.

announcements for emission pledges and projects, emission reduction pledges and their deadlines and project announcements against project deadline dates.

It is this kind of detailed and granular data that will enable us all to come together and ensure companies are held accountable for their sustainability actions. In doing so, it will be infinitely harder for companies to get away with greenwashing, as their pledges and actions will be laid out for all to see. The upshot? We will be able to move forward in an open and honest fashion, tackle the common goal of reducing carbon emissions and damage to our planet and to our shared future without being distracted or compromised by greenwashing.

COMPANIES MUST AVOID GREENWASHING AT ALL COSTS

There are a few steps that companies can take to avoid greenwashing and avoid misleading customers about the sustainability of their products.

- Be Honest: There are many ways that companies can take part in sustainability

practices and make their products more sustainable. However, in order to avoid greenwashing, it is essential to be honest about the sustainability of their products.

- Be Transparent: Companies should be transparent about their manufacturing processes, ingredients, emissions and environmental impact, and how they are making their products more sustainable. They should also be transparent about the sustainability of their products and avoid making false claims.

- Be Specific: When discussing the sustainability of their products, companies should be specific about the environmental impacts. They should avoid using phrases such as “natural”, “eco” or “green”, which are often misused in marketing. Instead, they should be specific about the environmental benefits of their products.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Greenwashing is a deceptive marketing technique that damages a company’s reputation, brand loyalty, whilst causing customer confusion, distrust and disconnect and

ultimately a company’s bottom line. It is vital that businesses are aware of the dangers of greenwashing and how it can harm sustainability efforts. Ultimately, when it comes to greenwashing, there can only ever be losers. Find out more about Permutable’s AI tool to identify greenwashing here. Pre-register your interest or sign up to be a pilot user here. Follow Permutable AI on LinkedIn and Twitter. c

MSC Cruises offers affordable luxury cruise ship experiences from the UK to the world. It’s a relative newcomer to the industry and, since it started focusing on the UK and Irish market in 2018, has gained the title of fastest growing cruise line operator in the world. In its journey to the top, MSC Cruises has also helped put a spotlight on environmental responsibility in the cruising industry.

Managing Director of MSC Cruises UK and Ireland, Antonio Paradiso, provides Sustainable Business Magazine with a succinct introduction to the company’s incredible success story:

“MSC Cruises is the fastest growing cruise liner in the world. We currently have 22 ships within our fleet, with a few more joining over the coming years. We are number one in Europe, in South America and South Africa, and in the Arabian Gulf. Last but not least, our business is now growing rapidly in the US. MSC Cruises covers every major cruise destination across the globe, and has had a million and a half passengers join our beautiful ships since it began operating.”

The MD goes on to provide more details about the company’s success as a UK operator:

“We started seriously focusing on the UK about five or six years ago, but our business has gone from strength to

strength over the last few years – even with the pandemic. More and more British customers are booking cruises with MSC Cruises. That’s pretty much down to the success of having ships sailing from Southampton year-round. Five years ago, we had just one ship calling at Southampton four or five times a year. Now we have a ship sailing from Southampton every week of the year. That’s proven to be very popular with customers.

“In terms of our most popular destinations from Southampton, British customers love the sun so they’re always looking for sunny destinations. Probably the most successful itineraries are the Canaries and Mediterranean. However, we are seeing itineraries in northern Europe, Scandinavia, and Iceland gain popularity recently too.”

JOURNEY TO ZERO EMISSIONS

MSC Cruises realises that sustainability is more important than ever. That’s why, amid its busy voyage schedules, the company has dedicated itself to a number of significant environmental innovations.

Perhaps the most important of these is its goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Paradiso explains more about this ambitious target:

“For the past few years, we’ve wanted to hit net zero emissions across our busi-

“WE’VE WANTED TO HIT NET ZERO EMISSIONS ACROSS OUR BUSINESS BY 2050 WHILE ALSO REDUCING TOTAL CARBON EMISSIONS BY 40% BY 2030.

ness by 2050 while also reducing total carbon emission intensity by 40% by 2030 versus the 2008 basis. At the moment we have already reached the goal of reducing them by 35%, so we’re perfectly on track to reach our target.

“This comes with a lot of work and investments, especially in the building of new ships. With each and every new ship we try to improve and enhance all the technology and all the processes that are currently in place to try and get us closer to the goal more quickly. There is an internal committee, that focuses on all aspects of the ship. They look at everything from recycling material we have on board, to the type of materials used when building new vessels, and even the best type of hull paint for minimising friction on the water. Most importantly for us, though, is finding the cleanest possible fuel for powering our ships.”

MSC World Europa is one example of this research and development. Launched in late 2022, MSC World Europa is the most environmentally advanced cruise vessel in MSC Cruises’ fleet. It is powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG). This reduces carbon emissions by 25% compared to traditional diesel fuels, greatly reduces nitrogen oxides, and nearly eliminates sulphur oxide emissions. Crucially, it also opens the way to further innovation including biofuel cells. The company expects delivery of its second

LNG vessel, MSC Euribia, in June 2023 and its third, MSC World America, in 2025.

“At the moment, LNG is the most sustainable form of fuel we have available at scale,” explains Paradiso. “At the same time we are working on several other projects, studying other sources of fuel such as fuel cells and biofuels. We are checking out other technologies and fuels that could allow us to be even better in the future. There’s a long way to go but we are proud of our commitment to environmental sustainability and progress in this area. This is what we stand for. This is part of our core values.”

However, as the UK and Ireland Managing Director points out, it’s not just about the fuel and the ships. There are many other areas of MSC Cruises’ business open to refinement.

“It’s not just about the ship,” says Paradiso. “It’s about scrutinising resource use and waste, supporting our people, investing in sustainable tourism, localising our supply chain, and building greener cruise terminals. It’s a vast project but our sustainability committee checks our progress every year. Executive chairman of MSC Cruises, Pierfrancesco Vago, checks our progress at the end of every year against the targets we’ve set ourselves. He then uses his conclusions to inform our targets for the next year, all of which are drawn from industry-approved metrics. This means we are flexible and

responsive to the successes and challenges of our business from year to year while still working towards our ultimate net zero emissions goal.”

A PEACEFUL PLACE

One unique environmental project for MSC Cruises is the island of Ocean Cay, located in the Bahamas. The company bought the island, which at the time was used for mining sand, and transformed it into a green haven.

“Only five or six years ago, Ocean Cay was a sand extraction site,” explains Paradiso. “It was a desert. There was no

coral, no vegetation, there was absolutely nothing. In collaboration with the Bahamian community, we bought the island and spent six years bringing that island back to life.

“We had people scuba diving for five years, restoring the more than 460 corals beneath the water. We have planted more than 70,000 plants on the island. The changes have attracted all sorts of plant and animal life. Ocean Cay is now a natural marine reserve. We didn’t transform it into a theme park by adding rides and all sorts of attractions, though. It’s literally what it

says on the tin: a natural marine reserve. Beaches, beautiful sea, corals, vegetation. A peaceful place.

“It’s now included in some of our itineraries. When we sail the Caribbean, we always make sure there’s a four-day stop in Ocean Cay.”

Paradiso notes that sustainability reaches beyond ecological matters, pointing out that Ocean Cay has also helped provide opportunities for local communities:

“All the people that work on the island are local, so we are also supporting the local community. This is a good example of

something that is not really giving a return in terms of profits or dividends. It’s just part of a long term sustainability plan. The ultimate goal is to prove, once again, that we are doing everything we can.”

THE FUTURE OF CRUISING

Both of these projects, as well as many other efforts by MSC Cruises to make its business environmentally sustainable, are highlighted in the company’s new Future of Cruising campaign. Launched in January 2023, the campaign aims to promote how sustainability is at the beating heart of

MSC Cruises’ daily activities and longterm growth strategy. The cross-platform campaign includes videos filmed onboard MSC World Europa, highlighting the unique environmental technologies and solutions of the vessel. The company says it is the first campaign in the cruise industry that focuses on and prioritises a brand’s sustainable ethos..

“The whole purpose of this TV campaign is to share a story with our customers and colleagues from the industry about what we’re doing in order to make this world more sustainable,” Paradiso says.

“FOR YEARS WE’VE HEARD THAT WE CAN DO MORE, THAT WE WEREN’T DOING ANYTHING TO MAKE THIS WORLD MORE SUSTAINABLE. THEN WE THOUGHT NOW IS THE TIME TO ACTUALLY SHOW WHAT WE’VE DONE, WHAT WE’RE CURRENTLY DOING, AND WHAT WE’RE TRYING TO ACHIEVE IN THE NEXT TWO DECADES.”

“Sometimes it’s very easy to just do a commercial advert showing all the lovely, magical things that happen onboard a cruise ship. Then you attach a price to it. We’ve done that before and it works really well. But we wanted to do something different to show that we’re leading the way.

“The travel industry has always been under tremendous pressure when it comes to sustainability, and the cruise sector particularly so. For years we’ve heard that we can do more, that we weren’t doing anything to make this world more sustainable. Then we thought now is the time to actually show what we’ve done, what we’re currently doing, and what we’re trying to achieve in the next two decades.

“Fundamentally, the campaign comes down to one question: Can we do better? Every year so far we’ve done exactly that, so that we may even surpass our 2030 checkpoint. So yes, we believe we can do better. The Future of Cruising will show that.”

TIME TO ACT

All of these developments don’t simply materialise from thin air. They require hard work by a lot of people, all of whom are guided by MSC Cruises’ four key strategic pillars: People, planet, place and procurement.

“Ships are big assets, so it’s more like planning for a floating city than household recycling,” explains Paradiso. “That’s why we have several working groups. Each one is in charge of a specific field of the process. Procurement, as one example, focuses on our supply chains. We are relying more and more on local suppliers so we can reduce the amount of goods transported from one country to another. Those suppliers will also need to share our vision for sustainability.

“At the same time, we are working with academic institutes across Europe. As you may appreciate, we don’t have the answer for every question, so we need to rely on people

that are experts in their field. There are consultants, experts, and professors supporting us on this journey. And when it comes to design, our engineers and architects drill down into the smallest details of, for example, hull shape in order to get the best designs for fuel consumption and speed.

“This ethos is spread through every employee in the company. Sustainability is built into our measurements. Usually, success measures are based on passenger volumes, revenues, net per diem, that sort of thing. One of those for us, though, measures what we’re doing to improve on last year’s sustainability metrics. It encourages conversation across all the offices and divisions at MSC Cruises.”

It’s clear that MSC Cruises has not only the ambition to lead the industry, but also the resources to do it. With transport at the top of the list of environmental concerns, the company’s desire to shift not only its own practices but the culture of the cruise industry couldn’t come at a more important time.

Yet among all of the big ideas and lofty ambitions, Paradiso reminds us that such decisions are important at a personal level. “I have a young son so I’m doing it for him,” the UK and Ireland Managing Director says. “I’m doing it for him and all the kids that will live on this planet in the future. There’s no time to waste. It’s time to act.” c

“I’M DOING IT FOR HIM AND ALL THE KIDS THAT WILL LIVE ON THIS PLANET IN THE FUTURE. I THINK RIGHT NOW THERE’S NO MORE TIME NOW TO BE WASTED. IT’S A TIME TO ACT.

MCS CRUISES ARE COMMITTED TO PROMOTING RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL

“We are steering a course towards a lower carbon future and, by 2050, will achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions”

www.msccruises.co.uk/about/sustainability

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