EAST MIDLANDS SUSTAINABILITY PARTNERSHIP

June 2024: Manufacturers Evening

๐Ÿ“…ย Held on Tuesday, Jun 18, 2024ย โ€”ย ๐Ÿ• ย 18:00-19:30โ€”ย ๐Ÿ“ย Dryden Enterprise Centre, Dryden Street, Nottingham

Our fifth East Midland Sustainability Partnership was June 18th 2024. It was a privilege again to host three inspirational speakers, who, in their respective industries are, in the words of Ray Anderson, trying to climb โ€˜Mount Sustainabilityโ€™.

To be honest, we were a little disappointed with the turnout โ€“ weโ€™ve been averaging 40-50 but we were more like 25 last night. And yetโ€ฆ. there was something about the dynamic of a smaller number that created a sense of intimacy, honesty and vulnerability about the challenge society is facing both from climate change, and achieving #NetZero by 2050.

Lesson learnt is not to be obsessed by numbers โ€“ the right people were in the room last night and we ran over by 15mins due to the quality of the conversation and shared desire to impact society through our organisations [we still do like to see a packed room though!)

Becky Gordon from Interface told an impressive story of the Interfaceโ€™s journey, its achievements but also an honest look at the need for new business models to see change really take hold.
I hadnโ€™t come across Graphenstone Paints UK but Greg Norman was fantastic in explaining the harmful impact of standard paint and how there is a better way.

Finally, Luke Palmer from Orangebox presented a challenge to all of us โ€“ weโ€™re not moving fast enough to hit our #NetZero targets by 2050.

Common themes emerged around

  1. How to influence the right people in the purchasing decisions, especially in terms of contractors, architects and clients.
  2. The importance of EPDs (Environmental Product Declarations)
  3. Values โ€“ fundamentally, how do we move beyond maximising profit. The triple bottom line has been spoken of for too long and yet the financial bottom line still seems king. We need leaders with a different set of values.

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