Six things we learned about business and sustainability policy

In his recent article, ‘why whale poo matters’, George Monbiot writes: “In truth it’s not just about whale poo, though that’s an important component. It’s about the remarkable connectivity, on this small and spherical planet, of living processes. Nothing human beings do, and nothing that takes place in the natural world, occurs in isolation.”

Yet all too often we do look at things in isolation. Where businesses are concerned, not thinking systematically is damaging to both profits and planet, as well as the people we rely on to make these businesses possible.

In our latest Guardian Sustainable Business Q&A, we brought together experts from a diverse range of organisations to discuss a particular aspect of this - what businesses should do to shape sustainability policy. So what did we learn?

1. We’ve come a long way

Forty years ago, said Nour Amrani, senior public affairs advisor at Novozymes, there were no links between business and sustainability. But then things changed.

Nick Lakin, group head of government affairs at Kingfisher plc, described this as “an evolving process as companies’ appreciation of their role in society has grown. Business can be notoriously short-term … but, in some ways, setting ambitious sustainability targets is easier than in politics.”

However, Anne Kelly, senior programme director at Ceres, added in a note of caution: “far too often we see serious misalignment between a company’s internal, operational sustainability goals and their public advocacy efforts.”

2. Best practice is out there

When asked what achievements companies both big and small have made to date in setting ambitious sustainability targets and encouraging political leaders to do likewise, answers were plentiful.

But, asked Paul Monaghan, director of Up The Ethics, what proportion of these are Janus-faced, saying one thing in public and another behind closed doors, actively weakening climate change legislation in the process?

Andrew Bolitho, policy advisor at the British Retail Consortium (BRC), responded that in his experience, this isn’t really happening. “There is a certain amount of confusion in where policy is leading us rather than where business interest is leading policy. As a result this can mean companies disengage.”

3. ... but there’s still a long way to go

As well as sharing their concerns over everything from how to make sustainable business practices universal through to weak reporting frameworks, many panelists put forward important suggestions for next steps, including Luke Hildyard, deputy director of the High Pay Centre:

“Executive pay structures could be a key part of this - profit and total shareholder return are always the key performance metrics that determine the size of the CEO’s bonus. Change this, and you might start to see businesses adopt more holistic priorities.”

As businesses look towards the Paris climate summit in December, many are asking what business can and should be doing to push governments to agree to ambitious climate targets, as well as the incentives for doing so. This Q&A likewise touched on these questions.

“We already see a number of companies setting an internal carbon price so they can manage for the future, and they’re seeing benefits from doing so,” said Guy Morgan, director of advisory services at Business for Social Responsibility.

4. Systems thinking matters

A running theme of the discussion was that companies that implement sustainability strategies should be recognised for the good work they do, but without an integrated approach only so much can be achieved.

“The scale of impact is amplified when supplier and customer work together to benefit all,” said Myles McCarthy, director of implementation at The Carbon Trust. “We have also seen this approach driving sustainability into new markets where sustainability is less mature.”

In addition, Alice Ellison, also from the BRC, added that a third party organisation such as an NGO or government-funded agency can play a key role in creating a safe space between and within sectors as collaboration takes place.

5. NGOs and governments need to take an active role too

Geoff Lane, a partner at PwC, asked what governments and NGOS need to do differently to get more businesses engaged in the public policy space and get more CEOs to speak up.

Sarah Severn, former senior director at Nike Inc, believes NGOs need to keep the pressure on companies to engage in policy advocacy work and that government should require this. “My experience of the UN climate change process has been that business voices have still been very much on the margin,” she said.

Barbara Crowther, director of policy and public affairs at Fairtrade Foundation, believes governments need regulate “to build a level playing field that will pick up the laggards and make good practice the norm”.

She points to the recent example of the NGO/business collaboration over the Modern Slavery Bill in the UK, where both NGOs and businesses agreed that inclusion of transparency in supply chains measures were a major omission and lobbied government together to include it.

6. If business could do one thing…

We closed the discussion by asking panelists: if you could see business do one thing to encourage more sustainable policies, what would it be?

Answers ranged from “collaboration, collaboration, collaboration” to supporting the Tax Dodging Bill to the apt concluding point that “there is never just ‘one thing’!”.

• To see the full discussion, head here and scroll down to the comments section.
  

The systems thinking series is funded by PwC. All content is editorially independent except for pieces labelled advertisement feature. Find out more here.

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