Sustainability Summit Archives - Destination Chesterfield

Chamber teams up with University of Derby to deliver upcoming Sustainability Summit

20th August 2024

The transition to net zero and getting over ‘climate fatigue’ are among issues taking centre stage at the East Midlands Sustainability Summit at the University of Derby on 12th September.

Presented by East Midlands Chamber in partnership with the University of Derby, the summit will bring together industry specialists, academics and the region’s business community to explore how to overcome challenges in changing working practices to tackle climate change.

East Midlands Chamber President Stuart Dawkins said: “The East Midlands, like all regions, has a responsibility to think carefully what it leaves behind for what I call Generation Next-But-One, those who will inherit the world we leave behind. All businesses should play their part in adopting measures that mitigate against and significantly reduce the catastrophic impact of climate change.

“The good news is that most businesses have already taken steps toward cutting their carbon usage, cutting out working methods that are not energy efficient, but this isn’t an easy challenge with a simple out of the box solution. The East Midlands Sustainability Summit is a place to hear and share best practice from a wide range of industries and to take an informed look at how we navigate the hurdles to achieve net zero.”

University of Derby Associate Professor of Strategy and Sustainability Dr Polina Baranova, who will speak on research into Green Growth trends in the East Midlands said: “The study we carry out into Green Growth in the East Midlands is now in its 9th year and I look forward to sharing the latest findings at the Sustainability Summit. From last year’s position we’ve seen encouraging signs of green growth recovery in the region. Within the context of political uncertainty around green business support at national and local level, businesses in the East Midlands continue to commit resources and develop strategic capabilities to compete in the green market niches at home and internationally.

“The research that we’ll present at the summit also reports an increase in the number of regional businesses investing in decarbonisation and biodiversity net gain. This signals an intensifying role of regional business in tackling climate challenges. Despite these developments, more needs to be done to excel and expand on the green growth progress that’s been made thus far, and at the summit I look forward to outlining how policy and local government can put forward measures to achieve that.”

Speakers at 2024’s East Midlands Sustainability Summit:

• Professor Chris Sansom – Professor of Concentrated Solar Power and Head of Zero Carbon Theme, University of Derby
• Dr Polina Baranova – Associate Professor of Strategy and Sustainability, University of Derby
• Julie Adams – Carbon, Cost and Procurement Consultant, Auditel.
• Becky Valentine – Co-owner, Sustainability & Building Health Consultant, Spenbeck
• Andy Wright – Responsible Business Director, Samworth Brothers
• Becky Clayton – Partner, PwC
• Stuart Dawkins – President, East Midlands Chamber

Sustainability Summit encourages green growth across the East Midlands

21st September 2023

East Midlands Chamber has praised the ‘shining examples of success’ of green growth in our regional business community at its latest Sustainability Summit.

The event explored how to unlock the green growth for SMEs and the wider East Midlands economy – across themes including leadership, innovation, international trade and best practice.

It took place against a backdrop in which Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced the Government will water down net zero policies, including delaying a ban on the sales of new petrol and diesel cars and phasing out gas boilers.

Speakers at the Sustainability Summit said “flip-flopping” over net zero commitments from Westminster created huge uncertainty that undermined long-term investments and would ultimately harm the UK’s quest to become a global leader in the green economy.

About 200 people representing organisations from across Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire gathered for the event, held in partnership with the University of Derby, Mazars, Thompson Tree Services and Epson.

East Midlands Chamber director of policy and insight Chris Hobson said: “We heard at our Sustainability Summit about some of the great things that businesses are doing in pursuing green growth and the very tangible rewards they are reaping with innovation and financial growth.

“These are the shining examples of success we can glean from embracing net zero, which means viewing it as not just a challenge but a golden opportunity.

“Yet while our national leaders correctly talk up the research and development strengths of our businesses and ambitions to be a global leader in developing low-carbon goods and services, there is a huge disconnect between this messaging and Government policy – as evidenced by the Prime Minister’s ill-judged shifting of the goalposts on our country’s net zero commitments.

“We saw first-hand the impact policy flip-flopping has on business decision-making during the chaotic political landscape of 2022, which quashed business confidence and thus investment. The lack of certainty about the future direction of our economy will unfortunately have a similar impact at a time when we should be encouraging transformational long-term investment.

“Having net zero targets is one thing, but to get us there we require a roadmap that will be led by business innovation. The vacillating from our political leaders instead undermines our ability to make real progress in this space and we instead find ourselves stuck in limbo when it comes to the most significant economic opportunity of our lifetime.”

Findings from the Green Growth Trends in the East Midlands research conducted by the Chamber and University of Derby were discussed by report author Dr Polina Baranova, associate professor of strategy and sustainability.

It showed the proportion of East Midlands businesses that have made any income from environmentally-friendly goods and services dropped from 45% in 2022 to 36% in 2023, decarbonisation investment varies significantly according to business size and sector, and a widening gap in business support and information.

Dr Baranova said this illustrated not only the impact of the cost-of-doing business crisis but the “fragility” of the current policy landscape, with green growth yet to be a firmly embedded business philosophy.

Other highlights at the Sustainability Summit included:

East Midlands Chamber president Stuart Dawkins discussed how sustainability is at the heart of businesses’ responsibility to support their communities and future generations
Professor Chris Bushell, pro vice-chancellor and head of sustainability at the University of Derby, outlined how the institution is taking a lead in the net zero agenda via its research, innovation, thought leadership and knowledge capital
Ian Meikle, director of clean growth at Innovate UK, explained how Britain can create jobs and sustainable economic growth by developing its own low-carbon products and services, but this required stable policy and regulation, innovation in business models and supply chains, and a step-change in access to capital
Chris Fuggle, global head of sustainability services at audit, tax and advisory services firm Mazars, provided practical strategies to upskill leadership teams on the environmental, social and governance (ESG) agenda and embedding sustainability at board level
Charlie de la Haye, communications manager at Epson UK, gave an insight into how the global printing manufacturer had pivoted its business model to deliver green goods and services while demonstrating how it could deliver cost-saving benefits to customers.