Chamber Lunch uses cross-island collaboration to urge businesses to embrace sustainability commitment

The latest Chamber Lunch saw Michelle Ryan, Chairperson of the Jersey Association of Sustainability Practitioners (JASP), provide valuable insights about Jersey’s Net Zero journey and? local businesses of the need for Guernsey to be engaged with long-term commitments towards a greener future.??

The key takeaway of the lunch was that not taking climate change seriously not only poses a risk to the planet, but also to the credibility of the Channel Islands as good places to do business. Michelle ultimately asked the audience to put themselves in the mindset of an international firm looking to do work offshore – without the proper sustainability credentials, why would they want to do business with us??

The importance of commitment to better business was reinforced by the launch of Chamber’s People and Planet award. The award, sponsored by The Little Green Energy Company, will champion businesses who are beginning their sustainability journey and supporting others to do the same.?

Michelle discussed Jersey’s road map towards Net Zero 2050, the island’s main challenges, and comparisons to Guernsey. Collaboration between Guernsey and Jersey was a reoccurring theme throughout the lunch, and was exemplified by Jennifer Strachan, Co-Founder of Chamber’s Sustainable Business Initiative, who introduced Michelle. Jennifer’s plea was for the audience to involve themselves with the Sustainable Business Initiative and she highlighted the results of the latest sustainability survey. Guernsey-Business-Sustainability-Survey-2024.pptx (live.com)

Michelle began her presentation by analysing startling and disturbing figures about global heat increases.

‘If I was standing in front of you three years ago, I would have said the planet has warmed by 0.9 degrees. In just three years, that number has risen to 1.2 degree. Climate change is already happening.’??

She then posed the rhetorical question of

‘we’re too small, so how could we possibly matter?’

To that, she noted that no country or territory contributing to climate change is too small to consider their output negligible. Additionally, as islands that work with roughly 1% of the world’s economy, we have a responsibility to trade and live responsibly. Not only that, but she also iterated that if Guernsey and Jersey want to be seen as relevant on the world stage, we must demonstrate credibility through our sustainable credentials.??

The primary drivers of emissions in both Guernsey and Jersey were then analysed. Unsurprisingly, transport resulted in the most emissions on both islands: 33% in Guernsey and 45% in Jersey. Michelle noted that while good work was being done by pan-island businesses like Blue Islands to mitigate this figure wherever possible, change could only truly be delivered through changed mindsets. Indeed, she asked the audience how many of them drove to the lunch rather than taking a greener form of transport, with the event serving as a microcosm of a broader mindset issue.???

Michelle then outlined eight key learnings from developing Jersey’s roadmap which Guernsey could learn from:

1. Consistent language and a ‘north star’ – clarification of terms like Net Zero and Carbon Offsetting is key, as is clarity for local businesses to understand what they are working towards.??
2. A principles-based approach – Michelle praised the implementation of a framework for change based on core principles, which are thorough and will evolve with governments, civil servants, and policies through to 2050.?
3. A just transition – ensuring policies that might seem good on paper, but which have the potential to alienate the underserved is one of the roadmap’s greatest challenges. Michelle used the example of high-cost electric cars and how subsidising them may seem productive, but automatically excludes the bottom 20% of society who can’t afford a vehicle.?
4. Meaningful community and business engagement – Michelle made clear that the Government can’t be all things to all people, so implored subject matter experts to aid them both at the start of the process and throughout its lifetime.??
5. Financing – funding a climate emergency fund through duty on high emission services like cars and petrol is good, but of course, leads to less budget as eco-conscious alternatives see rising uptake. She noted that policy certainty and a financial strategy was essential to drive private investment, and working on this between Jersey, Guernsey, and The Isle of Man is important.??
6. Upskilling – working with education at an early stage is key. Facilities like the Guernsey Institute will be vital in training the plumbers and electricians of tomorrow and instilling them with the proper knowledge on installing and maintaining green energy apparatus.??
7. Innovation – Spaces to innovate will be important in ensuring local business engagement, as will incentives for green businesses such as subsidised set up fees and legal help, to give just two examples.??
8. Business engagement – In a plea to the audience, Michelle encouraged local businesses to lobby politicians and extend their influence to engage with and contribute to the agenda.??

Her final point proved to be her most poignant, as she outlined that Jersey’s roadmap is not perfect, nor will Guernsey’s be once completed. However, she urged businesses to maintain an active approach to issues of climate change and involve themselves with the likes of Eco Active in Jersey and the Health Improvement Committee in Guernsey.??

Through collaboration, not only between local businesses, organisations, and the government, but between Jersey and Guernsey, the long road ahead to meet the 2050 net zero ambition can be walked.?????