How the Autumn Statement Affects Businesses, Sustainable Chef of the Year, Toyota’s Banned Adverts and More…

Our weekly newsletter aims to showcase positive sustainability news as well as include comments and analysis from members of the FuturePlus team.

What does the UK’s Autumn Statement mean for businesses?

The Autumn Statement was announced by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt MP this week, outlining the UK Government’s economic and fiscal plans for the upcoming year. The Chancellor’s announcements focused on encouraging business investment, incentivising work and cutting taxes.?

For businesses, the cuts in corporation tax and related expensing measures are expected to save billions of pounds over the next few years, over time encouraging investment in the UK economy. For workers, we will see the national living wage increase alongside cuts to national insurance contributions. There were also some announcements in the climate and energy space, with investment in low-carbon industries, a commitment to speed up access to the national grid and a new energy efficiency strategy. Many experts have argued that these climate-focused measures are not ambitious enough, particularly considering the Government’s roll-back on climate commitments earlier in the year.

?This year’s Autumn statement is clearly aimed at stimulating economic growth and the focus on tax cuts and investments will help to boost business confidence and create jobs. However, it misses an opportunity to align business success with sustainability and climate change goals. Global evidence is growing around the links between businesses embedding sustainability and their commercial success, with recent studies showing that businesses with strong sustainability performance outperform their peers on financial metrics.

?While more substantial investment in tangible climate change measures would have been preferable, the Autumn Statement now provides an opportunity for businesses to consider integrating sustainability and lead the transition to a low-carbon economy. With the UK’s businesses now expected to save money through the economic measures announced in the statement, there is no better time to consider investment towards sustainable changes. Those businesses that can effectively navigate the changing economic times and the climate and environmental landscape will be well-positioned in the years to come.

The Driving Forces of Change in Sustainable Finance

Our recently published report with Relative Insight focuses on the finance industry’s relationship to sustainability.

It delves into the escalating interest exhibited by venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) firms. Are these entities pioneering the path toward sustainability, or are they simply responding and adapting to the challenges set by established standards and frameworks?

“The data uncovered during the research speaks volumes and clearly suggests that VC and PE firms are recognising the value of sustainability, and in a wider sense, not solely in terms of compliance but as a pivotal factor in attracting investment, retaining customers, and nurturing talent.” - Alexandra Smith , Co-Founder of FuturePlus.

Key insights:

?A noticeable relationship between legislative action and increased ESG reporting reveals the government's role in reshaping industry norms.

?PE and VC firms increasingly prioritise sustainability, as evidenced by a surge in reports discussing zero emissions, ESG integration, and climate-related risks in 2021.

? A case study on Vala?? showcases intentional and strategic sustainable finance and illustrates the power of aligning investments with societal and environmental interests.

? Conflicting viewpoints on VC and PE firms' role in sustainability underline the need for transparency, measurable improvements, and genuine action.

To download the full report: https://bit.ly/3R2qJfZ

Sustainable Chef of the Year: Skye Gyngell

Congratulations to Spring’s Head Chef, Skye Gyngell, who was announced as Sustainable Chef of the Year in the Country & Town House Magazine.

The category celebrates chefs who ‘reduce food waste, eliminate added chemicals and processing from food and source locally and seasonally when possible. And also deliver incredible dishes.’

FuturePlus community member Spring is based at Somerset House and is at the forefront of sustainable dining with strategies including eliminating single-use plastic and introducing a menu specifically designed to reduce food waste in the kitchen.

The category nominations included Chantelle Nicholson from Apricity, Adam Handling from Frog By Adam Handling , Jasmine Hemsley , and Douglas McMaster from Silo.

Toyota Advert Banned Due To ‘Disregard For Nature And The Environment’

Toyota has had two adverts for their latest SUV banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) as the ads ‘presented and condoned the use of vehicles in a manner that disregarded their impact on nature and the environment.’

The ad’s complaint was lodged by Adfree Cities who argued the adverts were encouraging driving that harms nature and the environment.

“These adverts epitomise Toyota’s total disregard for nature and the climate, by featuring enormous, highly-polluting vehicles driving at speed through rivers and wild grasslands,” - Veronica Wignall, Adfree Cities co-director

New FuturePlus Website Launched

We’ve recently launched our brand new website, which we’ve tried to make as sustainable and accessible as possible while retaining everything we require in terms of design and functionality and our unique FuturePlus style.

“The environmental footprint of a website is often overlooked,” says Polly Milne , Project Director at FuturePlus.

“The average size of websites has steadily increased over the past decade, and many are heavily populated with large images and video content, greatly increasing the footprint.”

“We wanted to produce a fantastically designed website that communicated our message effectively while aligning with our sustainability strategy, goals and requirements. We’ve worked with fantastic teams at Cravens and Beluga Digital to achieve these goals, and we’re incredibly proud to launch the results.”?

Sophie Davies , Senior Sustainability Executive at FuturePlus, highlights the project's commitment to #sustainability and inclusion from the inception of design discussions to the completion of the build.

“Our priority was to create an environmentally conscious digital space accessible to individuals of all abilities and backgrounds”. While the internet’s carbon footprint is difficult to measure precisely, depending on various factors such as the energy sources used by data centres, it's estimated that the internet is responsible for around 2-3% of global carbon emissions, a figure similar to the aviation industry.

The new website is powered by green electricity hosted by Cloudflare (confirmed by Green Web Foundation ) and the accessibility tool Recite Me is available to ensure a user-friendly experience for individuals with additional needs, situational challenges, and language support. Data analysis is vital for evaluating user experience success.

This month's data highlights screen reader usage in English, Korean, and Hindi and users have accessed the website content in Albanian as well as utilising access tools like styling and rulers for enhanced content access.

"We took great pride in working on the branding and design of the website with FuturePlus, with great care given to ensure the website we designed was as environmentally friendly and efficient as possible. One of the key ways in which we ensured this success was through the use of our graphic illustration style to bring each page to life, as opposed to having a heavy photography presence. This has resulted in a website that not only looks great and communicates our brand personality, but also has a much lower data footprint." - Emma Wafer , Account Director at Cravens "