War, Protest, Prescriptions, Hull & Adverts
1. When to speak?
In the last couple of weeks, several of our clients have come to us with questions about how they should respond to the atrocities of October 7th?and the unfolding humanitarian crisis that has followed. Many have an innate and very understandable desire to do and say something rather than stand by, in recognition of the horror taking place in Israel and Gaza. But they also recognise the complexity of the situation and the limits of what their proclamations may achieve.
We see this playing out more broadly in the business world.?The FT argues ?that the overall business response has been muted, with many leaders feeling caught in a bind - facing criticism whatever they choose to do. We have seen some big companies - Microsoft , Google , Goldman Sachs among others - make public statements, and in some cases, particularly where these have been construed as being pro-Israel, they have sparked a?backlash from employees and consumers . Many others have been silent, and in some cases criticised for this on the grounds that "saying nothing is to be complicit."?
For some commentators, this silence also runs counter to the growing number of businesses speaking out on social and political issues in recent years, taking a stand and sharing their point of view. And it thereby raises a bigger question about when and why companies should take a public stance.
We think this is something that it is important to consider.?
In a widely shared?Linked In post , Uber's ex-chief DEI officer set out the way Uber responded to the 2021 Israel-Palestine conflict. This includes the following rubric for decision-making, itself adapted from Allstate:?
These are all good questions. Our view has always been that the business response to any social or political issue should be guided by its purpose as an organisation and what it does. Where the issue is relevant and the link is strong and clear, the business can and should have a point of view and stick by it, whether this is easy or not. But businesses shouldn't intervene in or speak out on every issue that comes along. They aren't and shouldn't become cultural commentators or political entities.?
?This doesn't mean failing to?look after those they have a direct relationship with who may be affected, focusing on their physical safety and emotional and mental health. It doesn't mean backing away from using any available tools and resources to contribute to the reduction of suffering, now and in the future, or donating to politically neutral humanitarian organisations. Nor does it mean failing to recognise the emotional tenor that the world is in and seeking to operate with empathy and compassion.?But it does mean taking pause before rushing to make a statement unless you can be sure it will contribute something of genuine value to the situation the world is in, now and in the future.??
2. From Parliament to Pay Cheques
On Tuesday, in a resounding display of solidarity, Iceland’s Prime Minister, Katrín Jakobsdóttir, joined thousands of women and non-binary people in a nationwide strike (a “kvennafri” or women’s day off) to protest the gender pay gap.
Although Iceland has been lauded as the world’s best country for gender equality for 14 consecutive years by the World Economic Forum , with women making up 47% of the seats in its parliament and 46% of the boards of Icelandic companies, the recent strike shed light on the persisting gender pay gap. Women in some sectors, such as the financial sector, are still earning up to 30% less than men.
This strike harked back to a pivotal moment in Icelandic history in 1975, when 90% of female workers staged a strike to highlight their economic importance. Factories, shops and schools closed, and men took their children to work with them. This protest catalysed change, resulting in equal pay legislation the following year. Furthermore, it paved the way for Vigdís Finnbogadóttir to become the world’s first democratically elected female head of state in 1980. By echoing the spirit of the 1975 strike, women across Iceland have sent out a powerful message to the world: the fight against gender disparity continues.
From a business perspective, addressing the gender pay gap is not just a moral imperative, it is also a strategic necessity. Companies in the UK – where eight out of ten firms still pay their male employees more than women - with 250 or more employees are now mandated to publish their gender pay gap figures. Transparent and equitable pay systems are integral to an organisation's values, sending a positive message about fairness and equality. Fair pay policies also enhance efficiency and productivity, attract top talent, and foster a more engaged and loyal workforce.
Iceland shows that even one of the most equal societies in the world has more work to close the gender pay gap. Here in the UK, there is much that we can learn from Iceland.
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3. Prescription for progress
Medical research has historically been focused on white males. An article by Science magazine suggests that people of African Ancestry make up 0.5% of genetic studies and just 1.6% of the UK Biobank (one of the largest genetic databases in the world). This matters. Biobanks are used to link disease to genetic patterns. By omitting the gene information of whole populations, genetic diseases related to those populations will be missed, and bias is built in to medical systems.
So is anything changing? Well, for once, it does seem as if there is cause for hope. Four biopharma companies have donated $80 million to begin to address this, partnering with Meharry Medical College in Tennessee to build a biobank made solely of people of African ancestry in the hope to fill the genetic knowledge gap. They are looking for 500,000 volunteers to build a vast bank of data. This could eventually translate to new medicines and diagnostic tests, reducing the stark healthcare disparities that exist between different groups.
This isn’t the first genetics study of this kind. However, the scale of it, and the focus on knowledge sharing, make it qualitatively different from the past. This study is believed to be set to create the largest database of genomes from those of African ancestry, which could build a big enough picture to make real progress in medicine. Alongside this there is a focus on sharing anonymised data, unusual within pharmaceutical research to speed up integration of data into modern medicine.
So what do we make of this? It certainly is a long time coming, but we welcome the step forward in diversity of medicine. A step we will be keenly following in the hope that real progress is made to improve global health.
4.?Top Crops
An easy way of reducing your carbon footprint when food shopping is buying the most local version of a product (although what you eat is much more important than where it’s from). In Hull, this has been taken to another level: with the recently established “Right to grow”, every empty space in the city that belongs to the council becomes a potential ground for small scale farming. And it has a great social impact too.
Following the unanimous passing of this new rule, councillors identified a list of suitable lands they own, from car parks to wasteland, and facilitated access to insurance and water to grow crops there. The initiative is also supported by the not-for-profit community organisation Rooted in Hull , which teaches people, including refugees, how to grow crops in an urban environment. This initiative is expected to improve mental health, bring people together, reduce anti-social behaviour, embellish the city, and improve the quality of the food of the people of Hull.
Those who experimented with lockdown gardening or who manage to keep plants alive in tiny city flats know very well the positive impact of gardening on mental health. The hormones it generates have been described as a legal and healthy “harvesting high” ! But communal gardening is the real victory, bringing more solidarity within the community and is an affordable way of building connections and tackling loneliness for many people.
Living in sustainable cities means thinking about how to make the most out of the many unused spaces all around us, and it is a major success when it serves the common good and communities’ happiness.
The Goods: Ad blocker IRL
In recent years, we’ve seen the introduction of more and more climate-inspired controls over how businesses advertise their products and services. From France putting climate labels on car ads to the EU banning ambiguous climate claims, regulators in many places are getting more involved in what businesses can and can’t put on a billboard.
The folks at badvertising, a campaign from the charity Possible , would like to go further. Arguing that the UK advertisers’ self-regulatory Advertising Standards Authority is not going far enough or fast enough to police greenwashing, badvertising is campaigning to restrict advertisements for high-carbon goods and services altogether. By encouraging individuals to ask their local council to restrict advertising for emissions-intensive sectors, oppose the installation of new billboards, and lodge complaints with regulators, the badvertisers are trying to ensure that car manufacturers, airlines, and meat and dairy producers, among other carbon-intensive industries, are not able to advertise in public spaces.?
Advertising is a powerful tool in shaping consumer behaviour, one we believe has a big role to play in driving climate action. While we don’t necessarily feel that bans are the answer – we prefer emphasising, and mandating, transparency on the climate impacts of products and services – it is important to have campaigns like this giving us (and businesses) cause to think.
We’re glad badvertising are calling attention to this (and we love their name), but we hope they’ll forgive us for saying that we’d like to see a world in which they don’t exist. Ultimately, we don’t want to police which businesses can and can’t advertise on the basis of climate impact, because we want all businesses to be compatible with a net zero economy (something we’re working hard to help happen).