Webinar, Volvo, Regulations, Carbon, & Gresham

1.?You are invited...?

What would you do if your company uncovered child labour in its supply chain? With complex, global supply chains and the fallibilities of even the best-intentioned audits, it’s a question that is ever more real as businesses face growing scrutiny over their supply chains. If this is on your mind, join our founder Giles Gibbons at our webinar on Wednesday, 18th September at 12pm.?

If you are unfamiliar with the topic, the powerful film Sound of Freedom recently shed light on the harrowing realities of child exploitation, and for businesses, the stakes are high. Any link to unethical practices can lead to severe legal, financial, and reputational damage. Being prepared is essential.?

Join us for the Disputes Nightmare Scenario Flash Webinar, where in just 25 minutes, you'll equip your company to handle these challenges head-on. Our panel includes Emily Nicholson and Polly Green from Mishcon de Reya, and Giles Gibbons, CEO and founder of Good Business. The discussion will cover what to do when this scenario occurs, from exploring and responding to allegations to conducting investigations and developing strategies to manage future risks.?

And if you’re also interested in how to take action to avoid the risks or want develop greater insights into what is happening in your supply chain, or you’re navigating new disclosure requirements in this space, do reach out and learn about our Human Rights readiness scorecard and other services.???

2. Driving ambition?

Volvo, the Swedish automotive giant, has been a pioneer in the electric vehicle market, and was one of the first to commit to a complete switch to electric. However, it recently revised its target to sell only electric cars by 2030. Citing the decline in growth of the electric vehicle market and consumer concerns about charging infrastructure as key reasons for pulling back, Volvo now aims to turn 90 to 100% of its sales to electric or hybrid by 2030.??

While Volvo might not be on track for 100% electrification, it has undeniably made significant progress. However, critics are quick to pounce on where businesses are falling short – a tactic increasingly used by the anti-ESG movement to undermine corporate commitments to sustainability.?

This phenomenon – focusing on the shortfall rather than substantial gains – can be detrimental to the broader climate cause. Businesses won’t always meet their targets, especially in a landscape shaped by evolving technologies, supply chain uncertainties, and shifting policy and regulation. And in some cases achieving targets is not completely within a business’s control – the Volvo example is a case in point, given the importance of the charging infrastructure to the overall electric car equation. Communicating these nuances isn’t always easy – but it is essential to maintaining credibility and managing expectations, and we would encourage companies to do what they can from the start to help create a narrative that sees targets ‘in the round,’ to manage expectations and build context around the road to progress.?

And if a narrative of falling short dominates, it risks discouraging other businesses from setting ambitious goals. The focus should therefore be on progress over perfection. Volvo’s efforts in pushing for an electric vehicle market have driven substantial industry shifts. Their ambition, even if not perfectly realized, sets a benchmark for others. Criticism is necessary for accountability, but it must be constructive. Let's not weaponize imperfection but instead use it as a stepping stone to greater achievements.?

3. EU’s Regulations - Red Tape or Green Gains???

A recent FT article raises concerns that sustainability regulations in the EU could be ‘strangling’ Europe’s growth. But does this narrative of negativity around regulation hold true? Does it really damage progress? In the past, companies were largely free to decide what they did about environmental and social responsibility and reporting. While some made admirable strides, many did little. Without tighter regulations, progress towards sustainability would be slow.?

In the short term, EU companies may face competitive disadvantages on the global stage, as the EU leads the way in raising the disclosure bar. However, in due course compliance to EU regulations should become a differentiator, leveraging sustainability as a competitive advantage in global markets.?

We sympathise with the short-term pain: the onslaught of new regulations can feel overwhelming. Governments need to work with regulators to streamline processes and increase cohesiveness between the various regulations. For businesses, rather than treating each set of regulations as an individual and distinct challenge, the overall objective should be to identify impacts, risks and opportunities, build a robust strategy with targets and then report against this. In so doing, compliance becomes easier and businesses should see the benefits.??

It’s also worth noting that while the global position is likely to shift. China is expected to adopt stringent sustainability disclosure regulations. Progressive EU legislation will likely force the hand of non-EU companies in global supply chains, as European companies put pressure on suppliers to obtain the data required for reporting. As such, embracing sustainability now is crucial for future resilience, and frustration around regulatory shortfalls shouldn’t be used as a tool to stunt progress.?

4. No time to lose?

The general idea behind reaching net zero is simple: reduce emissions as much as possible and rebalance any remaining emissions with removing carbon from the atmosphere. But a huge amount of complexity arises from the social and economic impact of all the decisions that need to be made to put this into reality.??

There are complex questions about where to focus emissions reduction efforts, with some emissions sources considered harder to abate than others. One often-overlooked element is how to prioritise when to reduce emissions. Frameworks such as the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) are focused on the percentage reduction endpoint, while lifecycle assessments measuring emissions over a product or project’s whole lifespan condense emissions produced over long periods into a single point in time.?

A new report by 奥雅纳 challenges the assumption implicit in calculation methodologies that the timing of emitting GHGs has no influence on their environment burden and asks how much we should value delaying emissions. It’s a fairly technical read, drawing on ideas from climate science and economics to explore the ‘time-value of carbon’ using three arguments: that delaying emissions buys time to prevent those emissions being produced at all, reduces their cumulative climate impacts, and allows us to value the welfare of today’s society higher than of the future’s.?

Each of these arguments has subjective elements and the authors suggest that reflecting these considerations into emissions calculations would complicate them too much. But nonetheless, it’s a valuable insight and opportunity to challenge the subjectivity and assumptions in how we calculate and model emissions, which – given how emissions calculations underpin the complex decisions around how to reduce emissions – is well worth giving some time to.?

The Goods: Learning through lectures?

Founded in 1597 as London's first institute of higher learning, Gresham College , located in Holborn, broke new ground by offering lectures in English, making education accessible to those who didn’t know Latin—the language used by Oxford and Cambridge at the time. It also introduced subjects like astronomy and geometry, focusing on practical applications for navigation and trade - areas often neglected by traditional universities.?

Fast forward to today, and Gresham College continues its mission of fostering intellectual curiosity and promoting academic excellence. With over 2,500 lectures and videos available online, the College offers free access to world-class knowledge on a wide range of topics including architecture, mathematics, music, art, human rights and climate change. In 2023 alone, Gresham’s lectures attracted more than 6.5 million views from 150 countries, demonstrating its global reach and impact.??

If you're interested in sustainability topics, don’t miss the ‘How Net Zero’ series. The next lecture, "How to Stop Climate Becoming a Wedge Political Issue," will take place on Tuesday, October 1st. Professor Myles Allen, Director of the Oxford Net Zero initiative, will present his ideas on ‘third way’ climate solutions, designed to appeal to a broad coalition. So, gather your friends and join in person or watch online – the choice is yours! For more details and to sign up, please click here.?