Environment 46

“Our aim is to make seaweed-based bioplastic mulch film readily available to farmers and for it to be competitively priced,” explains Rhiannon. Rhiannon says seaweed has a lot of untapped potential for other uses. “We’ve been developing sachets and pods we can put liquid in, which can replace PVOH water-soluble polymers, used to wrap dishwasher or laundry tablets. “There’s also a need for biodegradable bale wrap, which we’re also looking at, as well as storage for dried goods, such as food and powders,” she adds.

Launchpad and Productivity 2 Prosperity funding

PlantSea launched their business at AberInnovation at Aberystwyth University, which has been pivotal to the development of the business through providing access to funding. “We have utilised the Mid Wales Challenge Led Launchpad programme which has helped us to do more research with Belfast University so we can learn about the seaweed polymers and what they can and can’t do,” says Rhiannon. “We also received funding for a research assistant, which means we are now in a position to scale up from lab to industry. “We’re looking for investment and collaborators to bring this project to commercial scale,” adds Rhiannon.

Dr Rhian Hayward MBE is chief executive officer for AberInnovation and says the aim is to help businesses like PlantSea to start, scale and succeed. “Bridging the gap from academia and research to industry is what we do, and our members can access not only funding, bwut networking, events, advice and support.”

The Mid Wales Challenge Led Launchpad and Productivity 2 Prosperity programme, delivered by AberInnovation and funded by the UK Government’s Community Renewal Fund provides successful start-up firms with funding to help them develop novel solutions through research and innovation. The Productivity 2 Prosperity programme allowed the successful businesses to receive a £5k cash grant, dedicated support through an Accelerator Manager and access to a series of key workshops and presentations. The Challenge Led Launchpad saw businesses awarded the funding matched with a placement student, which enables students in mid Wales to find relevant work experience which develops their skills and providing industry experience in the area where they live. Seaweed has a lot of untapped potential.

RHIANNON REES

Co-Founder, PlantSea

plantsea.co.uk

1. https://www.gov.uk/ government/news/ summary-of-responses-toconsultation-on-proposalson-non-packagingagricultural-plastics-published 2. https://environmentagency. blog.gov.uk/2020/11/27/ why-plastics-used-on-farmsis-worth-talking-about/ 3. https://royalsociety.org/-/ media/policy/projects/ microplastics/microplasticsreport-executive-summary.pdf

THE ROLE OF COMPANY DIRECTORS IN PROMOTING ESG

Directors and Officers face mounting pressure on all fronts, from onerous reporting obligations and an ever more stringent regulatory regime, to stakeholders and shareholders. James Whitaker, Partner and Co-Lead of ESG Practice, Mayer Brown International LLP, examines how changes to the Companies Act could make the current climate even tougher.

Not withstanding the early signs, in certain quarters, of something of a backlash against the rapid growth of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) investing, the conduct of those responsible for running companies continues to be scrutinised through an ever-keener ‘ESG lens’.

Environmental sustainability, and the activities and impact of companies in that context, continues to be a highly significant focal point for multiple stakeholders, both within and outside organisations. The remarkable evolution of the legislative and regulatory regimes governing climate disclosures in particular over recent years, principally in the European Union, as well as the United Kingdom, provides an increasingly stringent backdrop against which companies and their directors must now operate. The pace of that evolution shows little sign of slowing.

At the EU level, it is widely expected that the forthcoming EU Directive on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence will impose an obligation on directors of companies within the scope of the Directive to take into account the “human rights, climate and environmental consequences, including in the long term, of their decisions”. Further afield, whilst their fate presently seems somewhat uncertain, the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s recent introduction of proposed climate reporting requirements also indicates the trend towards tougher regulatory frameworks with regard to sustainability.

In the UK, the recent Companies (Strategic Report) (Climate-related Financial Disclosure) Regulations 2022 impose new sustainability reporting requirements (non-compliance with which can result in personal exposures for directors). This represents a clear example of how the UK Government’s Net Zero Strategy (which, of course, was very recently challenged in the High Court), with its focus on climate reporting and disclosure obligations, may play out in the legislative domain.

The regulatory enforcement backdrop is also toughening. Recent announcements of commitments and priorities, and activity, by European and UK financial regulators (ESMA and the FCA respectively), the UK competition watchdog (the CMA), and advertising regulators (for example, the UK Advertising Standards Agency), to name a few, provide clear indications that regulators are focused on how companies are operating, what they are doing, what they are saying, and what they are selling, with regard to ESG-related issues.

The news, in March 2022, of ClientEarth’s prospective derivative action against the Board of Directors of Shell based on allegations of breaches of statutory directors’ duties in the context of