Sustainability Magazine - September 2021

September 2021 | sustainabilitymag.com

Biomass monopoly

Not a subject to discuss over dinner but its impact is crucial

Supply and demand

How US giants Oracle navigated its way through COVID-19

Green grass of home

Forest Green Rovers FC fly the flag for ultimate sports sustainability

TRUE REFLECTIONS EURO 2021 HOLDS A MIRROR TO SOCIETY

While football may not have come home for England, a communal awakening to the destiny of difference was finally embraced FEATURING:

RADISSON HOTEL GROUP

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The Sustainability Team EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

JOHN PINCHING DEPUTY EDITORS

HELEN ADAMS EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

SCOTT BIRCH

PRODUCTION DIRECTORS

GEORGIA ALLEN DANIELA KIANICKOVÁ PRODUCTION MANAGERS

OWEN MARTIN PHILLINE VICENTE JENNIFER SMITH

PRODUCTION EDITOR

JANET BRICE CREATIVE TEAM

DIGITAL VIDEO PRODUCERS

SAM KEMP EVELYN HUANG HABBIE AMOS JACK NICHOLLS MARTA EUGENIO

OSCAR HATHAWAY SOPHIE-ANN PINNELL HECTOR PENROSE SAM HUBBARD MIMI GUNN JUSTIN SMITH REBEKAH BIRLESON DUKE WEATHERILL JORDAN WOOD

TYLER LIVINGSTONE

VIDEO PRODUCTION MANAGER

GRETA ANDREJEVAITE

KIERAN WAITE

MOTION DESIGNER

MARKETING DIRECTOR

ROSS GARRIGAN

MARKETING MANAGER

PROJECT DIRECTORS

MARK CAWSTON

MEDIA SALES DIRECTORS

JASON WESTGATE MARK CAWSTON MANAGING DIRECTOR

LEWIS VAUGHAN

EXECUTIVE ASSITANT

JORDAN HUBBARD CHIEF OPERATIONS OFFICER

STACY NORMAN PRESIDENT & CEO

GLEN WHITE

FOREWORD

Choose life

“Sustainability is not like wearing denim jeans teamed with a denim jacket.

‘Double denim’ is a choice – a completely reckless choice – but a choice all the same. In contrast, sustainability is now the foremost part of our collective DNA and an attempt to create a future with some degree of certainty (preferably 1.5 degrees of certainty)” SUSTAINABILITY MAGAZINE IS PUBLISHED BY

Sustainability is not like wearing denim jeans teamed with a denim jacket. ‘Double denim’ is a choice – a completely reckless choice – but a choice all the same. In contrast, sustainability is now the foremost part of our collective DNA and an attempt to create a future with some degree of certainty (preferably 1.5 degrees of certainty).

It seems like yesterday that people with ‘environmental awareness’ were a subgroup within society – wearing hemp shoes, threading daisies into one another's hair and choosing cashew milk with their coffee. It was as if concern about our planet was like listening to thrash metal; a phase you would grow out of. In reality, they were way ahead of the game.

Finally waking up to climate change, however, has been a force for good. Sustainability, after all, allows us to focus on diversity and inclusion, address health inequalities and form a greater understanding of the socio-political landscape. Yes, this new wave is about recycling, renewables and responsible food production but it’s also about re-evaluating where on earth we are going (literally).

The other day I heard electronic music pioneer, Gary Numan, argue that homosapiens had been an evolutionary glitch – by building cities and developing technology, ‘we’ simply became too intelligent and, therefore, too destructive. We must prove him wrong!

Before I go, I urge you to peruse the avenue and alleyways of this periodical – converse with them, challenge them and, perhaps, change your own direction of travel.

Above all, I plead with you to make the right choice – if you’re wearing jeans, put that denim jacket back in the wardrobe.

JOHN PINCHING

john.pinching@bizclikmedia.com

© 2021 | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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CONTENTS

Our Regular Upfront Section: 10 Big Picture 12 The Brief 14 Timeline:

Life in the fast lane 16 Trailblazer:

Steve Irwin 20 Five Mins With:

Rich Donovan

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ESG Investment

Company you're keeping

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Leading by example on sustainability

Environmental services in a changing world

Radisson Hotel Group

Ragn-Sells AB

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92

How biomass energy can power the planet from animal droppings

Iron Moutain and Web Werks data centers: growing together

Renewable Energy

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Siemens AG

Iron Mountain

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Sustainable Sourcing

History of sustainability prepares Siemens for climate change

VP of WMS Cloud Development, Oracle, Diego Pantoja-Navajas, on supply chain disruption

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Football must venture into the forest of dreams

Beyond the deal — the power of brand value

Net Zero

EY

Reimagine the impossible

Bring together people, data, and processes to transform your organization.

With the latest in AI technologies, you can engage your customers in new ways, empower your employees more than ever before, and optimize operations to become an industry leader. Start your digital transformation today.

Get started

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Euro 2021 and Diversity

True reflections as Euro 2021 holds a mirror to society

132 Top 10

Eco cities leading sustainable commerce

166

Global Air Cylinder Wheels Revolutionising mining through ambition and innovation

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180

Adapting and changing in the needs of customers

A green vision to inspire and a reality to live by

Centrica

City of San Jose

BIG PICTURE

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September 2021

Stranger than fiction Dunhuang, China

It may look like a snapshot of science fiction but the Solar Thermal Power Station in China is a very stark reality. Indeed, huge swathes of panels have appeared throughout the country, from the hilltops of Nanping to the vast fields of Dongtai. These dazzling structures are capturing clean energy, but also our imaginations. sustainabilitymag.com

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THE BRIEF “One of the silver-linings from the pandemic is that people have had time to reflect on their shopping habits”

BY THE NUMBERS Is whether an item is being sustainably sourced and or recycled a factor in your purchasing decisions?

Katherine Hesling

Sustainability Coordinator, Waitrose  READ MORE

“Now, customers are paying more attention to the supply chain.

The best companies are going to think, how can we better prepare ourselves?”

63%

Sometimes

28%

Always

Diego Pantoja-Nava-Jas

Vice President, VMS Cloud (Logfire) Development  READ MORE

“A sustainable food system is one that uses regenerative agriculture to enhance the health of our soils, water cycles and biodiversity” Dr Emma Keller

Head of Sustainability Nestle UK & Ireland  READ MORE

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September 2021

Euro 2021 and the destiny of difference Even the ubiquitous lyrics to David Baddiel and Frank Skinner’s superficial anthem seemed to reference a multicultural and inclusive vibe, but has diversity finally come home?

Energy for the masses

Biomass is a form of renewable energy, which is gaining the attention of energy providers as a low-maintenance and economically efficient alternative to fossil fuels.

MARKS AND SPENCERS The company has partnered with HarperCollins for a new kids book, Farm to Foodhall, The Magic Ingredient, which helps educate children on maintaining a sustainable food chain.

THE FOREST OF DREAMS In the last two decades, football has become one of the most desirable yet energy-consuming commodities in the world. The appetite for matches, merchandise and magic moments have made it entirely unsustainable in its present form. While some clubs have taken actions to offset their carbon emissions, it is the influence of League 2’s Forest Green Rovers FC that has highlighted the need for sustainability in professional football. The club powers its facilities using renewable energy, recycles water collected from the stadium, makes its kits from bamboo and consumes a vegan diet (for staff and fans alike). Even its playing surface is entirely sustainable, ensuring that being eco-friendly comes from grass roots – quite literally.

 BT BT, a sponsor of the English Football Association, stood by the diverse team through the Euro 2020.

Its group, Hope United, was formed for top footballers to come together to tackle online hate.  TWITTER While BT battled to support a defeated team, Tweets poured in racially abusing players. Although Twitter claimed it rapidly removed offensive posts, social media companies have been urged to do more.  DISINFORMATION From the troll farms of totalitarian regimes to sadistic armchair conspiracy theorists, disinformation has radicalised lonely minds in lockdown.

As with racial abuse, social media companies have been ordered to crack down on disinformation.

W I N N E R S SEP21

L O S E R S

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TIMELINE

LIFE IN THE Although McDonald’s boasts a mind-bogglingly huge global network of restaurants, its burger and fries template – on the surface at least – has remained remarkably simple. The franchise's awakening to its sustainability commitments, however, has become an increasingly vital element of our enduring love-affair with the ‘golden arches’.

1952

1960

Large Fries

Absolute Crok

Having witnessed the popularity of burgers at their father’s food stand, brothers Dick and Mac McDonald began building a small franchise with a view to opening a few ‘fast food’ restaurants. From a sustainability standpoint, it is interesting to note that they were very sceptical about massive expansion or global domination.

From the 1960s, businessman Ray Crok became the dominating force behind the McDonald’s model, buying the brothers out. Needless to say, he didn’t use his own name and continued driving the McDonald’s brand. Thousands of restaurants appeared throughout the world, but by the 1970s, concern was being raised about waste and health issues.

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September 2021

1982

2004

2010

Total junk

Supersize me

The last straw

During the 1980s, McDonald's The restaurant had a rude With responsibly sourced beef was everywhere – quite literally. awakening when documentary and sustainable fish already As its discarded, unmistakably filmmaker Morgan Spurlock at the top of its agenda, since branded packaging became showed cinema goers what 2015, McDonald’s has installed a blight on cities, and even would happen if you ate recycling units in thousands of in countryside locations, the McDonald’s for a month. restaurants. Several restaurants company decided to act. Across Although some regarded it also have 100% LED lighting, the UK, since 1982, it has been as extreme, McDonald's has with 120,000 installed across collecting litter near restaurants. since introduced an extensive the UK. It also announced Organised patrols and clean-up range of salads and fruit in in 2018 that plastic drinking events cover 150,000 miles Happy Meals and become the straws were history, while every year. Similar initiatives only franchise to display all Happy Meals would no longer now happen throughout ingredients, calorie data and contain plastic tat. Rejoice! the world. nutritional information. sustainabilitymag.com

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TRAILBLAZER

STEVE IRWIN

MADE THE ENVIRONMENT ENTERTAINING Name: Steve Irwin (1962 - 2006) Job Title: Australian environmentalist Company: Australia Zoo

I

t’s been 15 years since Steve Irwin was killed by a stingray while snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef.

The khaki-clad Aussie icon is an unlikely business legend — but the Crocodile Hunter was posthumously inducted into The Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame for his conservation efforts, support of quarantine and popularising Australian tourism to the world.

Steve Irwin was born in Melbourne, in 1962, to wildlife enthusiasts Bob and Lyn Irwin.

In 1970, the Irwin family opened the Beerwah Reptile Park, now called the Australia Zoo. Steve spent his childhood feeding the animals and eventually became the owner. In 1991, 27-year-old Terri Raines visited Australia Zoo on holiday and met Steve at a crocodile show. He devastated Terri by inviting her to meet his girlfriend, which turned out to be his dog, Suey.

The pair became engaged just months later and went to film crocodiles on their honeymoon.

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Irwin made over 100 documentaries, which have been broadcast in 142 countries and viewed by a global audience of 500mn.

Animal populations have declined by an astonishing 60% since 1970

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TRAILBLAZER

An infectious passion for animals Animal populations have declined by 60% since 1970, something which horrified Irwin’s parents. They raised their son to love animals, and he made this his life’s work.

Through Steve’s television shows, documentaries, chat show interviews and Australia Zoo, Irwin led businesses and individuals to consider their environmental impact and the importance of conservation.

Business ideas In 1996, Australian wildlife expert The Crocodile Hunter began, cannonballing 18

September 2021

Steve Irwin into one of the world’s most famous television stars.

Irwin made over 100 documentaries, which have been broadcast in 142 countries and viewed by a global audience of 500mn.

In an interview, Irwin explained that he wanted to make the ‘Croc Hunter message’ commercial, through kids toys and clothing, to advertise conservation to those who had not seen the show.

Well ahead of 2020, Irwin was a keen promoter of Australian quarantine procedures and featured in adverts encouraging travellers to adhere to the rules.

“I believe that the time has come where if we don't get animals into people's hearts, they're going to go extinct.

People don't want to save something they don't know” — to Larry King

Through his documentaries and chat show appearances, Irwin was able to advertise Australia as a tourist destination. His contribution was described as ‘immeasurable’

by Tourism Australia.

Wildlife legend Irwin’s children, Bindi and Robert, have forayed into broadcasting in Bindi the Jungle Girl and Growing Up Wild. His family still live at Australia Zoo and have grown to include Bindi’s husband, Chandler, and their daughter, Grace Warrior Irwin Powell. Steve Irwin’s passion for animals made conservation cool. sustainabilitymag.com

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FIVE MINUTES WITH...

RICH DONOVAN CEO OF RICH DONOVAN IS AN EXPERT ON DISABILITY AND CORPORATE PROFITABILITY. HE HAS SPENT MORE THAN 15 YEARS FOCUSED ON DEFINING AND UNLOCKING THE ECONOMIC VALUE OF THE DISABILITY MARKET. RICH LIVES IN TORONTO WITH

HIS WIFE AND SON

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September 2021

HELLO RICH, CAN YOU TELL US HOW WORKING THROUGH THE PANDEMIC HAS INFLUENCED YOU? HOW HAVE YOU SUPPORTED YOUR TEAM? We try to understand what the world looks like for our clients. It’s actually quadrupled our business because the pandemic has shown us what disabled people deal with on a daily basis. They have become more aware. Managers cannot ignore us anymore. It has made our job easier. Not much has changed for the team because we all worked from home before. The biggest thing has been no travel! We have always done it that way, we don’t want to try anything new. Covid-19 is driving change.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR JOURNEY TO RETURN ON DISABILITY.

“ THERE ARE 1.3BN PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD WHO IDENTIFY AS HAVING A DISABILITY. IT IS THE WORLD’S LARGEST EMERGING MARKET” RETURN ON DISABILITY SAYS: "DISABILITY [IS] THE #1 GLOBAL EMERGING MARKET" CAN YOU EXPLAIN THIS? There are 1.3 billion people around the world who identify as having a disability.

It is the world’s largest emerging market.

A frontier market. There is enormous value here!

The first part of my career was as a trader. That experience taught me how value was actually created.

You are looking for high performing companies, and we weren’t looking at people with disabilities. I stuck my hand up and said: “This is something we should do. In support of that, I started doing research on disability economics. The research astonished me! I didn’t realise there was this much spending power. Thirteen years later, here we are! The group was where the hard work comes in.

You can’t just say, ‘Let’s do it’; you have to build. That’s the hard part.

WHAT IS ESG TO YOU? My honest answer is that it is a PR construct. Demand has shifted over the last 25 years. Our customers are demanding a different approach to environmental issues. They are trying to watch out how to accommodate that demand shift. ‘Social’ is the least developed and the least political. sustainabilitymag.com

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FIVE MINUTES WITH...

“ 70% OF DISABILITIES ARE NOT VISIBLE. 30% IDENTIFY AS DISABLED, BUT PEOPLE JUST DO NOT REALISE IT” GOAL 8 OF THE UN'S SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS PROPOSES: "BY 2030, ACHIEVE FULL AND PRODUCTIVE EMPLOYMENT AND DECENT WORK FOR ALL WOMEN AND MEN, INCLUDING FOR YOUNG PEOPLE AND PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES, AND EQUAL PAY FOR WORK OF EQUAL VALUE".

DO YOU THINK THIS IS POSSIBLE BY 2030?

Yes, it’s possible. I don’t think it’s possible by doing what we are doing today. It’s very hard to change an organisation from the ground up, but you can apply to their interests.

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September 2021

HOW ARE YOU ANTICIPATING ATTITUDES TOWARDS PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES WILL EVOLVE IN A POST-PANDEMIC WORLD? That [employing people with disabilities] can’t be a PR exercise anymore. But you are not going to convince every company. I think that’s the biggest realisation for me: You don’t have to convince everyone. You just have to convince the best.

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY TO PEOPLE WHO ARE FRIGHTENED OF HIRING A PERSON WITH A DISABILITY? You are a dinosaur. That may have been OK 20 years ago, but it’s a very, very weak excuse now. Anyone frightened of hiring a person with a disability needs to do their homework.

They are behind the times and probably doing a great disservice to their shareholders, which they will find out.

WHAT'S NEXT FOR YOU? Getting people with disabilities out there. sustainabilitymag.com

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LEADING

BY EXAMPLE ON

SUSTAINABILITY WRITTEN BY: SCOTT BIRCH PRODUCED BY: GLEN WHITE

Radisson Collection Hotel Resort, Nanjing

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September 2021

RADISSON HOTEL GROUP

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RADISSON HOTEL GROUP

Radisson Collection Hotel, Tsinandali Estate Georgia

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September 2021

RADISSON HOTEL GROUP

Inge Huijbrechts, Global Senior Vice President Sustainability, Security and Corporate Communications, Radisson Hotel Group, looks to a bright future

S

ometimes defining moments in a life and career are easy to pinpoint, while other executives have a less obvious path. For Inge Huijbrechts – Global Senior Vice President Sustainability, Security and Corporate Communications for Radisson Hotel Group – one moment stands out that encapsulates a passion for travel with concern for the planet. That ‘moment’ was a four-year sailing trip around the world, beginning in Belgium and ending with Inge first joining Toyota Motor Europe to lead sustainability and then Radisson Hotel Group.

“The trip went from Belgium to Australia, it took four years and it had been a life dream of mine,” recalls Inge, who embarked on the journey with her ex-husband.

“It seemed like the right moment, in our lives and our careers, to do it and actually it was. Once you get your mindset to a project like that, it's doable to give up everything, to sell your house, give up great careers and go.

It's not a holiday, it's a different way of life.

A journey like that is an exploration to yourself, to the nature around you, to the state of the world in very remote and pristine places.”

Although Inge got to see some of those incredibly remote places, they were far from untouched by the now recognised scourge of plastic waste – something which clearly had a lasting impact on her and her later career choices.

“Nature is stunningly beautiful,” she says, “but you see the impact of plastic pollution firsthand, even when you cross the ocean. sustainabilitymag.com

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RADISSON HOTEL GROUP

Leading by example on sustainability

You see plastic floating and on the windward side of all these remote islands, no matter where they are. So, luckily the topic is now on the global agenda.”

Sustainability is not just on the agenda, it’s arguably the number-one priority for organisations, governments and individuals as we begin to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic. As it was expressed in the recent IPCC report published on August 9, climate change is happening, and we need to mobilise massively and decisively now that we still have a bit of time to turn the tide.

Sustainability has been talked about for decades – ever since the Brundtland Report more than 30 years ago – and in the corporate world, has professionalised over the last 15 years.

“After a career of 10 years as a successful executive in IT, when I came back, I was lucky enough to get hired by Toyota to be their CSR manager for Europe,” Inge recalls.

“And that's still an amazing stroke of luck for 30

September 2021

me, but they needed someone who had the passion for sustainability, an understanding of the subject and an engineering background, which I do have. Plus, they were looking for sales capabilities to sell sustainability and corporate responsibility internally – and that was my chance.”

It is an opportunity that Inge grasped with both hands, leading the team at Toyota for close to four years before joining Radisson a decade ago.

During this time, Inge’s role has developed while the hotel group has also undergone significant changes – having two name changes and two changes in ownership.

“I would say I don't have to change companies because the company changes for me,” jokes Inge. “I started as a Director of Responsible Business, which is corporate responsibility. Then I got promoted two years later to Global VP of Responsible Business. And then, three years ago,

RADISSON HOTEL GROUP

EXECUTIVE BIO INGE HUIJBRECHTS TITLE: GLOBAL SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, SUSTAINABILITY, SECURITY AND CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS LOCATION: BRUSSELS Inge Huijbrechts is Global Senior Vice President Sustainability, Security and Corporate Communications for Radisson Hotel Group – developing the Responsible Business and Safety & Security programs in the group’s 1,600 hotels in operations & development in 120 countries around the world.

Together with her team, she lays out the strategy for Responsible Business from build to operations and keeps the over 100,000 employees around the world engaged in everyday Responsible Business actions. Additionally, she leads the global expert Safety & Security team to ensure all is done to welcome guests in safe and secure hotels.

Inge is a member of the ASIS CSO Center for Leadership and Development and the chair of the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance Executive Committee and of the OSAC Hotel & Lodging Sector Committee. Inge also sits on the board of Flanders Special Venues.

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“ Being responsible business gives you 3 THINKs to do: Think People, Think Community, Think Planet” INGE HUIJBRECHTS

GLOBAL SENIOR VP, SUSTAINABILITY, SECURITY AND CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS

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September 2021

Radisson Collection Strand Hotel, Stockholm

RADISSON HOTEL GROUP

I was asked to add Safety and Security.

And now since January I also lead Corporate Communications.”

The change of ownership of Radisson Hotel Group three years ago has brought with it a whole transformation programme – a detailed strategic plan for the group and its nine distinct brands. Inge says these 26 strategic initiatives – of which corporate responsibility and safety and security is one – have made the group stronger, more resilient and as prepared as possible to rebound after shocks like the COVID-19 pandemic.

“At Radisson Hotel Group we speak about responsible business in terms of Think People, Think Community and Think Planet,” says Inge.

“So that’s the three elements we care about in our mission to be a responsible company.

Our duty of care globally, in an organisation with 1,600 hotels in 120 countries, is to keep everyone safe: guests, team members and people in our supply chain.

“One can certainly say there’s a nexus between Sustainability and Safety & Security.

If you're looking at climate change and the associated risks, many of the impacts also affect the safety & security of our operations – for example, in terms of food or water security, local instability, and responding to increasingly frequent natural disasters. So in both fields of Sustainability and Safety & Security, my team and I look at those long-term risks and are doing the right thing to mitigate them to protect people, assets and the environment.

“By being a responsible corporate citizen, and by having impactful sustainability actions in place, you're actually going to make it safer for your company to operate.”

Radisson Hotel Group and its previous incarnations, has a rich history and strong record when it comes to sustainability – leading pioneering initiatives in the hospitality industry. sustainabilitymag.com

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RADISSON HOTEL GROUP

Radisson Collection Hotel, Bodrum

THE NEXT DECADE “Well, I'm an optimist, so I think we can make a change,make things better and we can do what needs to be done on the safety and the sustainability side. Health and safety, sustainability and flexibility will continue to be on the agenda and asked for both by our corporate clients and by travellers. At Radisson Hotel Group we will continue on that journey.

“As our industry recovers, the immediate focus point is to rebuild our teams and rehire, which is what we are doing now, with a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion.

“I think travel will bounce back. For example Google travel search data show there's a lot of pent-up demand for travel. I think our global industry, which represented 10% of global GDP in pre-pandemic times, will rebound. We have responded to the demand for more leisure stays, and new

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September 2021

ways of staying in working, with for example Hybrid rooms. Travel is a way of connecting people and is here to stay.

“I think business meetings and events will happen in clusters – which means they are organised in a hybrid form with groups of delegates in multiple locations and the groups connecting digitally. It was recently calculated that a 300-person event, organised in several national clusters, had a 73% carbon reduction and a 72% reduction in time of all participants.

This calculation showed the tangible benefits of hybrid meetings built on key success factors like state-of-the-art digital and studio technology that companies like Radisson Hotel Group make available.

This is the current way in which Meetings & Events are being organised, with the added plus that more delegates can be reached.”

RADISSON HOTEL GROUP

“ By being a responsible citizen and by having impactful sustainability actions in place, you're actually going to make it safer for your company to operate” INGE HUIJBRECHTS

GLOBAL SENIOR VP, SUSTAINABILITY, SECURITY AND CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS

When it was still called Radisson SAS, it was the first hospitality company to have an environmental policy. This was back in 1989, when the Berlin Wall still divided East and West Berlin, smoking was allowed on airplanes, and the world wide web (internet) was born. It helps that Radisson has its roots in the Nordics, in Scandinavian countries with forwardthinking attitudes that are now really catching on around the world.

However, when it comes to sustainability, every company on the planet is shouting about their credentials and it’s hard for many consumers to cut through that noise and discern how they can make responsible choices.

“I think we have a role as a company and an industry to make sustainability easy to understand for travellers and consumers,” agrees Inge. “And that's one of the things that I'm trying to realise now together with my CEO and our owners, Jin Jiang International, together with hotel and travel industry associations, to bring something together that can be the global hotel sustainability standard.”

Inge outlines that there is currently a great deal of information and a number of frameworks available, but sees an opportunity for a basic standard for sustainability that is widely supported by all tourism stakeholders. Hotels that meet this basic level should be able to display some kind of symbol, like a green icon. You could take that concept further of course, in the same way that hotels have a star rating system, that could be extended to a hotel’s sustainability credentials – allowing consumers to make better informed choices.

Carbon neutral ambitions ‘Carbon neutral’ is another one of those phrases that we hear all the time and can be misleading for consumers. As well as reducing your carbon footprint as much as possible, most businesses need to offset their remaining footprint , and it’s important to provide transparency on each element.

Inge says there are very few companies who are genuinely carbon neutral just by zeroing their footprint in their core activity.

When you are talking about buildings and 24/7 operations around the world, it’s almost impossible, so you have to include offsetting as the last step in the plan.

“We are the only hotel company with 100% carbon neutral meetings and events worldwide at no cost to the client,” says Inge. “It means we offset the footprint of all our meeting and events spaces worldwide.

“First, we aim to reduce the meeting location’s footprint to a maximum and then, we offset the remaining carbon emissions. For instance, in the Radisson Blu Hotel Basel, which is the hotel you see on my Teams background, they've made sustainabilitymag.com

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RADISSON HOTEL GROUP

significant investments in environmental technology such as solar panels for water heating, efficient cooling & heating, building controls, etc.

“The meeting footprint is therefore lower, and we offset it with recognised quality projects that have both an environmental and a social impact. We are transparent because we provide a report to the meeting organiser, outlining exactly how much CO2 we have offset for their meeting. For hotels, if you want to reach carbon neutrality, it's all about energy consumption reduction, using renewable energy, and offsetting.”

When it comes to being a responsible business, next to actions for the environment, carbon neutrality and net zero, a company should also focus on Think People, or social responsibility.

Diversity, equality and inclusion are top of mind in Radisson Hotel Group and in the public opinion.

Because of the global nature of its business, Radisson is naturally diverse, but it also excels with innovative initiatives.

Around 40% of Radisson’s 100,000 team members are female, in a total workforce that represents 137 nationalities. However, Inge does recognise that there’s an opportunity to increase the diversity amongst senior staff, for example at General Manager level, where currently 20% are female.

“When you're on head-of-department level in a hotel, you can easily stay in the same country, but after that there often are requirements to move and take up more senior roles abroad. In our Diversity and Inclusion program, we have put a lot of attention on tailored career paths and allowing people certain flexibility, not being forced to move to where it's not possible to move with a family, for example.”

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Inge highlights two countries where Radisson Hotel Group is really leading the way when it comes to equality and inclusion – Saudi Arabia and South Africa.

In Saudi Arabia in 2017, Maram Kokandi became the first announced female native Saudi General Manager of a hotel. She has been the general manager of the Jeddah Park Inn Hotel since its construction work began in 2017.

“She is a trailblazer. And because of that, and the Kingdom's push for local employment, we went from only 6 female team members to 190 in a few years.

“In sync with Maram’s appointment we also implemented a significant D&I policy in the Middle East by extending maternity one month

RADISSON HOTEL GROUP

Radisson Blu Hotel, Frankfurt

longer beyond the legal minimum. This policy means a lot for young female talent and allows them to balance work and family.

Another success story in South Africa highlights inclusivity at Park Inn by Radisson Cape Town Newlands. The hotel is partially owned by DEAFSA the Deaf Association of South Africa and, as a result, the hotel is run by an inclusive team, including 30% deaf staff.

“It really is a tremendous success,” says Inge. “Deaf team members work both in front of house as well as back of house roles and are identified with a badge to inform guests. Reactions are very positive. The success at Park Inn has been an inspiration to take on more deaf team members in

other hotels. One of the former team members of Park Inn by Radisson Cape Town Newlands was promoted to become the cluster financial controller of a number of our hotels in South Africa. Her growth shows that at Radisson Hotel Group, everyone has equal opportunities to succeed, to learn, to be compensated fairly, and to advance.”

Responding to the COVID challenge While there are so many positive stories coming from Radisson Hotel Group, it’s important to remember the devastating impact that COVID-19 has had, and continues to have, on the travel and hospitality industries – probably one of the hardest hits of all industries worldwide. sustainabilitymag.com

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Inge first became aware of the novel virus from working on mitigation measures in the group’s properties in China as early as January 2020, but it’s fair to say most of us still believed this was a localised outbreak that would be contained. By the end of February, Inge was attending an annual conference in Las Vegas celebrating a successful year and launching new initiatives such as the group’s plan to phase out single use plastics. That same week a call came from one of the Radisson Blu hotels in Germany informing her of a cluster of infections amongst guests and staff. And that is when everything changed and the company’s global crisis management process kicked in.

“I would say the rest of 2020 was fully dedicated to managing the crisis – getting our company safely through this health and safety crisis became my full focus,” recalls Inge. “As lockdowns were decreed in an increasing number of countries, Radisson Hotels were gradually being closed. At one point, we had up to one third of our portfolio closed. No one saw this coming at this scale and for this duration; no one thought a year ago that we would still be in the global pandemic right now. Luckily, we had rolled out a global crisis management process consistently in the group since I took over safety and security. The process existed before, but needed to be made available in quality collateral, rolled out worldwide and regularly practiced. Thanks to our practiced global crisis management and some excellent initial decisions involving expert partners, we made it. Our hotels came through this safely, because we reacted fast, consistently and together with the right partners.”

The job is never done Radisson Hotel Group turns acting for good into a habit and a consistent strategy. Over the last ten years, for example, it has reduced its energy and water footprint by 30%. Now the 38

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“Sustainability is an economic and social imperative. It is a necessity if we want to keep our planet a livable place for us humans” INGE HUIJBRECHTS

GLOBAL SENIOR VP, SUSTAINABILITY, SECURITY AND CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS

group has pledged to reduce their carbon footprint by another 30% by 2025, which Inge describes as “a tremendous but necessary target on the path to Net Zero”.

“This year we are setting our Science Based Targets – which means carbon reduction targets in line with the Paris Accord. This is a next major step for us. Setting and achieving SBTs means building on the success of what we've done before, setting the targets, and then mobilising everybody to build and renovate green, to maximise our use of renewable energy and be climate efficient on the operational side to achieve them,” says Inge.

Another initiative that was launched recently is a new partnership on green mobility for Europe. Currently 150 of the group’s hotels are already equipped with charging points for electric vehicles. This new partnership will accelerate the rollout of charging capabilities Europe-wide and leverage the latest ultrafast charging technology, especially in mature markets where uptake of EVs is growing rapidly. ‘EV driving is like the new wifi’; guests expect EV facilities to be available when they travel.

Radisson Hotel Group’s vision is to connect all guests to green mobility moments.

Another major topic of today is the fight against waste – avoiding Single-Use-Plastics as mentioned before, and a concerted effort to tackle food waste.

“Food waste is hugely important because of its tremendous climate impact,” says Inge, citing a study that says 80% of a hotel’s carbon originates in the supply chain, and a large portion of that is food and beverage. Eating a vegetarian diet means 2.5x less carbon emissions than a meat diet. It is also estimated that 30% of all food goes to waste – these are all products that took water and energy to grow, carbon to transport and process, etc. sustainabilitymag.com

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“Hotels can play a major role in reducing their overall carbon footprints by simply reducing food waste and also by putting plant-based options on the menu.

In Radisson Hotel Group EMEA today 35% of our menu options are already plant-based (vegetarian or vegan). This is helping us and our clients to make an impact.”

Radisson Hotel Group has also signed an agreement with Too Good To Go – a social enterprise that operates in multiple countries in Europe. They connect the public with hospitality providers who have leftover meals to sell at the end of the day at an affordable set price, which helps the hotel avoid food waste and, at the same time, provides a service to the local consumers.

Stronger together Sustainability is a pre-competitive topic.

Honouring the UN Sustainable Development Goal 17 – Partnership for the Goals – Radisson Hotel Group engages in key industry fora to help make tangible change.

In May 2020, we put the power of the collective in action together with the World Travel and Tourism Council, when we helped create the Safe Travel Guidelines which are now adopted by over 300 destinations worldwide.

Radisson Hotel Group also plays an active role in the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance, an organisation which is promoting responsible hospitality for a better world. It comprises 13 companies totally committed to working

“ We made it. Our hotels came through this pandemic safely, because we reacted fast, consistently and together with the right partners” INGE HUIJBRECHTS

GLOBAL SENIOR VP, SUSTAINABILITY, SECURITY AND CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS

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together on sustainability, and represents 25% of the industry in terms of number of rooms.

Considering around 70% of the industry is made up of independent hotels or small groups, this 25% is made up of the major groups – including Marriott, IHG, Hilton, Hyatt, Radisson Hotel Group, large producers like Caesars and innovative groups like Soneva. In the Alliance, these groups work together on coordinated efforts and initiatives covering People and Planet. That includes carbon footprint, climate action, youth employment and human rights.

“The SHA has been around for over 25 years and we have already issued industry tools to measure carbon footprints for hotels in a consistent way. Same for water,” says Inge.

“We're working on a waste methodology and hope to deliver this together with the United Nations World Tourism Organization UNWTO. This collaborative approach extends from Radisson Hotel Group into numerous innovative partnerships relating to sustainability in order to achieve their carbon reduction goals. Today, 18% of energy used by Radisson Hotels worldwide is renewable and 25 hotels operate on 100% renewable energy. Thanks to a partnership with E.On, the Radisson Blu Hotel, Frankfurt has the first large scale hydrogen combined heat and power installation. Thanks to this installation, 30% of energy of this 430+ room hotel is generated fully emission free.

This installation was the first of its kind in Europe on that scale.

Another partner called Solarus has installed hybrid solar panels on the roof of Park Inn by Radisson Foreshore in the Cape Town CBD. These panels produce electricity as well as heat and hot water – covering 30% of the hotel’s hot water requirement.

Sustainability is all about the future, and Inge says that the increased focus on safety – as individuals and as a wider society – is perhaps the biggest lesson learned from the last 18 months.

“During the pandemic, sustainability has not gone away and in the past few months, it has come back in full force,” she says. “And that's simply because people realise that there's no vaccine against climate change.”

“Being a responsible company, we do everything in our power to go to climate neutrality by 2050, and we take our employees and our clients on that journey. I think Sustainability is an economic and social imperative. Sustainability is a necessity if we want to keep our planet a livable place for us humans.”

Radisson Blu Hotel, Casablanca City Center sustainabilitymag.com

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COMPANY YOU’RE KEEPING ESG INVESTMENT

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ESG INVESTMENT

The threat of climate change and environmental catastrophe has been a rude awakening for every single human being on earth – even Jeremy Clarkson (eventually). Now companies across the globe have propelled sustainability into the centre of their souls – and they're much better for it

WRITTEN BY: JOHN PINCHING

I

t seems preposterous now, but only 10 years ago, choosing which freeze-dried coffee to use in the office kitchen or debating the merits of wall-mounted motivational statements (usually attributed to, but never actually spoken by, Gandhi) used to be higher up the agenda than sustainability issues.

Mercifully, the world’s priorities have now been turned upside down, as governments, organisations and communities have realised that addressing the clear and present danger of climate change is not an option – that ship sailed five decades ago, before our obsession with plastics ignited and while the waters were still relatively calm. In reality, we have little choice but to mobilise for the challenge of a lifetime, not only to save us from extinction but to save our souls.

And thus, the first pressing issue on the agenda is to 'save our planet' and the second is to 'reboot humanity' itself. These items will remain our collective priorities for the foreseeable future and ‘AOB’ will have to wait. Sorry, fake Charles Dickens quote, you're history.

The business trend Current corporate sustainability action at so many organisations and businesses is arguably ahead of international government sustainabilitymag.com

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plans. There is an inherent agility in the private sector which can make innovation and behavioural adoption happen with the speed and purpose that the environmental crisis requires. In the last five years it has often allowed companies to act quickly and decisively, while also acknowledging their wider responsibilities as a service provider or manufacturer, positively engendering a culture shift and even a change of identity within the new world.

Across the globe it is now impossible to look the other way. As oceans become polluted, wildfires rage, flash floods

annihilate and species become extinct a situation of biblical proportions has erupted. Critically, companies are reacting and acting on the ground. Targets have been increased, carbon emissions have been reduced and now people are being recruited who devote their entire working lives to the most important agenda on earth.

Some of these intrepid individuals explain to Sustainability Magazine how their companies are taking a leap into the unknown, with an ambition to make it much more certain. sustainabilitymag.com

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NAME: KATHERINE HESLING COMPANY: WAITROSE — PART OF THE EMPLOYEE-OWNED JOHN LEWIS PARTNERSHIP (JLP) INDUSTRY: FOOD RETAILER JOB TITLE: SUSTAINABILITY COORDINATOR

Sustainability is like learning to ride a bike; once you get it, it changes how you think and, one of the silver-linings from the pandemic is that people have had time to reflect on their shopping habits. I truly believe that many customers have now made the link between the products they buy and the impact these have on animals, people and the environment.

Here at Waitrose we are passionate about minimising the negative impact our products have on the planet and one of our key sustainability goals is eliminating unnecessary plastics. By 2023, we are committed to replace all our own brand packaging with widely recyclable or home-compostable materials. We realise that single use plastic is a huge concern for our customers and one we are determined to address.

The companies we work with are currently testing alternatives such as the fully recyclable and home compostable 'liner46

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less' cardboard replacement for Kiwi fruit packs, which would save 1.2 tonnes of single use plastic and we’ve just launched a new sustainable packaging trial for strawberries – saving 16.89 tonnes of plastic waste over the British summer.

These cool initiatives tie in with another of our main sustainability objectives, which is diverting as much waste as we can from landfill while providing our customers with creative and innovative solutions to reuse products or dispose of them responsibly.

We know this matters to our customers and that’s why in March we announced we wouldn’t be selling children’s magazines containing disposable plastic toys any longer and we urged magazine publishers to replace plastic toys with more sustainable alternatives.

I am so proud to be part of an organisation that is committed to improving the lives of the JLP Partners, customers and incredible people who work on our food supply chains.

In March we produced our first ever ‘Women in JLP Supply Chains’ report to start tackling gender inequality.

The report focuses on the challenges women face globally within the world of work, but also highlights the positive moves Waitrose are already making, and what the plans are for the future.

We believe it’s very important to be honest and open about the issues our supply chain workers face and despite us making every effort to safeguard our workers, harassment, child slavery and low pay still exist. Much of this work falls under the remit of the Waitrose Foundation, which is a unique supply chains programme designed to improve lives and create better opportunities for the people and communities who grow, pick and pack our fresh produce by supporting education,

ESG INVESTMENT

“ By 2023, we are committed to replace all our own brand packaging with widely recyclable or homecompostable materials” KATHERINE HESLING

SUSTAINABILITY COORDINATOR, WAITROSE

enterprise and employability, and promoting sustainable livelihoods.

Of course, we couldn’t do any of these things without the amazing skills and dedication of our JLP Partners. We’ve just held another Partnership Week, an annual event for our employees which celebrates amazing teamwork. This year we recognised the fantastic outcomes that Partners have achieved for customers, suppliers and communities during the challenging times of the pandemic.

The Partnership fosters an inclusive, collaborative culture supporting ethnic minorities and the LBGTQ community, while also recognising the broad reach of customers we serve. I am always so excited to see the work of our diverse and innovative Partnership talents, which enables us to bring fascinating and original ranges to our customers; such as hosiery from Sheer Chemistry, ingenious greeting cards

by AfroTouch and delicious new world food lines.

My personal favourite was Waitrose’s Language of Love Bouquet which comprised rainbow-coloured roses for Valentine’s Day, demonstrating our commitment to promoting an inclusive and vibrant community within and beyond the business.

Our customers have always recognised the Partnership’s commitment to creating better outcomes for society and it was fantastic that throughout our 2020 Christmas ‘Give a Little Love’ campaign we were able to raise over £3m for our chosen charities FareShare and Home-Start. Now these efforts are also being recognised within the wider retail grocery industry, reflected in our recent nomination for a 2021 Grocer Gold Award in the Waste Not Want Not category!

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NAME: KYRA WHITTEN COMPANY: FLEX INDUSTRY: DESIGN AND MANUFACTURING JOB TITLE: VICE PRESIDENT, SUSTAINABILITY

The business of manufacturing doesn’t just impact environmental issues – such as climate change – but also has a leading role in helping address societal challenges, like community building, diversity and inclusion.

Furthermore, it continues to drive stronger governance practices and transparency.

At Flex, stewarding sustainable manufacturing practices has always been at the core of what we do, however, we are in the business of manufacturing, which means we have an even greater responsibility to our employees, customers, shareholders and the planet to be as transparent about our sustainability progress as possible.

When addressing sustainability challenges, it’s important to look at each measure as part of a whole – how does meeting environmental goals affect communities, how do the communities where we operate influence our diversity and inclusion goals and how can our leaders at Flex act as sponsors and educators to empower the next generation?

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Building on nearly 20 years of experience, we have ingrained sustainability deeper into our business strategy and company values.

That’s why we launched our most ambitious sustainability goals this year and joined the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) to help guide us in setting the greenhouse gas emission reduction targets required to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, as outlined in The Paris Agreement.

We don’t take our responsibility to sustainability lightly. With a network spanning about 1,000 customers and 16,000 suppliers, we aspire to leverage where we are in the ‘value chain’ with a view to encouraging good practices. We are collaborating with 50% of our preferred suppliers to set their GHG emissions reduction targets by 2025, while hitting 100% by 2030. We are also partnering with 70% of

“ Our customers rely on us when working toward their sustainability aspirations. Many of them want to better understand their product lifecycle’s environmental impact” KYRA WHITTEN

VICE PRESIDENT, SUSTAINABILITY, FLEX

ESG INVESTMENT

the customers who contribute to our total ‘scope 3 emissions’ in order to help them set science-based targets by 2025.

Conversely, our customers rely on us when working toward their sustainability aspirations. Many of them want to better understand their product lifecycle’s environmental impact and the value of our circular economy offerings, which extend the use of materials and advance a closed-loop future.

Within our own walls, around 160,000 colleagues have weathered the storm of this tumultuous last year with resilience and commitment. I firmly believe that our culture and shared values – rooted in doing the right thing – enabled us to foster a safe, inclusive work environment, continue production for our customers, and manufacture essential goods to support the world in its time of

need. Employee safety and wellbeing remain top priorities, as both are integral to our sustainability journey.

More than ever, it’s important to prioritise alignment and disclosure. One of the most effective ways to drive visibility to a sustainability program and ensure your organisation helps tackle prevalent issues is by aligning with global initiatives and frameworks. In addition to SBTi, we focus our efforts to advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the UN Global Compact, disclosing our activities against the Sustainable Accounting Standards Board and GRI Standards in the process.

It’s through alignment with global initiatives and our strong culture and values, that we are able to demonstrate our commitment to sustainability and show our stakeholders that we’re in it for the long haul.

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“ A sustainable food system is one that uses regenerative agriculture to enhance the health of our soils, water cycles and biodiversity” NAME: DR EMMA KELLER COMPANY: NESTLÉ UK & IRELAND INDUSTRY: FOOD AND DRINK JOB TITLE: HEAD OF SUSTAINABILITY

As the world’s largest food and beverage manufacturer, we have an important role to play in helping to feed a growing global population with nutritious and delicious food to enhance their quality of life, while at the same time ensuring we have a positive impact on people and the planet.

Leading climate scientists have warned that urgent action is needed over the next decade if we are to limit global warming to a maximum of 1.5°C and stay within a safe operating space. Even half a degree beyond this will significantly increase the risks of drought, floods, extreme heat and poverty for hundreds of millions of people.

Therefore, taking action on climate change can’t wait and neither can we.

That’s why Nestlé has made a commitment to reach net zero emissions across the whole of our operations by 2050, and to half our emissions by 2030.

To achieve this will require radical action across our whole value chain, from switching to renewable energy in our 50

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HEAD OF SUSTAINABILITY, NESTLÉ UK & IRELAND

factories and offices, to looking for new innovative packaging solutions for our products, while also working with our suppliers and farmers on future-proofing our food system.

A sustainable food system is one that uses regenerative agriculture to enhance the health of our soils, water cycles and biodiversity, all of which can help in tackling climate change. It’s a system that enhances the lives of its farmers and suppliers, and the communities they live in, upholding a positive ‘nature and people’ approach, which unlocks the power of food to enhance the quality of life for everyone; today and for generations to come.

ESG INVESTMENT

As almost two-thirds of Nestlé’s footprint lies upstream in our agricultural supply chain, we’re focused on investing and collaborating with suppliers to transition to more regenerative agriculture practices as part of our ambition to advance regenerative food systems at scale.

Nature-based solutions are fundamental to this type of farming and – by supporting our farmers to implement these practices on their farms – we can produce food in a way that works in harmony with nature and not against it. In other words, we want to shift food production from being part of the climate change problem to part of the solution.

Not only can it shift from a net source of emissions to a net sink, but it can also play a role in enhancing biodiversity, replenishing water supplies and regenerating the landscapes on which we rely, feed from and enjoy. We’re taking bold action, backed up with a significant global investment of 3.2b CHF over the next five years, but we know we can’t do it alone. We’ll need to work with our suppliers, farmers, peers, customers and with governments, NGOs and academics if we are to win the fight against climate change. sustainabilitymag.com

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RAGN - SELLS

ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES IN A CHANGING WORLD

WRITTEN BY: JOHN PINCHING PRODUCED BY: GLEN WHITE 52

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RAGN - SELLS

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Ragn-Sells has been a trailblazer for environmental services, waste management and recycling for decades. It has always been primarily motivated by the opportunity to make a positive difference, and – at this moment in time – its enduring ethos has never been more relevant

A

bove all, Ragn-Sells is a company way ahead of its time. It has to be.

While we have all been immersed in the trappings of ownership, comfort and a single-use ‘utopia’, this intrepid Swedish company has been a standout leader in managing the fall out from globalisation.

When you have developing countries and a broadening of the ‘civilised world’, there are always byproducts – figuratively and literally. On the one hand, there is the greater sense of parity, opportunity and wealth that comes with industrialisation, but on the other, there is the ubiquitous reality of waste on an industrial scale. It is impossible to have one without the other and, for almost 150 years, Ragn-Sells has been reconciled to this inconvenient truth and determined to address it.

Indeed, when most of the human race really started demanding more, wanting a greater stake in the highly seductive transactional ecosystem, there weren’t many dissenting voices asking, “who’s going to clear up the mess afterwards?”

Affordability and availability have been rampant since the 1960s, and the company has been in a constant cycle of reinvention. It’s fair to say that long before the documentaries about the destructive patterns of manufacturing and the cyclone of mass consumerism, Ragn-Sells was forming strategies, finding ways and peering sustainabilitymag.com

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RAGN - SELLS

No time to waste in the circle of life

into the very future we are now experiencing. Since 2015, it has taken waste management to the next level, led by a visionary whose stance on sustainability has been a life’s work.

food production, transformed approaches to climate change, encouraged the employment of people with disabilities (not to tick In the next ten boxes but to improve performance) years, Ragn-Sells will reduce its own and pioneered the use of carbonclimate emissions by labelled food products.

Pär excellence When he arrived at Ragn-Sells, the It will, perhaps, come as no great term ‘green credentials’ was creeping surprise that Pär Larshans – Environmental its way up the agenda of the corporate Director of Sustainability at Ragn-Sells – world, and Pär was determined to take the considers water to be his favourite drink. opportunity to evolve the company, crystalise Indeed, this insatiable thirst for purity defines its reputation as a sustainability champion and the company, its principles and, of course, its fast track waste management innovation. enduring ethos – to combine sound business “At the time, we saw that the world was practices with the challenge of improving the transforming at a rapid pace,” he reflects. planet. Pär’s modus operandi is to espouse “Even though we had been in operation stark truths and deliver transformative since 1881, it was clear that we would have solutions. It’s food for thought, which takes to change and become a frame of reference us to exactly how he developed his appetite. to everyone else. Transporting waste wasn’t Prior to making the move, Pär had a hugely good enough anymore, because we were successful stint at a fast-food company, going from linear to circular, and that during which he championed ethical means no waste at all. Subsequently, all the

50%

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PÄR LARSHANS TITLE: ENVIRONMENTAL DIRECTOR OF SUSTAINABILITY COMPANY: RAGN-SELLS INDUSTRY: WASTE MANAGEMENT Pär Larshans is Head of Sustainability and Public Affairs at Ragn-Sells, a family-owned business, which is active in four countries with recycling but with potential for a world market for extraction and reuse of nutrients from waste, such as fly ash and sludge.

In July 2018, Ragn-Sells' contribution to society was honoured to be one of four business examples, symbolizing innovation and leadership, presenting at the High-Level Political Forum Business day at UN in New York.

“ TRANSPORTING WASTE WASN’T GOOD ENOUGH ANYMORE BECAUSE WE WERE GOING FROM LINEAR TO CIRCULAR, AND THAT MEANS NO WASTE AT ALL” PÄR LARSHANS, ENVIRONMENTAL DIRECTOR OF SUSTAINABILITY, RAGN-SELLS

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“ BUSINESSES REALLY NEED TO UNDERSTAND THAT IF YOU'RE NOT DOING THE RIGHT THING – IF YOU DON'T TAKE RESPONSIBILITY – THE CONSUMER WILL HATE YOU” PÄR LARSHANS, ENVIRONMENTAL DIRECTOR OF SUSTAINABILITY, RAGN-SELLS

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new innovations we had been developing suddenly became a genuine possibility.”

World in motion As the world has started to accept the considerable challenges ahead, individuals and companies have thus started wrestling with their responsibilities when it comes to climate change and the environment. Consequently, Ragn-Sells's waste management operations, recycling processes and wider environmental services have increased exponentially, ushering in a new phase of evolution.

RAGN - SELLS

1881

Year Founded

2000-5000 Number of Employees

Waste Management Industry

$6.6bn Revenue SEK

Pär has witnessed the sudden change in approach among companies and believes it will lead to a positive cultural shift in the perception of sustainability. “The world is getting more transparent, and businesses really need to understand that if you're not doing the right thing – if you don't take responsibility – the consumer will hate you.

If, however, you make mistakes, confess to them and make sure that you reverse them, your reputation will be greatly enhanced.

I have seen that sustainable companies which contribute to the best of society are always rewarded.”

Pär is very candid about what happens to companies who insist on burying their heads (or anything else) in the sand. He explains: “In Sweden, we have had many scandals. Police have even thrown company executives in jail because of how they treat waste. It demonstrates that you need to take responsibility – upstream and downstream – and there are no longer any excuses.”

On a broader scale, Pär has seen a positive global awakening in the last couple of years as more information and footage has emerged of irresponsible waste removal.

Pollution and plastics in the ocean – images sustainabilitymag.com

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“ THE PLANET ALWAYS COMES FIRST – THAT’S WHY WE ALWAYS OFFER OUR CUSTOMERS A MORE CIRCULAR WAY TO MEET THEIR OBLIGATIONS” PÄR LARSHANS, ENVIRONMENTAL DIRECTOR OF SUSTAINABILITY, RAGN-SELLS

that have come to define the current crisis – have been a stark and inescapable wake-up call to everyone. It has triggered a behavioural reboot, with companies becoming more conscious of the need for transparency and how a lack of social responsibility could very easily be shamed across social media and news agencies.

Pär believes that the myriad opportunities there are to communicate and share experiences have increased through digital channels, and there is a genuine opportunity to change the ‘rules’ of waste management and supercharge the knowledge base among companies while also setting new benchmarks in the process. The employment of dedicated sustainability personnel can only ignite this movement further.

Keeping it real To ‘clean up’ the system is to be part of that system, and Pär knows that combining green credentials with a business philosophy is an equilibrium that can be effectively calibrated. He insists: “We want to be a company that cares for the environment but, of course, that also means making a profit.

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The planet always comes first, however, and we don’t just want to meet environmental laws; we want to exceed them. That’s why we always offer our customers a more circular way to meet their obligations.”

The progress of Ragn-Sells has not just been about listening to and digesting the external narratives around climate change but, most importantly, ensuring a commitment from within the company through an internal pledge to take the company in new directions. Subsequently,

RAGN - SELLS

a pervasive concept of and another, specialising in detoxification, not just of waste calcium carbonate by using CO2 but of conscience, has defined the as an input in the process, is due to new culture, flowing through the be built in Estonia. All have been Ragn-Sells will have a fully collaborative company and culminating in an receiving interest from around the culture by empowering paradigm. world. Meanwhile, Ragn-Sells’s The company’s global network system for extracting nitrogen of factories, showcasing wideout of wastewater and avoiding ranging processes, has been vital to new emissions to atmosphere has also captured growth within the company. Currently, the attention of commercial stakeholders there is a factory for processing potassium keen to ‘clean up’ the water-based stages in Stockholm, two systems for phosphorus, of their operations.

2030

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“When others talk about CO2 as a problem, we see it as a possibility.

The threat of global Ragn-Sells will start warming is our best generating calcium carbonate by adding business driver” says Pär.

CO2 into ashes Ragn-Sells innovation, produced since the which will be used in Estonia to produce and stockpiled in calcium carbonate, has ash mountains the potential to reduce our global emissions until year 2070 with in total 400 million tons of CO2e.

1890s

Tomorrow people As the company moves at pace in an unpredictable world, it also creates the foundation for a future in which employees can be flexible, embrace innovation and negotiate the terrain ahead with confidence.

“It is vital that we have younger people within the organisation,” says Pär. “Now we have several trainee programmes with engineers starting every year.”

“Historically, this has been a maledominated industry, but we want to keep increasing the number of women at senior level. In terms of truck drivers, which is still a big part of the business, we employ people from more than 40 different nationalities, from a host of different backgrounds. Diversity must be at the heart of everything we do.”

With this in mind, partnership at Ragn-Sells is a crucial plot point on the environmental responsibility roadmap.

The company has discovered that the key component when it comes to reaching a truly circular economy is the ability to collaborate and create partnerships.

“If you try to win 100% by yourself, you will lose,” warns Pär. “When we're opening up companies for wastewater treatment plants, it is essential to create partnerships. One of our 62

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partners – BIOFOSs – is involved with us in the development of a nitrogen removal solution, and another, Alfa Laval, is our technical partner in the development of both the nitrogen and the phosphorus extraction solution.”

Always have Paris Following the Paris Agreement, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) came into sharp focus, and at Ragn-Sells it was no different. “I was extremely happy when the Paris Agreement was signed,” enthuses Pär. “It became the standard-bearer for our business development.”

Ragn-Sells is determined to become ‘climate positive’ – in many ways the ultimate SDG. That means reducing its own emissions by at least 50% and, at the same time, developing solutions that will reduce the carbon emissions more than the total it emits.

In 2018, the company became a heralded ‘Innovation of Leadership’ company for SDGs and were invited to the UN in New York to deliver a presentation on how it has reached its targets. While Ragn-Sells continues to extract, recycle and re-energise across it’s Promised Land of waste management and environmental services, it knows that it is not good enough just to ‘seize the day’ – it’s commitment is to keep raising the bar; keep pushing the boundaries and not stop until waste hits 0%. “In the circular world of tomorrow we are a raw material producer and a detoxifier,” adds Pär.

Ultimately, the company’s enduring challenge is to convince more people that taking responsibility is a journey without end but also one with unlimited reserves of satisfaction. It is, in a very real sense, the circle of life.

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RENEWABLE ENERGY

How Biomass energy can power the planet from animal droppings Solar, wind and hydropower are popular forms of renewable energy.

Does biomass stand a chance?

WRITTEN BY: HELEN ADAMS

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RENEWABLE ENERGY

B

iomass is a form of renewable energy, which is gaining the attention of energy providers as a low-maintenance and economically efficient alternative to fossil fuels. It works in a similar way to nuclear energy by creating a force strong enough to spin a turbine to produce electricity.

Take these two examples: 1. Vegetation, such as trees, are gathered and burned in a factory to heat water.

2. Animal droppings are collected and disposed of in a digester tank. Bacteria eat manure, and methane gas is created.

This gas is used to heat water.

The temperature intensity of the water from both of these processes creates steam to spin a turbine that powers a generator, and this creates electricity.

As supplies of oil, gas and coal are expected to run out by the middle of the 21st century, innovative scientists have supported the idea of biomass − as it is unlikely the planet will run out of trees or animal droppings.

Although such energy has been used since humans first learned how to control fire, it has not been used on a large scale, unlike its renewable energy peers. Yet, according to research by Market Research Future, by 2027, the biomass market is expected to be worth up to $108b, as more homes and businesses move towards renewable energy.

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RENEWABLE ENERGY

“ Unlike nuclear power stations, biomass works efficiently on a small scale, at-home process” The positive aspects of using biomass There are a range of positive outcomes in using biomass for both users and for the environment: • One of the strongest positive aspects of biomass is simply that other energy choices are running out - sources of coal, natural gas and oil will be entirely depleted by 2060. However, biomass stocks are all in an unlimited supply, from plants to trees, food waste to faeces.

• Through using food waste, dependency on landfill sites is alleviated.

• When food waste is used, the process is cost-effective. Consumers have already purchased their food and can now use scraps from their plates or a forgotten pack of spinach to power their home.

• Although burning biomass items creates CO2, if enough biomass is grown to replace what is being used, there will be a sustainable supply chain.

• Some governments have schemes in place to support those choosing biomass energy, such as the UK’s Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI). The plan allows homeowners to make a financial claim for biomass boilers, solar water heating, and certain alternative heat pumps. sustainabilitymag.com

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RENEWABLE ENERGY

What is Biomass?

The negative aspects of utilising biomass Biomass energy has been used to support human life since the invention of fire.

Yet mass-produced biomass is a very new concept, and biomass has plenty of reasons which prevent it from becoming a mainstream source of renewable energy.

• For consumers used to low-effort energy, the idea of harvesting food waste and faeces may be too much to comprehend.

• The science for biomass is not in unison.

59 scientists from across 17 countries recently spoke out against burning trees for energy, insisting that they should be planted and left alone to grow, not dug up for fuel.

• A European Commission report revealed that 86% of the EU’s wood bioenergy comes from wooden by-products, such as fallen branches, sawdust and trees cut down for forest management. However, 68

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14% came from an unknown source.

This could mean that the wood comes not from by-products but from healthy trees.

• Furthermore, the use of wasted food as a form of energy may encourage some to buy more food than they need.

According to the United Nations, up to 690 million people went hungry in 2019 (a 60% increase from 2014). For those people impacted by food insecurity, biomass is a controversial and even insensitive idea.

• Biomass is not an inexpensive idea, as the costs of transporting biomass stocks (particularly trees) add up.

• Burning biomass also releases dangerous chemicals. Soot is responsible for asthma attacks, and carbon monoxide can cause nausea. But burning biomass for electricity can produce nitrogen oxides, which cause cancer. Those working with biomass will need suitable protection.

RENEWABLE ENERGY

Biomass is a form of renewable energy, but it’s not entirely clean Biomass is not as efficient as its green energy contemporaries: solar, wind and hydropower are sources of infinite energy, which are not depleted when used by humans. However, for biomass to remain renewable, the items it uses, such as trees, plants and waste, must be replaced.

For waste, this is inevitable, but planting fresh trees and plants requires manual labour. Gathering and transporting the stock to a biomass factory will also cause pollution unless electric transportation is used. Other traditional forms of green energy require less work after their initial completion. Wind turbines can be built in locations where they will work at peak efficiency, hydroelectric power stations are built next to suitable water levels, and solar panels can work anywhere in direct sunlight. Furthermore, unlike the dangerous chemicals produced by biomass, these clean forms of renewable energy have no side effects on humans.

Biomass is being employed as a source of energy across the world Unlike nuclear power stations, biomass can be a small-scale, at-home process. Homes with outdoor spaces can station a biomass appliance in the garden and dispose of their food waste here. The engineers at HomeBioGas created a kit that can convert organic household waste into cooking gas.

Users filter their food waste into specific pots and leave the HomeBioGas kit to do the rest. Gas is created from the waste as it deteriorates and releases biogas. This is then returned to the owner's kitchen as they cook the next meal. In addition, the kit creates a fertiliser for the owner to use in their garden.

Biomass terminology explained Anaerobic digestion: the process where animal or food waste is broken down. This happens in an environment free from oxygen, for example, in an anaerobic digester.

Biogas: this is a gas created through anaerobic digestion and can be used as fuel.

Biomethane: a renewable source of energy produced from biogas.

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RENEWABLE ENERGY

“ Scientists have supported

biomass - as it is unlikely the planet will run out of trees or animal droppings”

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RENEWABLE ENERGY

Statistics A European Commission report revealed that 14% of the EU’s wood bioenergy comes from an unknown source.

This could mean that it does not come from wooden by-products, such as sawdust, but from healthy trees.

According to the United Nations, up to 690 million people went hungry in 2019. For those people impacted by food insecurity, biomass made from food waste is a controversial and even insensitive idea.

Biomass can also be deployed on a bigger scale. In the UK, the government has started a £4m fund, The Biomass Feedstock Innovations Programme, which will support organisations that want to begin their production of renewable energy through biomass. As the pool of available fossil fuels becomes smaller, and the environmental consequences of their use become clearer, the world must expand the possibilities of renewable energy – and shed its disgust of animal droppings. sustainabilitymag.com

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HISTORY OF SUSTAINABILITY PREPARES FOR CLIMATE CHANGE

WRITTEN BY: JOHN PINCHING PRODUCED BY: GLEN WHITE

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SIEMENS AG

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SIEMENS AG

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SIEMENS AG

A long history of excellence in industry, energy, mobility, healthcare and infrastructure has propelled the German company into a new era “Rising to the challenges of modern infrastructures is in the Siemens DNA – it defines our approach to industry, infrastructure, transport and healthcare.”

Jenny Bofinger-Schuster is a problem solver and loves the enduring task of finding solutions. Indeed, she’s made a career out of it.

Having spent many years as a successful management consultant at Siemens she was seen as the perfect individual to help lead the sustainability era. Subsequently, she has held several leading roles at Siemens, culminating in her present position as SVP Sustainability & Operational Excellence. It is fair to say, of all the conundrums Jenny has faced, this is truly the challenge of a lifetime, but one she is relishing on a daily basis.

“I had a consulting project during university and really loved taking a challenge and solving it within a team,” explains Jenny. “Since then, I have been in the consulting business outside and inside of Siemens, working on the toughest strategic challenges – all over the world and in many different businesses.” sustainabilitymag.com

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SIEMENS AG

History of sustainability prepares Siemens for current climate

Since moving into sustainability, Jenny has recognised that its new agendatopping status will be instrumental in the next decade and, for her, a career-defining chapter: “Having sustainability at the height of our strategy is absolutely essential if we want to compete in today's business world.

I view it as one huge strategic pillar at the heart of what we do as a company, now and in the future. To be involved in this game-changing area, at such a trailblazing organisation, makes me very proud.”

Past sustainability solutions hold key to the future Unlike the majority of companies currently wrestling with their responsibilities to the planet, sustainability for Siemens is nothing new. Since being founded by the German engineers Werner von Siemens and Johann Georg Halske in 1847, Siemens has been rising to the greatest challenges on earth 76

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– reinforcing its mission and ethos with each decade that passes.

Jenny raises an example of innovation which could sit very comfortably in 2021: “During the early days of Siemens, Werner worked on the ‘pointer telegraph’ which could connect continents. All of a sudden, you were able to send messages from one continent to the other, eliminating the need for laborious journeys. You could deliver a message from Calcutta to London within 28 minutes, instead of 30 days. Ever since, we've been working on these time-efficient and energy-saving projects, making use of the latest innovations and pioneering new technologies.”

Siemens has a very long track record of sustainability and was the one the first industrial companies to pledge its commitment to becoming CO2-neutral by 2030 – before the Paris Agreement had even been finalised. This foreseeing of the future

SIEMENS AG

JENNY BOFINGER-SCHUSTER TITLE: SVP SUSTAINABILITY & OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE

EXECUTIVE BIO

LOCATION: MUNICH Jenny leads a Corporate Department to drive and shape crucial activities of Siemens. Her role covers the global sustainability program and its implementation. Jenny’s professional focus encompasses resource and energy efficiency, sustainability management and Siemens’ Business-to-Society approach, addressing challenges like urbanization, climate change and globalization.

Since 2021, Jenny also drives critical Cross-Business activities including Sales Excellence, Service Business Excellence and Product Lifecycle Management.

She focuses on the sustainable development of Siemens processes, tools and approaches to make these functions future-ready.

With more than 12 years experience in global management consultancy, Jenny was made a Partner of Siemens Management Consulting where she developed trendsetting strategies in areas like mobility, industry or healthcare.

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SIEMENS AG

has been vital not only for the Siemens business and the customer needs, but also for engendering a sustainability lifestyle among employees at the company.

“I don’t need to push much for a cultural change,” enthuses Jenny, “The awareness for sustainability was already embedded within Siemens. That holds true for all our employees and that’s the vital foundation I have the pleasure to work with.”

Listening to customers and responding Make no mistake, the dynamics around sustainability are exceptionally demanding and the situation requires a brand of agility, 78

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“ The sustainability culture was already embedded at Siemens.

It holds true for all our people and that’s the vital foundation I have the pleasure to work with” JENNY BOFINGER-SCHUSTER SVP SUSTAINABILITY & OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE, SIEMENS AG

SIEMENS AG

ingenuity and speed for which Siemens is renowned.

The company’s stakeholders and customers are setting the sustainability bar higher with each month that passes, and it is this kind of pressure that really allows Siemens to flourish. For Jenny, the pursuit of answers and the expectation that comes with the need for green credentials in the business ecosystem, has established several key areas of particular focus.

“Climate change is a reality and we have to work faster than ever to reach our goals,” says Jenny. “Decarbonisation is a clear priority at Siemens and for our customers.

Since 2015, we have reduced our own emissions by more than 54%.

We have achieved this by applying our own technologies, setting a benchmark and demonstrating to the wider world exactly what is possible.”

Last fiscal year alone, Siemens’ customers saved around 150 million tons of CO2 emissions by using the company’s range of technologies including energy efficiency solutions in buildings or with its highlyefficient transport solutions. Vast energy efficiency strides have also been made in manufacturing. The company is aiming to increase these gains further by continuing to reshape business models, exploring new technical solutions and applying digitalisation to manufacturing processes.

Siemens is also one of the companies to have signed-up the ‘Science Based Target initiative of 1.5°C’ (while many others were satisfied with well below 2°C). “This is the gold standard of what you can do as a company,” notes Jenny. “I’m so proud of my team for reaching such an important milestone, as there are very heavy calculations behind this commitment.”

In addition, the company has included ESG components in its long-term incentive scheme for all Siemens board members and the global senior management – a crucial step in ensuring long-term principles of sustainability.

All these progressive steps are typical to a company whose mission statement is to keep evolving, using every achievement as a stepping stone to the next one.

Embracing digital for a better world The digital era is transforming companies around the world and, as with the ages of architecture, computers and telecommunication, Siemens is at the forefront of the changing landscape. sustainabilitymag.com

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Even before COVID-19 the company was improving the work-life balance of its people by leveraging digital to support mobile working, remote meetings and business communications.

Meanwhile, the intricate detail and minutiae of modern data has delivered new perspectives and a vast sustainability panorama.

“Digitalisation changes everything,” insists Jenny. “If you look into worldwide data, according to Forbes, 90% has been created within the last two years alone. Do you mean big data or small data? Shall we define this? This shows how the digital is really transforming our lives. And, at Siemens, we believe that combining the real and the digital worlds will ultimately hold the key to overcoming many sustainability challenges.”

“To give an example, one of our latest innovations is the Digital Twin, a virtual model of, a process, a product or a service, which connects the real and the virtual worlds. By using a digital twin you can save resources through virtual testing on your systems, including an ability to carry out checks on whether you can use more recycled material in your production. Consequently, remote testing will play an increasingly vital role in decarbonisation.”

The long history of Siemens, of course, has provided the springboard to enter an exciting future with increasing confidence, knowledge and influence. It is this structure, based on past successes, that continues to drive the company forward in 2021 and beyond.

This strong link to the past, even in the age of digital, is an essential part of the Siemens apparatus. “Our history helps to set our internal ambition level,” says Jenny. “If you know what this company is about and what your colleagues have already achieved in the past, it sets the standard and, for us, 80

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SIEMENS AG

“Decarbonisation is a clear priority at Siemens and, in the last few years, we have reduced our own emissions by more than 54%” JENNY BOFINGER-SCHUSTER

SVP SUSTAINABILITY & OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE, SIEMENS AG

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that's pretty high. It drives us to innovate and keep delivering the best technologies to our customers throughout the world.”

'DEGREE' — Siemens new sustainability framework ‘D’ for decarbonisation ‘E’ for ethics ‘G’ for governance ‘R’ for resource efficiency ‘E’ for equity ‘E’ stands for employability

DEGREE framework navigates the road ahead Just recently, Siemens has launched its new worldwide sustainability framework – ‘DEGREE’ – which goes straight to the heart of the company’s philosophy. “We are really positive about this unique framework, as it embraces a very holistic view of our wider sustainability goals,” observes Jenny.

“ DEGREE refers to the level of ambition we need to succeed in the area of sustainability and that we must always be aiming for a higher ‘degree’ of action” JENNY BOFINGER-SCHUSTER SVP SUSTAINABILITY & OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE, SIEMENS AG

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SIEMENS AG

The name DEGREE is not taken lightly and it references several motivating factors, as Jenny explains: “We called the framework DEGREE, because when we speak about sustainability, it's absolutely crucial that we take a 360-degree perspective and really consider the impact that all our stakeholders can have. It also homes in on that vital 1.5°C degree target, which should always be at the forefront of everything we do. So, at the end of the day, every degree counts.”

The individual letters of DEGREE stand for each of the six focus areas that define

Siemens’ sustainability agenda on a global scale: ‘D’ for decarbonisation, ‘E’ for ethics – fostering a culture of trust and secure handling of data. ‘G’ for governance – ensuring the correct governance is in place. ‘R’ for resource efficiency – striving for more circular business models to save resources and ‘E’ for equity – fostering a culture of diversity and inclusivity.

Last but not least, the second ‘E’ stands for employability, which is Siemens’ way of truly acknowledging the fast and changing world in which we live, while also ensuring that its people stay resilient and relevant.

In terms of the overarching culture at Siemens, Jenny regards those final letters as pivotal. “We call it a culture of belonging,” she says. “Everyone at Siemens can come to work exactly the way he or she is – just how people want to be.”

The company is determined that DEGREE creates an environment which is both ambitious and measurable. Clear and measurable targets have been set for all of these focus areas and the company will be determined to hit new heights over the next five years and beyond.

“DEGREE refers to the level of ambition we need to succeed in the area of sustainability and that we must always be aiming for a higher ‘degree’ of action,” Jenny adds.

From a personal perspective, Jenny knows the scale of the task ahead but sees the pressure as a great privilege. She recalls: “The other day, I had dinner with a colleague and he said, ‘You know what? I really believe you have the most exciting job at Siemens.’ I thought about it and I guess he might just be right!

Driving sustainability solutions at such a huge company is extremely rewarding and that is what gets me out of bed every morning.”

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FOOTBALL’S SUSTAINABILITY GOALS

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FOOTBALL MUST VENTURE INTO THE FOREST OF DREAMS Behind the glitz, glamour and goals there is a truth that dare not speak its name – god’s game is simply not sustainable in its current form WRITTEN BY: JOHN PINCHING

F

ootball at the highest level has become such a well-oiled corporate carousel – such a hopelessly desirable commodity – that it must not stop spinning for a mircosecond, lest it should have to re-examine its principles in sharp focus or, god forbid, alter the currency of its product.

As the football ride continues its 365-day rotation, the swoosh of colour and the pyrotechnics of silverware-lofting does lift the human spirits, but the sport’s current ubiquity is at odds with the environmental crisis engulfing the rest of civilisation.

Part of the problem is that football seems to spend most of its time existing in a vortex, orbiting independently from what the rest of us call ‘the real world’. As devoted supporters of particular teams – our allegiance swayed by postcode, parentage or childhood whim – oftentimes we are happy for that fantasy to play out indefinitely, such is the bond between us and them, them and us (the two parties at once blurred and distinct).

World in motion Make no mistake, modern football has been a huge success story. It somehow managed to pull itself out of the chaos, carnage and concrete of the 1980s, to deliver theatre, romance, Messi and Ronaldo; where once there was hooliganism, crumbling stadiums and Vinnie Jones.

The global success of top-tier football clubs, with their neo-pristine branding and hopelessly aspirational reputations, have juxtaposed themselves – not as organisations – but as ‘friends’ to the fans; jovial dream-weavers who keep delivering more, like the extender in Willy Wonka’s everlasting gobstopper.

But that commercial success has come at a cost to the planet, sustainability and, many would argue, the ethical dimension of the supporter-club symbiosis. The most successful football teams are essentially a living volcano, erupting matches, merch and mesmerising drama on an international time-zone defying scale.

To maintain the economic/ entertainment status-quo requires an exponentially increasing supply of energy, air travel, water, single-use plastics, massproduction, synthetic materials and, yes, an unrelenting, putifying exposure to gambling companies. And the byproduct of all that is waste – more waste than you can possibly imagine. sustainabilitymag.com

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green energy used to power FGR

FGR

planning an eco park made entirely from wood

50%

of kits are made from bamboo

Organic

“ Top-tier football clubs have juxtaposed themselves as ‘friends’ to the fans – jovial dreamweavers who keep delivering more, like the extender in Willy Wonka’s everlasting gobstopper” Ironically, the ludicrous European Super League, although motivated by economics, has been the best model for ‘cleaner football’ so far. The onus is now on the bigger teams to be motivated by the arenas which benefit the planet, rather than a sport which cannot exist without it (in spite of what

pitch free from pesticides and weed killers

Florentino Perez might tell us). Sustainability, sound environmental practices and diversity are the only games in town.

Green grass of home While there have been some efforts among the elite football clubs to improve their green credentials, there is a team whose entire ethos is built on a foundation of sustainability. Forest Green Rovers Football Club (FGR) are creating the template for a new kind of sports organisation – a team that’s existence is defined by environmental responsibilities. Indeed, the club’s all-encompassing commitment to sustainability is in stark contrast to other – considerably richer – clubs, who view it as an element of ‘what they do’ rather than what defines them. sustainabilitymag.com

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Why we need Eco Park

FGRFC’s intrepid eco-partners Sea Shepherd Ecotricity Quorn Oatly Candriam Quorn innocent Grundon SKOOT

Explore Cuisine

Bute Island

Faith in Nature 88

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Even though FGR was founded in 1889, having the words ‘Forest’ and ‘Green’ in its name certainly hasn’t harmed the zeitgeistseizing image of the defacto ‘world greenest football club’.

Its Chairman, and sustainability mastermind, Dane Vince, arrived at the club in 2010 whereupon he began to create the blueprint for a truly eco-driven football entity. A number of transformations and initiatives have duly unfolded, including the use of renewable energy to run the entire club (stadium facilities, floodlights, changing rooms, hospitality). Furthermore, the team play on an organic pitch which is cut by a solar-powered mower and irrigated by recycled water that has been collected from rainfall at FGR’s The New Lawn Stadium.

Shifting the perception of what is possible has been at the core of the club’s belief system and, in a historically ‘meat pie and petrol’ fuelled sport, it is remarkable that the club has introduced a vegan diet (among players and fans) and equipped the ground with EV charge points.

Environmental awareness is stitched into very fabric of this club, metaphorically and literally – the shirt’s zebra print is a omnipresent 90-minute reminder of endangered wildlife, while the striking skull and crossbones logo stitched into the reverse of the kit demonstrates FGR’s support for Sea Shepherd. This non-profit organisation defends marine wildlife from illegal exploitation and protects ocean habitats, while exposing atrocities in the process. Perhaps the boldest statement,

however, is the club’s approach to kit manufacturing – FGR’s matchday attire is made from 50% bamboo and signals part of a wider desire to reduce plastics usage.

Over the line These sequence of changes have not only subverted very closely-guarded ‘traditions’ within the football ecosystem but also engendered a very tangible sense of pride among local communities with links to the club.

But does sustainability yield success; can a long-term green agenda thrive at a football club whose culture transcends its central reason for being? Can there be gains from daring to put football into perspective by raising the profile of a far more profound barometer? Well, if sustainabilitymag.com

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Cup half full: Time to recycle the Europa League There are three certainties in life – death, taxes and a Europa League fixture on Thursday night that nobody cares about (but, of course, fans still attend because they’ll do anything for love – even that).

in order to reach the final is of such discombobulating proportions that even Alan Turing would run for the hills (although sooner of later he would arrive in rainy Budapest for the second leg of a Europa League semi-final).

These days it’s harder to get out of European football competition than it is to get in. Let’s face it, the Europa League is like a neverending form of corporal punishment and (needless to say) a licence for UEFA to print money. It is the ultimate backhanded acknowledgement of ‘relative success’, while also serving as a crashmatt consolation for those teams which abjectly fail in the early stages of the Champions League.

The sustainability bugle is sounding a last rites tune for the Europa League. Get rid of this tawdry, greedy and fantastically boring tournament now! Cut the number of matches by 70%, make it a quick-fire knock-out competition for cup-winning teams (okay, fifth place teams as well) and fashion the trophy from aluminum cans.

And, have mercy, put it on free-to-air television on Sunday, at a time when kids can watch. It’s not just good for the planet – it recalibrates our equilibrium, restores Thursdays and reminds us why we care about the future of football and our planet.

Decoding the number of games a team has to play and the passage it has to navigate

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“ The changes at Forest Green Rovers have not only subverted closely-guarded traditions within the football ecosystem but also engendered a very tangible sense of pride among local communities” FGR is the case study, then the answer is unequivocally, ‘yes’.

FGR’s transformative ‘ideological’ milestones have coincided with inspirational performances on the field. In 2015 and 2016 they reached the semi-finals of the National League play-offs, but the following year they achieved victory in the final, securing a place in League Two and professional status after over 120 years in non-league football.

While you can’t put this meteoric rise down to eating more falafel, there is an indisputable link between the FGR’s paradigm off the pitch and its fortunes on

it. Psychologists the world over will explain that making a positive difference – respecting nature, taking care of the planet and embracing diversity – breeds confidence among the exponents of it.

While some of the elite clubs – Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester Utd, Juventus et al – are taking measures to meet their responsibilities, they are not even close to living and breathing ‘sustainability’. In the final analysis, there is an underestimation among the top brass, regarding what fans will embrace, but the story of Forest Green Rovers Football Club proves that keeping it real has never been more popular.

After all, when a butterfly flaps its wings in a forest, it has the power to make the whole football world listen.

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IRON MOUNTAIN DATA CENTERS & WEB WERKS

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Iron Mountain Data Centers and Web Werks Data Centers: GROWING TOGETHER WRITTEN BY: HARRY MENEAR PRODUCED BY: LEWIS VAUGHAN

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IRON MOUNTAIN DATA CENTERS & WEB WERKS

Inside Iron Mountain Data Centers and Web Werks Data Centers’ US$150mn joint venture to capitalise on India’s data centre boom

I

Michael Goh, General Manager, APAC, Iron Mountain Data Centers Nikhil Rathi, Founder, Director & CEO, Web Werks Data Centers

ndia is home to just over 1.3 billion people and is rapidly closing the gap with the global population leader, China.

As the country’s population continues to grow, India’s digital economy is on the cusp of a boom, the likes of which have never been seen before.

“Right now, there are only about 700mn Indians online,” says Nikhil Rathi, Founder, Director, and CEO of Indian Tier-III data centre operator Web Werks. “With only about half of the whole country connected to the internet, as the other half comes online, just imagine the data consumption.” Rathi paints a picture of a digital India consuming more data than any other country in the world, as everything from streaming video content to advanced analytics is adopted at record speeds. “All of those things are going to require compute infrastructure that doesn't exist yet,” Rathi adds.

At this moment, the entirety of India’s data centre industry comprises approximately 400 MW of capacity. “That's less than Singapore, London - it's less than a quarter of the capacity in Northern Virginia alone,” says Michael Goh, the General Manager for APAC operations at Iron Mountain Data Centers. “Given the size of the population, how young they are, and how much they're embracing digital services, that capacity is going to boom.”

In the context of this pivotal moment in Indian history - the threshold of the country’s dawn as a digital superpower with the potential to go head to head with China and sustainabilitymag.com

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WE MAKE DATA CENTERS SUSTAINABLE.

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Visit www.automatedlogic.com/datacenters to learn more.

A Carrier Company. ©2021 Carrier. All Rights Reserved.

Mead Rusert, President, describes its industryleading approach and the standard of excellence underpinning its partnership with Iron Mountain Founded in 1977 and headquartered in Kennesaw, Georgia, Automated Logic (a Carrier company) is an expert in the manufacture of building management systems (BMS) for data centres. Regarding the latter Mead Rusert, President, says, “Data centres have been part of our DNA since we launched a mission-critical division over 20 years ago.

We combine our powerful building automation products with a dedicated execution team to deploy our data centre solutions more efficiently around the world.

At Automated Logic, we like to say that we make buildings better.”

The company’s reputation for speed and reliability is partly rooted in the

outstanding quality of its products. Automated Logic’s WebCTRL® building automation system, for instance, provides customers with a seamlessly integrated building system, incorporating air conditioning, heating, ventilation, electrical power management, and more – to create a sustainable data centre solution. As such, the company is able to provide facilities staff with a ‘single pane of glass’ to monitor and manage operations. “Our Strategic Accounts team partners with the client to create standards for their data centres, which leads to a consistency of design and deployment around the world.”

It was this standard of excellence that secured the company’s partnership with data management company Iron Mountain, a collaboration that has now been ongoing for several years. “We’ve now earned the privilege of being the primary BMS provider across

its portfolio, of which we’re very proud,” states Rusert.

“The keys to success have really been to understand their processes: finding out what’s important to them as the client, incorporating that into the design, and then delivering a powerful, sustainable BMS using our single deployment model around the globe.”

The result for Iron Mountain has been the optimisation of its data centre processes to create efficient and harmonious operations irrespective of location.

“We’re very happy that Iron Mountain chose us as a partner. We want to instil the confidence that we can be the best BMS supplier and help with all its data centres going forward.”

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IRON MOUNTAIN DATA CENTERS & WEB WERKS

IRON MOUNTAIN:

1951

Year Founded

20,000

Number of Employees

Data Centres Industry

US$4.2bn

Global Iron Mountain corp revenue

“ Given the size of the population, how young they are, and how much they're embracing digital services, Indian capacity is going to boom” MICHAEL GOH,

GENERAL MANAGER, APAC, IRON MOUNTAIN DATA CENTERS

the US - Iron Mountain and Web Werks have come together in a historic undertaking that seems fitting for these noteworthy times.

In February of 2021, Iron Mountain announced plans to invest $150mn into 98

September 2021

a joint venture with Web Werks over the next two years as the two companies leverage their unique strengths in tandem in order to capitalise on India’s imminent data centre boom.

Iron Mountain: Security, Trust, and a Global Reach Since the early 1950s, Iron Mountain has been synonymous with security services you can trust. The Boston-based company spent its first 70 years safely storing physical data for companies throughout the US, as well as a number of government entities. Most famous for its hyper-secure facility built in a disused mine some 220 feet beneath rural Pennsylvania, Iron Mountain has leveraged its sterling reputation over the past decade into a successful transformation of its core competencies. Of course, you can still store a box of legal documents in an Iron Mountain facility but, more and more, the company’s key business has become building and managing the demand of its

IRON MOUNTAIN DATA CENTERS & WEB WERKS

MICHAEL GOH TITLE: GENERAL MANAGER, APAC COMPANY: IRON MOUNTAIN DATA CENTERS

EXECUTIVE BIO

customers' digital infrastructure needs.

Over the past few years, Iron Mountain Data Centers has built a substantial data centre platform in the US, where it operates sites from New Jersey to Phoenix, as well as across the Atlantic in London, Frankfurt, and Amsterdam.

“We are currently very strong and growing fast in America and Europe,” Goh explains, “and we want to do the same in Asia but even faster. We want a substantial global platform.” Goh, a data centre and telecoms veteran with two decades worth of experience, is based in Singapore - where Iron Mountain opened its first APAC facility in 2019. His previous success building extensive data centre platforms throughout the region is, he explains, exactly what Iron Mountain Data Centers has hired him to do. He explains that the reputation Iron Mountain established as a security-focused record management company is one of the keystones of their competitive advantage today. “We built up real customer trust over the 70 years that

Michael Goh is the Senior Director and General Manager for Iron Mountain’s data centre division for Asia. Prior to Iron Mountain, Michael spent 12 years at NTT Communications and last held a post of an Executive Director for Data Centre Services based in Singapore, where he successfully launched and grew NTT’s data centre business in Singapore.

Michael’s initial leadership roles were with NTT, where he led a team of product managers and sales specialists and helped launch and manage NTT’s Data Center, Cloud and domestic connectivity products. Michael graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering from the Nanyang Technology University in Singapore.

IRON MOUNTAIN DATA CENTERS & WEB WERKS

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IRON MOUNTAIN DATA CENTERS & WEB WERKS

NIKHIL RATHI TITLE: FOUNDER, DIRECTOR & CEO COMPANY: WEB WERKS Nikhil is a serial tech entrepreneur and Founder & CEO of Web Werks, a global leader in data centres and cloud services. Web Werks Data Centers has been a leadrer in India for the past two decades. Acting as a business catalyst, Nikhil has mounted Web Werks on the global map, with six data centre locations in strategic cities with many marquee clients. Each of these large-scale data centres meet the market’s developing requirement for scalability, energy-efficient, highly interconnected, neutral facilities, so customers can have their critical infrastructure run nonstop. Web Werks partnered in 2021 with Iron Mountain Data Centers to enhance its presence throughout India and cater to a growing base of international customers.

“ We plan to expand into every major metro in India” NIKHIL RATHI,

we were a record storage company. Now, as we have pivoted over the last decade into the data centre industry, we're bringing that customer trust with us,” he says. “Our customers who trusted us for decades to store their physical data now trust us to do the same with their digital data.”

As a result of building a brand synonymous with reliability, Iron Mountain has amassed a global portfolio of more than 230,000 customers, which the company is leveraging as it sets its sights on the Indian data centre market. However, entering a market as large and complex as India isn’t something to be done lightly.

“Iron Mountain Data Centers has been looking for a way to enter the Indian market for the past three years. We know it's a complicated market. It's not a market that any foreign entity can just enter alone, and we've seen other international companies try to enter the market alone and fail,” Goh explains. This cautious approach is what led Iron Mountain Data Centers to partner up with Web Werks, he continues. “We needed a partner that understands the market, and has the local know-how to help us be successful, which led us to Web Werks,” he says, adding that

EXECUTIVE BIO

FOUNDER, DIRECTOR & CEO, WEB WERKS DATA CENTERS

IRON MOUNTAIN DATA CENTERS & WEB WERKS

the $150mn of capital investment Iron Mountain has made into the joint venture “really highlights our commitment to the partnership’s success.”

The joint venture with Web Werks isn’t the only area in which Iron Mountain is leveraging its key partnerships, Goh adds.

“Iron Mountain Data Centers have been working with ALC for many years. We deploy ALC across our portfolio and have been delighted with the product and support provided by ALC.''

THE JOINT VENTURE’S THREE FACILITIES SO FAR PUN-1 Located near Pune International Airport in the heart of India’s Maharashtra data centre belt, PUN-1 colocation facility is easily accessible and connectivity-rich.

Capacity: 2 MW Footprint: 38,000 sqft MUM-1 Located in the heart of one of the world’s fastest-growing data centre markets, MUM-1 offers low latency and the ability for customers to scale as they grow with a second 100.000 SQ FT, 12.5MW facility planned for 2022.

Capacity: 2 MW Footprint: 50,000 sqft NCR-1 Located 30 minutes from central New Delhi and Indira Gandhi International Airport, NCR-1 is easily accessible and connectivity-rich.

Capacity: 2.75 MW Footprint: 70,000 sqft

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Web Werks: Local Knowledge, Interconnection, and Harnessing the Ecosystem Web Werks was founded in a cramped bedroom in the earliest days of India’s access to the internet with a princely “funding round” of $30 to host a single web page. “There was only one ISP in the country at the time, which was state-owned, so there was basically no third-party hosting at all,” recalls Rathi. “But we steadily built portals, hosted services, and the data centre

“ Iron Mountain Data Centers have a long working relationship with i3 Solutions. As our trusted consultant in Asia and Europe, their expertise has helped us deliver multiple successful and timely projects for our customers” MICHAEL GOH,

GENERAL MANAGER APAC, IRON MOUNTAIN DATA CENTERS

IRON MOUNTAIN DATA CENTERS & WEB WERKS

Iron Mountain Data Centers - Global Portfolio

business actually grew out of the hosting group because at one point we were hosting around 5,000 resellers and around 85,000 websites worldwide.”

Today, Web Werks has grown into one of India’s most trusted colocation providers. “We started with a very small setup that grew into the three facilities we have today - one in Navi Mumbai, one in Pune, and one in Delhi NCR,” Rathi says. “When Web Werks mushroomed from one small facility to three Tier-III data centres today, it laid the foundation for the Indian market which, in combination with the solid global platform that Iron Mountain Data Centers has built in Europe, Singapore, and the US, has a lot of potential.”

Rathi explains that, by combining Web Werks’ extensive knowledge and understanding of the Indian data centre market, as well as its position as an established local brand with a huge ecosystem of partners and customers, with the globalised design standards, sustainabilitymag.com

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IRON MOUNTAIN DATA CENTERS & WEB WERKS

STORE|SECURE|STREAMLINE|SYSTEMISE NetRack has been a leading OEM for Racks and PDU for IT/Telecom sector & has been progressive in developing/designing various innovative products range under its umbrella to offer distinctive dimension to these industries.

NetRack foresees itself as a single-window solutions provider for all data, network, and server related concerns.

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“ What we haven’t been able to do so far is cater to the hyperscale market, and that's what Iron Mountain is going to help us to do” NIKHIL RATHI,

FOUNDER, DIRECTOR & CEO, WEB WERKS DATA CENTERS

brand recognition, consumer trust, and capital that Iron Mountain Data Centers brings to the table, the joint venture is set to rapidly expand throughout both the Indian colocation industry and into the country’s hyperscale market. Web Werks Data Centers hosts more than 180 ISPs in its Navi Mumbai facility alone, as well as three major internet exchanges, OTT and CBS players both from India and

overseas - bringing a dense carrier neutral interconnection ecosystem to the table.

“What we haven't been able to do so far is cater to the hyperscale market, and that's what Iron Mountain is going to help us to do. It's the last missing piece of the puzzle,” Rathi adds.

In addition to leveraging one another’s strengths, Iron Mountain Data Centers and Web Werks are also trading on their extensive networks of existing partners and suppliers. Based in Kennesaw, Georgia, US building automation system manufacturer Automated Logic is Iron Mountain Data Centers’s’ key strategic supplier of building management systems (BMS) solutions. “Automated Logic is the BMS system which we use in many of our facilities and is one of the preferred platform providers we use worldwide,” explains Goh. “Automated Logic helped us to migrate the existing BMS system to a new system with less impact.

Additionally, Automated Logic is able to connect to third party monitoring points which really saves us a lot of cost for the sustainabilitymag.com

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electrical power monitoring system.” By applying Automated Logic’s BMS solution, he continues, Iron Mountain is able to “expand in a consistent manner,” by unifying the experience for both its employees and customers.

Now, Automated Logic is supplying the Iron Mountain Data Centers - Web Werks joint venture with construction, installation, and operational services. “On the construction-front, Automated Logic provides the BMS software and hardware we need. For the installation process, Automated Logic appoints local companies as partners to do the local installation on the ground. And, when everything is up and running, they provide operations support in the form of a BMS Control and Monitoring System, COLO View for customers to monitor the temperature and humidity, and power monitoring for the individual server racks,” Goh explains, adding that the unified platform Automated Logic provides across all of Iron Mountain Data Centers’s’ global operations “also means that our technicians, engineers and NOC staff are familiar with the tools at their disposal, regardless of their location, thus enabling us to tap into our global resources and expertise wherever and whenever it’s needed.”

Pan-Indian Expansion “Web Werks has this huge ambition to grow, and so does Iron Mountain Data Centers.

Our outlooks and philosophies are very closely aligned,” Goh continues. Since its announcement in February, the joint venture has bought a 100,000 square foot land parcel adjacent to Web Werks Data Centers’ existing MUM-1 facility and - much like the country’s digital economy - is poised for an explosion of activity.

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“We plan to expand into every major metro in India. We're looking at Bangalore, Chennai, and Hyderabad, to offer even more to the ecosystems we already serve,” says Rathi, casting his eyes ahead to a growing tidal wave of demand on the horizon. “India used to pull all its data from the US and other foreign countries. Now, there's content being made and stored here and more data than ever being imported. All that content has to be hosted in India,” he says. “To be ready for this datanami, we have teams in Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad getting everything ready for our expansion into those markets as well. The demand is out there, and we should follow.”

Goh agrees. “It's also no secret that we want to bring new customers into our business and help them succeed. So, bringing more customers to India from our global base and building more data centres in India are

IRON MOUNTAIN DATA CENTERS & WEB WERKS

“Our customers who trusted us for decades to store their physical data now trust us to do the same with their digital data” MICHAEL GOH,

GENERAL MANAGER, APAC, IRON MOUNTAIN DATA CENTERS

our two key goals for the next year and a half,” he says, adding that the first Iron Mountain customer had already been onboarded into one of the joint venture’s Indian facilities.

Rathi also notes that, much like the tide of data flowing in and out of Indian servers, the movement of Iron Mountain’s customers into the joint venture’s facilities isn’t just a one-way street. “The future of this partnership also allows Web Werks' customers to grow into Iron Mountain's facilities. We've had a number of conversations already with our Indian customers who want to grow into Iron Mountain's US and European data centres,” he says excitedly.

The next 18 months will be full of exciting new developments as the joint venture begins to build at scale with speed.

Rathi states that “’one of the first next milestones is to get the MUM-2 facility

expansion of 12.5MW up and running,” which is something he’s confident that the partnership between Web Werks and Iron Mountain Data Centers can accomplish.

“We were looking for an excellent partner to help us evolve to our next stage of growth, and there's no better partner than a trusted name like Iron Mountain Data Centers,” he says. “That combination is what we intend to leverage to start catering to hyperscale, enterprise and retail customers as the Indian data centre market booms.”

Iron Mountain:

Web Werks:

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SUSTAINABLE SOURCING

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SUSTAINABLE SOURCING

VICE PRESIDENT OF WMS CLOUD DEVELOPMENT,

DIEGO

PANTOJA-NAVAJAS, ON SUPPLY CHAIN DISRUPTION After unexpected supply chain interruptions, companies must become more resilient and anticipate the next disturbance, says Pantoja-Navajas WRITTEN BY: HELEN ADAMS

B

oth 2020 and 2021 brought their own sourcing problems for supply chains — from the disruption caused by the pandemic to the Suez canal blockage.

Previously, sustainable sourcing involved supporting workers who might become vulnerable to exploitation, mitigating the impact on the environment and lowering overall costs.

Now, supply chains have been forced to adapt to more sporadic, global issues and wonder what will come next? Will Gen Z abstain from products including PET plastic? Will the arrival of aliens delay digital transformation? Will civil unrest lead to the vandalism of public railways?

Cloud technology company Oracle offers computing infrastructure and software for more efficient performance and the highest security. sustainabilitymag.com

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SUSTAINABLE SOURCING

In 2016, Diego Pantoja-Navajas became Vice President of WMS Cloud Development when Oracle acquired the company he founded, LogFire.

Pantoja-Navajas was responsible for product development and management of Oracle's cloud-based warehouse management system.

Since then, the team has expanded into 14 industries, and Oracle has moved its SaaS application to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure for improved performance and reduced TCO. Pantoja-Navajas studied Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and has continued his executive education at MIT Sloan School of Management.

After 14 years of experience in the industry, he claims to have ‘a record of successfully disrupting the supply chain industry’ through his introduction of cloud-based warehousing solutions.

Sustainability caught up with Diego Pantoja-Navajas to discuss supply chains, sourcing and the importance of continued learning.

Resilience in the supply chain industry “The Suez Canal had a huge impact on my industry,” said Pantoja-Navajas about the recent disruptions. “The next event is right around the corner, so our industry needs to be more resilient.”

To prevent a similar incident from happening, businesses have to look at the basics.

“They need to make sure that the infrastructure is there,” said Pantoja-Navajas.

Prior to the Suez canal blockage, many people had not given much thought to how the supply chain worked and would have struggled to locate the Suez on a map. But now they are a lot more aware. sustainabilitymag.com

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Oracle Innovate: Lessons from Entrepreneurs Diego Pantoja-Navajas

41%

of supply chain disruptions are caused by extreme weather

2,000

container ships leave the port in Shanghai every month

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SUSTAINABLE SOURCING

“Customers say: ‘I think most supply chains over the last ten years have been affected by environmental events as well man-made’ – Brexit was a good example.

Covid-19 finally made people realise the impact of a healthy supply chain. Now, people are paying more attention to their supply chain. The best companies are thinking, how can we better prepare ourselves?”

Pantoja-Navajas lives with his family in Florida, USA. From there, he has been ardently supporting Oracle employees through the pandemic.

“When the pandemic hit us, we all went home,” said Pantoja-Navajas. “Some of our

“Now, customers are paying more attention to the supply chain. The best companies are going to think, how can we better prepare ourselves?”

DIEGO PANTOJA-NAVAJAS

VICE PRESIDENT, WMS CLOUD DEVELOPMENT, ORACLE

employees got depressed. We decided to have a lot of interaction with our teams to ensure that the sense of family is still there — a lot of emails and work meetings that have had a really good outcome.

There’s nothing like a hug or a handshake, but we are doing our best! If I ask now, ‘Do you want to go back to the office?’ we will get a 50/50. Maybe have two or three days at home?”

After graduating from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Pantoja-Navajas chose to participate in executive education courses, but not because he felt the education he had already received was insufficient. sustainabilitymag.com

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“The world is moving at a very fast speed,” said Pantoja-Navajas. “For me, it’s an ongoing process — I love learning!

I work with a lot of smart people, so it’s very good to build new skills.”

Sustainable sourcing is a social responsibility SaaS technology is the process of delivering applications to consumers over the internet (like Google Drive) instead of through 114

September 2021

software that must be installed and then updated. At Oracle, releasing staff from complicated hardware management has made it easier to support customers.

“SaaS has to have all of the features and all of the functions,” said Pantoja-Navajas.

Sustainable sourcing is a popular topic, with many consumers thinking more about their purchases’ environmental and social implications. But what does sustainable sourcing mean at Oracle?

SUSTAINABLE SOURCING

“For me, it means something has to be renewable,” said Pantoja-Navajas. “It has to have a meaning and to be financially responsible. It is critical that it works in the circular economy. The better you do, the better results you will have for the customer, and the results will come back to you. We all need to do more.”

“ The next event is right around the corner. We need to be more resilient” DIEGO PANTOJA-NAVAJAS

VICE PRESIDENT, WMS CLOUD DEVELOPMENT, ORACLE

Supply chains can no longer afford to ignore climate change Following the sourcing problems experienced in 2020 and 2021, supply chains are preparing themselves for what might happen next. After Pantoja-Navajas’ interview with Sustainability, China and Western Europe were hit by extreme flooding.

The world’s largest iPhone production base is located in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou. One hundred thousand local people have been evacuated from the city after it experienced eight months of rainfall in one day.

Across the world in Europe, Rotterdam and Hamburg’s ports have had their activities disrupted after floods prevented cargo from travelling to them on railways.

As Pantoja-Navajas said, the next disruption was, indeed, right around the corner.

Homes and businesses have been destroyed across two continents, and too many lives have been lost.

From supply chains to procurement, those involved in sourcing can no longer afford to ignore the potential destructive power of climate change.

As cities recover and rise, their local businesses will focus on supporting themselves and their supply chains — but most importantly, their employees.

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BEYOND THE DEAL – THE POWER

OF BRAND VALUE 116

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WRITTEN BY: RHYS THOMAS PRODUCED BY: MIKE SADR

EY

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Larry Phelan, EY Global CPO, shares his philosophy on the future of procurement and why value goes far beyond doing deals and cutting overheads

L

Larry Phelan, EY Global CPO

arry Phelan is on a decadeslong journey, the destination of which has just appeared upon the horizon. The EY Global Chief Procurement Officer moved into this position in the professional services giant in July 2009, hot on the heels of the 2008 financial crash, and after spending 10 years in the EY Mergers and Acquisitions service line. In the intervening 12 years, he has reshaped procurement’s value proposition and led a diverse group of professionals across the globe. He has also dedicated his time to the pursuit of one big question: how to elevate procurement as a strategic advisor to the board.

“I think it's really important that procurement is seen as more than just doing deals and saving money,” he says. “It's about the transformation that companies are going through and getting the board to feel comfortable with procurement's unique role. That is to me a big bet.”

It is a quandary that has shaped his approach to leadership and, in recent times, become a wider talking point in procurement circles. Phelan admits he is not alone in working toward this goal, however he does believe EY is well-placed to achieve it. In many businesses, procurement is a bureaucratic function that sits somewhere in the middle of the organisational structure, reporting to a department that reports to a department, and so on. It is a difficult sustainabilitymag.com

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Are you prepared for change or reacting to it?

EY Consulting: building resilience to supply chain risk Strengthening supply chain resiliency and forging true supply partnerships is a key imperative that today’s procurement organizations must tackle.

NOTE: Video screenshot appears here.

Written by: Rhys Thomas

No organization is immune to the challenges that threaten supply chains and operational continuity. But risk can be mitigated by building resiliency as an imperative — an objective for which procurement organizations are uniquely placed to achieve.

“

You have to be a good customer to your vendor — especially with regard to mitigating risks throughout the supply chain.

Chris Windfelder Managing Director EY-Parthenon Ernst & Young LLP

“

Procurement is expected to create resiliency for certain risks that exist within the supply chain.

Vijay Yalamanchili Partner Supply Chain & Operations Consulting Ernst & Young LLP

This publication contains information in summary form and is therefore intended for general guidance only.

It is not intended to be a substitute for detailed research or the exercise of professional judgment. Member firms of the global EY organization cannot accept responsibility for loss to any person relying on this article.

“Procurement is expected to create resiliency for certain risks that exist within the supply chain,” says Vijay Yalamanchili, Ernst & Young LLP Advisory Services Partner. “We’re seeing a shift of those organizational capabilities in procurement, going beyond sourcing and starting to differentially invest in other areas, including contracting excellence and supplier risk analytics.”

Risk comes in many forms, but can largely be defined under five categories, as identified by Chris Windfelder, EY-Parthenon Managing Director: changes in customer preferences; adoption to technology and associated cyber vulnerability; geopolitical turmoil and governmental regulation; brand perception and social media; and unforeseen supply shocks, such as COVID-19.

“Building resiliency in your supply chain helps to mitigate, or at least understand, where your risk may be across those five overarching profiles,” Windfelder says.

Tabletop exercises and stress tests can be invaluable tools in understanding where an organization’s biggest risks lie. He adds: “It really all starts with trying to laser in on which risks are most likely to occur, while also understanding that there’s always an unknown.”

Strengthening partnerships is also key in today’s market, where the more stretched supply chains and procurement ecosystems become, the more options suppliers have. “You have to be a good customer,” says Windfelder. “Providing a true understanding of how you as a customer can add value to your vendor is equally as important as your vendor adding value to your own market — especially with regard to mitigating risks throughout the supply chain.”

Data is the final tool that procurement organizations must leverage when building true resiliency. “We’re working with many of our clients to understand how they capture data, how they enhance the data that they already have with automation and AI, and then how they bring in the external information that is most valuable to their organization, because there’s a cost in doing so,” Yalamanchili explains.

“These are the key elements of data and analytics that are absolutely critical for driving all the outcomes that are related to risk and building that resiliency.”

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position from which to enact change of any real significance or scale.

“It's harder for many procurement organisations to make that jump,” he says.

"At the EY organisation, procurement has a seat at the Global Practice Group table (top 125 partners at EY) and is at the top of the organisational structure because of its value proposition. So, it's appropriate for us at EY and other procurement organisations to be thinking and pushing for that change as a logical step in our evolution.”

For Phelan, while organisational structure is important, it is equally “about the philosophy”. Traditionally, procurement organisations are tasked with the two core objectives of sourcing the right goods or services and closing a deal that saves the organisation money. Once the job is complete, they move on to the next.

Fundamentally, these objectives are why procurement exists, and many organisations excel at them. This is quantitative value, 122

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simple to track on a quarterly basis, and rooted in the core financial principles of business. But Phelan is driving procurement at EY toward another form of value, which he calls “brand value”.

“Brand value is tracked under the four (4) main pillars of Client, People, Social and Financial that define the EY Next Wave strategy,” he explains.

“Procurement is driving deals beyond the aforementioned quantitative value in support of transformation, user experience, employee well-being, diversity, sustainability, revenue growth, and serving and advising clients with internal procurement team members.

It's bringing forward what we do to help EY client servers, to work with clients in a better way. It's understanding the sustainability environment that's out there and working with our supplier ecosystem.

It's a combination of all those things to support that goal.”

COMPANY NAME EY

Larry Phelan TITLE: GLOBAL CHIEF PROCUREMENT OFFICER INDUSTRY: CONSULTING

EXECUTIVE BIO

LOCATION: UNITED STATES Larry joined EY as a partner in June 1999. He is an experienced transaction advisor, professional services consultant and, currently, the EY Global Chief Procurement Officer. In this role, he is responsible for travel, meetings and events, real estate and facilities management, technology and talent sourcing as well as the Environmental, Sustainability and Governance Services group who drives supplier diversity for EY across the globe.

Larry is a member of the EY Global Practice Group, which is made up of approximately 125 of the most senior and influential EY professionals, and serves as the Functional Transformation sponsor,a programme to redesign functional operating models across the enterprise to establish a leading-class enablement platform to drive revenues, growth, and earnings.

Larry is an authentic, inclusive and inspirational business enablement leader focused on innovation. He is a keen supporter of diverse teams and suppliers and has been presented with several awards for his work in this area.

Larry is a member of multiple procurement professional organisations, including the “by invitation only” Procurement 50, a World 50, Inc. international group, which provides, organises, and operates an exclusive organisation of procurement officers composed of global members from a variety of fields and industry sectors, namely, providing business networking services.

“ I think it's really important that procurement is seen as more than just doing deals and saving money” LARRY PHELAN

EY GLOBAL CHIEF PROCUREMENT OFFICER

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ESGS is driving an inclusive and sustainable mindset across the EY organization through our procurement strategy.

Our purpose is to drive sustainability and economic impact for EY and the communities we serve.

Register your business at: ey.com/supplierdiversity

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“ To drive this procurement as a business, to get that board-level visibility, it has to be about value return. If procurement costs you a dollar, the reporting needs to show that you get US$5 in value back” LARRY PHELAN

EY GLOBAL CHIEF PROCUREMENT OFFICER

The group provides 500 brand value submissions annually, which contribute to top-line growth, innovation, and people engagement, to name but a few. But there remain hurdles in realising the true goal, one of which is a challenge as old as the profession itself: procurement has an image problem and is fundamentally misunderstood by many stakeholders outside its often tight-knit community.

“Those same stakeholders will look in and say, ‘Well, what does that matter? Just do the deal for me, save me money,’ or whatever it might be,” Phelan says. “Well, I think, no, that's yesterday's organisation.

What we're looking at over the years and into sustainabilitymag.com

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EY

the future is an organisation that can help you transform, can help you be more strategic, and add value in a different way. So, we are working through that with stakeholders every day.”

Family Matters Larry Phelan is an experienced business leader at one of the world’s largest and most influential professional services networks.

His procurement group is collectively responsible for US$8 billion in annual spend across a multitude of categories, from travel, events, and talent management to technology and every piece of EY real estate.

He is also a proud New Yorker of Italian and Irish heritage, who loves nothing more than a hearty serving of lasagne washed down with a limoncello, and whose prized possession is the Bronze Star medal awarded to his grandfather for service in the Second World War. His colleagues, peers, and direct reports already know all of this about him. They may also know he loves going to the opera and, rather conversely, counts AC/DC among his favourite bands. None of this is a coincidence; Phelan is an open and approachable professional, a mentor to many, and a source of knowledge and experience for many more. He is a major proponent of enacting change from within, and that begins with what he considers the “procurement family”.

“These are the individuals who sit within the procurement organisation, and we absolutely consider our suppliers part of that procurement family,” he says. “What we're trying to do is instill a consistency of how they interact with stakeholders, how they should bring data to stakeholders, how they bring transparency of issues to stakeholders, and how they are proactive in solving problems 126

September 2021

EY

“ What we're looking at over the years and into the future is an organisation that can help you transform, can help you be more strategic, and add value in a different way” LARRY PHELAN

EY GLOBAL CHIEF PROCUREMENT OFFICER

for stakeholders. So, it's making sure that the family acts and thinks and reports and brings data the same way.”

Engendering a familial atmosphere is no easy task given the fact Phelan’s procurement group speak 47 languages and are situated in 35 countries. “The EY organisation is centre-led by design so that our stakeholders feel that each and every one of their goals and objectives are satisfied by the people who sit in their country, speak their language, and understand their culture,” Phelan says. “That also means we have key performance indicators and reporting that get set from the centre and then rolled out to all of our global teams.

“But it's about making sure that members of our team are healthy and that their wellbeing is looked after,” he adds. “Especially over the last year and a half — with the COVID-19 pandemic — making sure that we're bringing some levity to their lives has been more important than ever. And even before the COVID-19 pandemic, getting connected on a regular basis, hearing what's on their minds, and introducing opportunities for them to raise concerns about certain issues throughout the organisation makes you truly feel like you're a family.” sustainabilitymag.com

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Transformative Change Extending the procurement family philosophy to suppliers is a natural extension and one that forges stronger connections and leads to better results. “We put a lot of pressure on our suppliers to bring innovative ideas to us. I mean, that's what they are supposed to do, and they are doing that because we have a number of true success stories,” Phelan says.

One example is a sustainability drive in the hotel sector. “How often does one really need to have the towels in the hotel room or the sheets on the bed washed? You go into a hotel today, and they’re washed every night. Well, now you can check that card and opt out,” he says.

To enhance well-being for their travellers, procurement family members in the talent category worked with suppliers to provide stretchy resistance bands on longhaul flights to relieve tension. These are ostensibly simple projects, but, as with the handful of other examples Phelan shares, they belie the nuance of the procurement teams that worked diligently and tirelessly on them behind the scenes.

“Getting that mobilised across an organisation of our size is a tough task, but it's an important thing to do,” he says. "So, there are examples like that, where we're trying to go beyond the quantitative value into the brand value.” sustainabilitymag.com

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It all folds into Phelan’s brand value philosophy, the key to the overarching goal of elevating procurement beyond black and red ink.

“I'm not saying that procurement should have a seat on the board. What I'm saying is the content of what procurement brings to the table, for me personally, needs to be packaged differently so that the board fully understands the risks of something not happening, to the value that's being sacrificed,” he says.

Driving procurement forward as a business — Phelan considers EY his foremost client — will be key to this elevation. He adds: “To drive this 130

September 2021

procurement as a business, to get that board-level visibility, it has to be about value return. If procurement costs you a dollar, the reporting needs to show that you get US$5 in value back. It's the transparency through the reporting that gets that in front of people, to showcase those examples.”

Procurement is at the crossroads of major change. The COVID-19 pandemic redefined the importance of an organisation’s sourcing professionals, just as geopolitical turmoil, natural disasters, and terrorist attacks have in the past — and will continue to do in the years ahead. But Phelan senses the road is levelling out.

EY

“ Brand value is about driving user experience.

It's bringing forward what we do to help EY client servers, to work with clients in a better way. It's understanding the sustainability environment that's out there and working with our supplier ecosystem”

“The future goal for the procurement organisation is to make sure that the global executives on our board at the EY organisation fully understand the value proposition beyond the quantitative value, getting into the brand value and the transformation value,” he says.

"If we're sitting here a year from now, two days before the end of fiscal 22, I would expect to see more of a regular cadence with our global executives on a number of the transformative events that we have active right now. If we're doing that, then I think we’ll have had a good fiscal year.”

LARRY PHELAN

EY GLOBAL CHIEF PROCUREMENT OFFICER sustainabilitymag.com

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ECO CITIES LEADING SUSTAINABLE COMMERCE Take a look into some of the most eco-friendly cities and their journey towards sustainability

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ollowing a strenuous year which brought many challenges to hospitality and tourism, organisations across the globe are looking to increase their sustainability factors in 2021. As companies become more aware of climate change, many will strive for Net Zero status in the coming years.

Sustainability Magazine looks into 10 of the top cities in the world in terms of their green credentials and how they support their local industries to become greener.

WRITTEN BY: TOM SWALLOW

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Singapore Three of Singapore’s companies can be found in the “2021 Global 100 Rankings for Most Sustainable Companies.” The city-state recently set the Singapore Green Plan 2030 in motion and it plans to improve the natural surroundings, cut emissions, and encourage businesses to become more sustainable. The Republic plans to stop the registration of new diesel cars and taxis by 2025, with a target of having 60,000 electric cars on the road by 2030.

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Helsinki, Finland Tourists are at the forefront of its economy. Helsinki follows Stockholm as ecotourism has become a major part of the city’s sustainable development. The city prides itself in utilising modern public transport and encouraging cycling and walking in the city. It was recognised as the “cleanest city in Europe” according to the Pollution Index 2018.

“Currently, over 77% of all journeys in Helsinki are made through cycling, walking,and public transport,” explained environmentalist Josephat Andrews.

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Reykjavik, Iceland Reykjavik is considered to be the renewable capital of the world, boasting almost 100% renewable energy usage due to an abundance of geothermal and hydroelectric power.

“Reykjavik wants to join other cities in working with all parts of society, businesses, and grass-root organisations and put pressure on governments as well as the private and public sectors for clear commitments for a decade of actions when it comes to climate change,” said Mayor Dagur B. Eggertsson.

“Reykjavik has set a goal of being carbon neutral by 2040 and the next decade will be a decade of action”

07

Portland, Oregon

Portland hopes to operate with 100% clean energy by 2050 and has strict policies that protect its green spaces. Businesses are expected to plant trees annually to contribute to preserving the natural world. Businesses are very much on board with this: “Timberland shoes plans to plant 5 million trees over the next five years, search engine Ecosia used its profits to plant more than 70 million trees over the past decade”. sustainabilitymag.com

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Cape Town, South Africa Cape Town has also been focusing a lot of its attention toward a green economy. With growth in renewables, wastewater, energy and sustainable agriculture sectors, the city prioritises water and energy shortages while looking to development opportunities like further renewable energy and even aquaculture. South African Tourism CEO, Moeketsi Mosola, described Cape Town as an “eco-friendly destination committed to solid planning and construction principles in both its lifestyle and business sectors”.

San Francisco, California Home to Levi Strauss & Co., Gap and Salesforce, San Francisco is known to be a catalyst for America’s response to climate change. California’s Green Economy survey found that: “An estimated 63%of firms in California are involved in green business practices.”

The Mayor has released the Focus 2030 report which outlines an ambitious plan for improving the city’s energy efficiency, reducing emissions, and investing in green technologies to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

“ There are R2.6 billion”(US$177.5m)” worth of wastewater reuse projects planned for the Western Cape in the next 10 years” sustainabilitymag.com

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04

Vancouver, Canada In 2010, Vancouver implemented the ‘Greenest City Action Plan’ which set out to double the number of green and local food jobs in the city while also doubling the number of businesses improving sustainability in their operations. Grocery shopping, hospitality and consumer goods are just some of the industries that are moving towards a greener future.

In 2020, it was recorded that the city operates on 90% renewable energy, thanks to high dependence on hydroelectricity.

03

Stockholm, Sweden The Swedish government has a history of promoting sustainability. In 2019, Stockholm won the World Smart City Award for its GrowSmarter project, described as ‘innovative, open and connected’.

A far cry from their Viking ancestors, human rights are of high importance to Swedish businesses: H&M clothing retailer, founded in Stockholm, operates an audit team of 70 people to monitor the compliance, of around 800 independent suppliers, to sustainable sourcing, child labour and workplace safety.

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Amsterdam, Netherlands Amsterdam, known for its balance of hedonistic nightlife and canal boat chic,is also home to some of the most innovative thinkers in sustainable business. Startups, such as Quicargo, Land Life Company and Voltogo, are driving Amsterdam towards becoming one of the most sustainable countries and local businesses are benefiting.

According to the ‘Amsterdam Climate Neutral Roadmap’ the city has plans to reduce CO2 emissions in Amsterdam by 55% in 2030, and 95% in 2050, by working to achieve fewer and cleaner vehicles in the city (which accounts for 18%of carbon emissions), transforming the harbour into a sustainable battery (a further 18% of carbon emissions), and maximising solar energy gain from rooftops (39%of carbon emissions).

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Copenhagen, Denmark In 2014, Copenhagen won the European Green Capital Award for its commitment to being a sustainable city, its most obvious and famous example of the city’s commitment being Copenhill: a waste-to-energy plant, which doubles as a dry ski slope.

In addition to its green credentials, it is also home to some very exciting sustainable business startups. Too Good To Go, for example, is an application-based service that allows users to find leftover food products from businesses in their area. Large logistics, transport and energy companies like DSV Panalpina, AP Moller-Maersk and Orsted, aim to open a 1.3 gigawatt(GW) e-fuel factory in 2023. By 2030 this project, when scaled to full capacity, will produce more than 250,000 tonnes of clean energy annually.

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CENTRICA: ADAPTING & CHANGING TO MEET THE NEEDS OF CUSTOMERS WRITTEN BY: GEORGIA WILSON

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PRODUCED BY: LEWIS VAUGHAN

CENTRICA

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CENTRICA

Discover the history of Centrica, its strategy, business operations and sustainable efforts

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roud to be founded on a heritage of 200 years, serving customers in homes and businesses, Centrica is driven by its purpose to help customers live sustainably, simply, and affordably.

“As the pace of change continues to accelerate, we will respond by focusing colleagues and technology on helping businesses and households to use energy more efficiently and sustainably,” states Centrica.

The History of Centrica Founded in 1997 following the demerger of British Gas, Centrica took on the gas sales, gas trading, services and retail business, and the gas production business of the North and South Morecambe gas field.

Over the next 20 years, Centrica continued to grow its operations, making several company acquisitions, including Direct Energy, Dyno-Rod, Clockwork Home Services (Via Direct Energy), Home Warranty of America (Via Direct Energy), Bord Gáis Energy, NEAS energy and ENER-G Cogen International Limited.

Today, Centrica is an FTSE 250 company, with 23,846 employees, 9.2million residential customers, 17,700 electric vehicle charging points, and revenue of £20.8bn.

“Our company is founded on a proud 200-year heritage of serving customers in homes and businesses. From our early days sustainabilitymag.com

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supplying gas and coal to being an energy and services company today, we have adapted and changed to meet the needs of our customers,” comments Centrica.

The Centrica Business Model Designed to focus on meeting the changing energy supply, services, and solutions needs for its customers, Centrica provides its offerings to both consumers and businesses, helping them transition to a lower-carbon future.

For its consumer customers, Centrica provides supply, and home services and solutions, ranging from protection, installation and smart heating to the supply of gas and electricity. “We want to make people’s lives simpler by providing seamless, time-saving services that are affordable and sustainable. Understanding and satisfying consumer needs is critical to our success,” says Centrica.

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CENTRICA’S FIVE GROUP PRIORITIES 1. Customer obsession 2. Operational excellence 3. Most competitive provider 4. Cash flow growth 5. Empowered colleagues

CENTRICA

Centrica is ‘a trusted energy partner’ for its business customers, providing energy and solutions to help businesses operate more efficiently and sustainably to achieve commercial success. Its services range from energy supply to energy trading and optimisation and business services and solutions.

At the heart of its success, Centrica places its values, culture and code. “Care, delivery, collaboration, agility and courage are values we developed through conversations with employees [...] By living our values, we will be better able to fulfil our purpose and satisfy the changing needs of our customers.”

Centrica divides its code of conduct into six key areas: 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Operating safely and securely Conducting its business with integrity Valuing people Treating customers fairly Protecting assets, information and interests 6. Working responsibly with communities and government Centrica’s People and Planet Plan Committed to supporting every colleague to be themselves and every customer to live more sustainably, Centrica is committed to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) five (gender equality), eight (decent work and economic growth) and seven (affordable and clean energy).

People As part of these SDGs, Centrica has set bold targets for 2030, with ambitions to create an engaging and inclusive team that reflects the full diversity of the communities they serve, recruit 3,500 apprentices and provide sustainabilitymag.com

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Panasonic TOUGHBOOK made by specialists, for specialists.

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CENTRICA’S CORE STRATEGY PILLARS Sustainability: “We are committed to a cleaner and greener future, and we are making changes in order to achieve this. We will reduce our own emissions to reach net-zero and will help our customers to reduce theirs.”

Simplicity: “We are simplifying and modernising our business to allow us to put customers at the heart of everything we do with the aim of making their lives simpler and easier.”

Affordability: “Being able to reach netzero in an affordable way is core to our customers’ futures, so we are striving to provide energy, services and solutions that deliver value.”

“ We’re continuing to find solutions to some of the key challenges related to decarbonisation” CENTRICA career development opportunities for under-represented groups, and inspire colleagues to give 100,000 days to build inclusive communities.

“Our People & Planet Plan aims to create a more inclusive and sustainable future that supports our communities, our planet and each other. The Plan builds on progress made in previous years and accelerates action through five global goals that are focused in areas that matter deeply to our business and society, and where we’re well placed to make a world of difference,” explains Centrica. sustainabilitymag.com

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Year Founded

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Number of Employees

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To this effect, over the next decade, Centrica aims to have 47% of leaders female, 14% ethnic minority, 15% disability, 3$ LGBTQ+, and 3% ex-services. whilst recognising that it’ll be tough to achieve this target given the industry being heavily maleorientated, Centrica believes that “aiming high is the right approach to deliver the change we all need and want.”

In addition, Centrica plans to expand its opportunities across partnerships, recruiting 1,000 new apprentices by 2022, with ambitions for 50% of them to be women, and continue to inspire its colleagues to build inclusive communities via its charity 152

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partnerships, which it is currently on track to deliver 10,000 volunteer days by 2022.

Planet As part of its environmental SDGs, Centrica’s targets are centred around its customers and business, helping its customers reach net-zero by 2050 and become a net-zero business by 2045.

Customers “Climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing society. And with around 90% of our total carbon emissions coming from our customers, the biggest thing we

can do to fight it is to help them use energy more sustainably,” says Centrica, which is why the company offers its customers energy efficiency and optimisation products such as Hive, fuel switching technologies such as electric vehicle charging solutions, and cleaner energy supply with green tariffs and a cleaner fuel mix.

Reducing the carbon intensity of its customers by 18% from 2019 (the annual emissions of 1.7mn UK households), Centrica is on track to achieve its milestone of 28% carbon intensity reduction by 2030.

“The world of energy is evolving rapidly: it is becoming decentralised as distributed

“ The world of energy is evolving rapidly: it is becoming decentralised as distributed technology supports decarbonisation” CENTRICA

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“ Our company is founded on a proud 200-year heritage of serving customers in homes and businesses” CENTRICA technology supports decarbonisation; choice and power are shifting to the customer, and technology and digitalisation are accelerating the pace of change. We are responding to these trends by focusing investment on our customer-facing businesses,” says Centrica.

The Business Moving away from being asset-based to focusing on services and solutions, Centrica reports that as a business, it emits more than 80% less carbon than it did a decade ago.

“Recognising the urgent need to make net-zero a reality, we have accelerated our commitment to being a net-zero business by 2045, five years ahead of our previous

target and the UK deadline. We are also committed to helping our customers be netzero by 2050,” adds Centrica.

Wanting to continue its leading example and driving emissions out of its business, Centrica is committed to completing its strategic transformation to exit interest in exploration and production, converting its fleet to electric, and expanding its energy efficiency, onsite generation and green tariffs.

“Towards our net-zero target, our total carbon emissions decreased by 18% from 2019, with savings largely linked to less upstream generation and production. As a result, we're on track against our milestone goal to deliver 40% carbon reduction by 2034,” states Centrica.

By the end of 2020, Centrica proudly reported a CDP A-Grade as a world leader for action and disclosure on climate change, an 18% reduction in its carbon emissions, 10, 548 days volunteered since 2019 and featured in The Times Top 50 Employers for Women.

“As well as providing a wide range of energy efficiency and optimisation solutions – like Hive, smart meters and boiler upgrades – we’re also providing a low carbon energy supply with 100% zerocarbon electricity for all UK customers,” say Centrica, who adds that “we’re continuing to find solutions to some of the key challenges related to decarbonisation. We’re launching a trial to test the role heat pumps could play in cutting emissions from household heating in an affordable way. And, we’re working in partnership to build the world’s first net-zero industrial cluster in the UK by 2040, using ground-breaking hydrogen, carbon capture and storage technology.”

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TRUE REFLECTIONS EURO 2021 HOLDS A MIRROR TO SOCIETY

While football may not have come home for England, a communal awakening to the destiny of difference was finally embraced WRITTEN BY: JOHN PINCHING

I

n the end, not winning Euro 2021 was all a bit academic – just another day in the life of England’s national football team.

The trophy cabinet at Football Association HQ is so barren that even dust can’t be bothered to settle there anymore.

After the defeat against Italy only 79-year-old Geoff Hurst could allow himself a wry smile as he completed yet another day as the nation’s hero – a ritual he had completed every night since 30 July 1966, but with increasing melancholy (only four members of that team are alive to recall an occasion which has become embellished beyond all recognition).

During Euro 2021, however, the ubiquitous lyrics to David Baddiel and Frank Skinner’s 1996 anthem seemed to hint at deeper meanings which, when decoded, sounded like a celebration of a more multicultural and inclusive vibe, rather than an ironic commentary on England’s woeful record hitherto.

Day of reckoning For most fans, getting over the defeat to Italy was relatively straightforward – we know the drill. But something was different about Euro 2021. Emerging from the shadow of COVID-19, there was a frisson of something sustainabilitymag.com

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“ The crystallisation of diversity as a positive force for good is all about the knowledge and certainty of equalness – in our workplaces, on the pitch and throughout communities” in the air; something greater than the sum of football, something that transcended the sea of polyester flags, something that gave long overdue credence to the truth of parity.

Sterling, Kane, Phillips, Walker, Bellingham, Maguire and the entire squad seemed to reflect a new kind of solidarity – a logical interplay and interaction which echoed society more expansively. But, my goodness, this wider appreciation of difference has been a long and winding road.

How England got to the final – the spirit in which the team arrived – broke the mould; it felt like the completely natural phenomenon of diversity had somehow been endorsed and vindicated through the conduit of Association Football. Ah, ‘association’ – let that word roll around your head for a while.

This was the all-encompassing word chosen at the conception of our beautiful game 158 years ago.

At the moment of germination the bold prefix of this addictive pastime invited us to believe it was an open invitation; if you will,

diverse, inclusive, equal. With this in mind, I have a quick message for the lads of the 1863 committee: “It’s 2021 here, but rest-assured we’re finally hitting our diversity and inclusivity goals!”

A complicated history Let’s be clear about this, the crystallisation of diversity as a positive force for good is all about the wider knowledge and certainty of equalness – in our workplaces, on the pitch and throughout communities.

Diverse personnel in football, however, is nothing new. The sport’s early history included a tiny number of black players, including Andrew Watson – Scotland captain in the 1880s – and Arthur Wharton, thought to be the first black professional. By the 1960s, however, it was still highly unusual for a team to field sustainabilitymag.com

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The power of diversity in football

“ Witnessing one of the boys of ‘66 and Justin Fashanu as equal teammates was an empowering image but, ultimately, it was a lost opportunity to promote diversity” a black player. One of the very few was Clyde Best, a combative centre-forward at West Ham United and, curiously, team-mate of Geoff Hurst (more about that later).

In the late seventies, the sight of black players became much more common with West Brom fielding Cyril Regis, Bendon Batson and the mesmeric Laurie Cunningham, who interestingly would later become a hero in the racially hostile surroundings of Madrid, after moving to Real.

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player, Viv Anderson, who would go on to win the European Cup twice. The emergence of diversity as a strengthening agent was gaining momentum.

Often, despite the skill and prowess on display, black players were not judged on footballing criteria, and were even rejected by their own ‘supporters’. To place it in modern parlons, many ‘fans’ could not get past the idea that diversity could actually improve an organisation. This was football’s problem; hosting the same deadly, easily spreadable prejudice that manifested itself in Britain’s cities and towns. And it has been the downfall of many talented footballers who, faced with an utterly impossible working environment, could never fulfill their potential.

Sliding doors moment Perhaps a single moment in time can change a life, a society, a world. If you’re going to change the universe, 1980 seemed like a good place to start. In that year, Justin

DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

Fashanu, a young black player at Norwich City, produced a goal of outrageous ingenuity and flamboyance against the best team in the land – Liverpool.

From outside the box, with his back to goal, he flipped the ball in the air with one foot before unleashing a ferocious volley with the other, sending the ball flying past England goalkeeper Ray Clemence. Perhaps the greatest element of this was Fahanu’s reaction after the goal – complete calm, as if this kind of nonchalant improvisation was as natural as breathing. These days, it would go viral. In many ways, all roads to diversity and difference could easily lead back to this one majestic moment.

Alas, for Justin, this was as good as it got.

Although he secured a move to European Champions, Nottingham Forest, a combination of racist abuse, anachronistic management structures throughout football and the pressure of his undisclosable sexuality (a taboo he courageously broke in 1990) conspired to curtail his astonishing talent.

But it could have been so different. As the net was struck by that ball, a lightning bolt should have thus lanced the timespace continuum; crushing antiquated ideologies and paving a way to the new

The Justin Fashanu Foundation A big shout out to The Justin Fashanu Foundation, which was created by his niece, Amal. The charity passionately preserves Justin’s footballing legacy, while serving to remind people of his remarkable personal story.

It also raises awareness of mental health, racism and homophobia, and supports gay footballers who feel unable to come out.

Furthermore, by showing the positive chapters of Justin’s legacy the Foundation also inspires others to believe in themselves, use their natural talent and – above all – be precisely who they want to be.

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destiny of difference. There were plenty of plot points to suggest we were ready – it was a period when diverse music, fashion movements and youth communities were taking influences from different cultures and transcending racial divisions.

Clearly, leadership throughout football and Westminster had a golden opportunity to leverage diversity but instead they let the brand of racism, prevalent in so many parts of society, continue on the terraces.

And if linking a black, gay footballer from the 1980s to diversity in 2021 seems a bit far fetched, I ask you to consider this. In 1980, Justin Fashanu was playing alongside England’s other goalscorer from 1966, Martin Peters, as sure as Clyde Best had lined up with Geoff Hurst ten years before. Indeed, a jubilant Martin can be seen straight after the goal against Liverpool – congratulating Fashanu; more excited, it seems, than the scorer himself.

“ The enduring impact of Euro 2021 will be of a united England and a team that seemed to be galvanised by taking the knee and, if necessary, justifying it” Witnessing one of the boys of ‘66 and a black player as equal teammates was an empowering image but, ultimately, it was a lost opportunity to promote the wider vibrations of diversity and an empowering reflection of modern Britain. If only governing bodies could have recognised this split second of brilliance as the genesis of something timeless.

On that note, I don’t buy the old excuses about it being ‘a different time’. This was 1980, not 1880. The abolition of slavery, Martin Luther King’s ‘Dream’, Malcolm X’s activism

BizClik on Diversity Stacy Norman is Chief Operating Officer at BizClik Media Group As we move into a world of digitalisation – where teams working across different countries communicate via virtual platforms – mutual understanding and respect are vital.

As BizClik Media rapidly grows globally, we now view our diversity and inclusion policy as a key pillar to our talent and retention strategy. Our diverse and inclusive environment has encouraged a sense of belonging among the team, where everyone feels more connected than ever before.

Since implementing our Diversity & Inclusion Policy, we have seen considerable gains in business results, innovation and

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decision-making. Our teams work with passion, they work smarter, produce higher quality work and enjoy what they do, day in day out.

Diversity and Inclusion is a vital part of all global organisations, so why is it being left in the hands of one department? We believe that it should be at the forefront of every organisational agenda, in every boardroom, within every process and part of the learning culture. It should also be in the hands of every single individual in every single organisation, no matter what the location or size.

If the last 18 months has taught us anything, it is that we need to all work together for a better result.

DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

and Bob Marley’s reggae infused messages about learning from history had laid out the blueprint for a neo-civilised world – long before the ‘epiphany’ of the 2020s. The truth is that British society was not ready to forgo the tier system that had ‘served it so well’.

The infinite paradox Although the FA failed to create the foundations for an equal football ecosystem, or set about eliminating racism, football was, at once, depressingly exclusive and pioneeringly inclusive. In spite of racial hostility, black footballers thrived throughout the 1980s. George Berry, Garth Crooks, Danny Wallace, Remi Moses, Paul McGrath, Mark Walters, Danny Thomas, Dave Bennett and John Fashanu to name a few, all won major trophies.

Many clubs had numerous black players on their books. Arsenal (Paul Davis, David Rocastle, Michael Thomas), Luton Town

(Ricky Hill, Mitchell Thomas and brothers Brian and Mark Stein) and Watford (Luther Blissett and John Barnes) all began to accurately reflect their communities.

Furthermore, as many as six black players were representing England at the same time by 1987. England had more black players than any country in Europe – statistically it was the most multiculturally representative country in the world. By the end of the eighties Michael Thomas became part of football folklore as he hit the last minute goal which won Arsenal the league title.

There was much to be proud of and it is always worth remembering that thousands of real fans loved black players as much as their white counterparts, and made no distinction between them.

Normal fans knew that black players improved their teams exponentially!

Football was a results business and there was no such thing as ‘box ticking’ or even sustainabilitymag.com

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‘tolerance’ – all players were picked simply to enhance team performance. Taken alone, this was the meritocracy of the fabled Promised Land; seemingly a transparent selection policy which ignored prejudice. But there was still, undoubtedly, an institutional problem. The truth is that players had simply grown used to racial abuse and expected it.

A new dawn By the 1990s and 2000s black players represented every club in the country

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– it had become the norm. As hooliganism was further eliminated, racism at football clubs reduced and considerable credit for that goes to Kick It Out – an anti-racism organisation which began in 1997.

The digital age, however, introduced a new poisonous threat – online hatred. It is somewhat ironic that racists had been forced underground, into the virtual world, only to discover that their views were oxygenated and amplified by social media companies who, in spite of the light speed

DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

with which they do everything else, have been almost entirely unresponsive to the problem.

Make no mistake, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and the rest, hold the key to stamping out the remains of discrimination. For most of the keyboard warriors no amount of ‘education’ will change their world view and, therefore, you have to cut the cable and press mute (for eternity if necessary). Some opinions can only die out with the people that

harbour them. When Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka and Jadon Sancho missed their penalties (a tradition very much started by white footballers, Stuart Pearce, Chris Waddle and Gareth Southgate) the bile that started to fly never should have reached readable status.

Social media companies know the solution. They seem to know what my favourite colour underwear is and who my best friend was at primary school, so surely it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that one of their algorithms could detect moronic racist taunts. Ultimately, there has to be more immediacy and dynamism when it comes to the guardianship of parity.

Time of our lives The enduring impact of Euro 2021 will be of a united England and a team that seemed to be galvanised by taking the knee and, if necessary, justifying it. And there were other moments which paved the way for an inclusive future. Jordan Henderson chatting with a trans person or Marcus Rashford saying ‘it’s cool to say my penalty was rubbish just don’t blame it on my heritage’.

Most of all, the Euros demonstrated how rapidly climates, cultures and social apparatus can change. It emphatically proved that in our offices, on the pitch and in zoom calls difference is what makes life interesting. It is also worth emphasising that change doesn’t have to take 400 or 40 or even four years. Why not meet our sustainability, environmental or diversity goals now, rather than some indeterminate time in the future?

After all, it only takes a split second to score – a sudden moment which can change the game forever. sustainabilitymag.com

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REINVENTING THE WHEEL IN AN EVOLVING INDUSTRY WRITTEN BY: JOHN PINCHING PRODUCED BY: MARK CAWSTON

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‘Reinventing the wheel’ has been a great motivation for GACW. The company’s Air Suspension Wheels reach optimum levels of performance and last for decades

G

lobal Air Cylinder Wheels (GACW) is a company driven by a steel will to transform the mining industry through its pioneering Air Suspension Wheels. Its emergence in the industry is a response to a conundrum which has remained unsolved for decades – how do you reinvent the wheel?

Mining is almost as old as time itself and while the industry has moved with the times, some things have remained the same. For the wheels typically used in global mining operations, time has stood still. Even in the digital era, wheels have remained strangely, almost defiantly, antiquated.

Too often sophisticated mining operations have persevered with the old-fashioned inflatable tyres. These have been prone to combustion, skidding, blowouts, and lateral sway, while also being completely unsustainable, impossible to dispose off, and responsible for polluting oceans throughout the world. Indeed, a study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, estimated that tyres account for as much as 10% of overall microplastic waste in the world’s oceans.

In contrast, Air Suspension Wheels (ASW) uses a complex combination of long-lasting steel, inwheel suspension, pneumatic wizardry, energy efficiency, and replaceable treads to optimise performance and provide mining systems – from gold to coal – with

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GACW

Reinventing the wheel in an evolving industry

ultra modern reliability and, mercifully, a vital venture into corporate sustainability. It is indisputable proof that change is happening and it concerns the one thing that should keep businesses moving (but so often does the opposite).

President & CEO of GACW, Zoltan Kemeny, is the visionary behind ASW, but also a mining luminary who has been determined to evolve an element of the industry which had stalled for decades.

“I saw the tyres as the weak link in the critical interface,” reflects Zoltan. “When the existing rubber hits the road or the terrain, you run the risk of flat tyres, fire, and damage from repeated use. I thought, there's got to be a better way – these wheels must be designed with the same precision as the vehicle itself, with a metallic structure, reactive suspension, and mechanical parts. The identification of that weakness became an inspiration at first, and then an obsession.”

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Highly qualified in the field of engineering, Zoltan has used all his experience and knowledge of mining to create a dynamic wheel which works in tandem with other machinery and, critically, the environment in which it operates.

Wheel of fortune Clearly the most important plot point on the ASW journey is the elimination of the inflated tyre – a burden which would not be able to survive in the modern mining ecosystem.

For centuries, repeatedly pumping up and patching up beaten-up old tyres has been the unsustainable sticking plaster on the mining industry, frequently bringing operations to a grinding halt, wasting valuable time, and creating economic problems in the process.

By replacing the traditional design with a predominantly metallic structure – which has steel walls, easily replaceable rubber gripping tracks, and suspension under the chassis – the wheels represent a fully

GACW

integrated solution, allowing free-flowing mining projects without hazardous overreliance on old technology. It is a gateway to the future and a message to the wider world about the positive motivations of mining businesses.

When Zoltan started forming the blueprint for ASW he was well aware of the old adage about the ‘pointless reinvention of an existing idea’, but his response is progressive rather than restrictive: “People say, ‘oh

you’re reinventing the wheel’ but that’s just thinking inside a box – you have to look beyond that. Yes, the wheel is already invented, but is it always perfect? No – there are certain areas where the wheel is far from perfect, particularly in the military, forestry construction and, of course, the mining industry.”

“The rubber tyre can so easily be damaged by fire, or just with a knife. If you have a steel wheel, which operates the

“THESE WHEELS MUST BE DESIGNED WITH THE SAME PRECISION AS THE VEHICLE ITSELF, WITH A METALLIC STRUCTURE, REACTIVE SUSPENSION AND MECHANICAL PARTS. THE IDENTIFICATION OF THAT WEAKNESS BECAME AN INSPIRATION AT FIRST, AND THEN AN OBSESSION” ZOLTAN KEMENY

PRESIDENT & CEO, GLOBAL AIR CYLINDER WHEELS sustainabilitymag.com

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CT Hydraulics (Nqoba)(Pty)Ltd ‘Quality in Hydraulics’ Specialise in the design, manufacture and repair of all types of hydraulic & pneumatic cylinders.

CT Hydraulics is affiliated to most of the OEM’s in Southern Africa in the mining industry and often our design improvement recommendations are implemented worldwide. CT Hydraulics have been instrumental in the design of the GACW cylinders.

CT Hydraulics is accredited with ISO 9001-2015 quality system.

GACW

Zoltan Kemeny TITLE: PRESIDENT & CEO INDUSTRY: MINING

EXECUTIVE BIO

LOCATION: ARIZONA Zoltan Kemeny has written and co-written over 200 national and international technology patents – issued or pending – in the field of seismic, mechanical, structural, civil, and earthquake engineering, as well as medical electronics, semiconductor, control systems, green energy, engine technology, and optics.

He contracted short-run productions of seismic isolators for data centres in Shanghai, China, and sold his licensee upon request in Tokyo, Japan. He owns five small businesses and partners in two other enterprises, which are exclusively dedicated to his own patented technologies.

He serves on the board of Eliances where he is an SME on values.

“ PEOPLE SAY, ‘OH YOU’RE REINVENTING THE WHEEL’ BUT THAT’S JUST THINKING INSIDE A BOX. YES, THE WHEEL IS ALREADY INVENTED, BUT IS IT ALWAYS PERFECT? NO” ZOLTAN KEMENY

PRESIDENT & CEO, GLOBAL AIR CYLINDER WHEELS sustainabilitymag.com

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“ WE'RE NOT LIMITED TO AN OFF-THE-SHELF SOLUTION. WE ASK THE CLIENT WHAT THEIR SPECIFIC CHALLENGE IS AND,

BY WORKING TOGETHER, WE CREATE A SOLUTION.” ZOLTAN KEMENY

PRESIDENT & CEO, GLOBAL AIR CYLINDER WHEELS

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same way, then it is impossible to do that. With ASW, you can ride over an IED in a war, or an explosive, and still keep running,” adds Zoltan.

It is this robust approach, attention to detail and focus on design which is taking GACW into the next stage of development.

Wheels of your mind When it came to testing the new wheels, GACW had a rather novel approach, starting with small vehicles and gradually moving on to monster machines. It started with the humble wheelchair, before progressing to an SUV and then the giant trucks.

Sales SVP at GACW, Harmen Van Kamp, who became Zoltan’s indispensable right hand, strategic partner and friend from the get go, knows the potential of taking ASW to the next level, including improving their impact on the sacred arena of sustainability: “Tyres are by far the least innovated part of mining, but they’re also considered the biggest issue – environmentally, it's the most negative aspect of mining. There are many campaign groups that have identified tyre problems and are urging improvements on mining sites.

“Controlling the vehicle is also one of the most dangerous jobs on the mine site, so reactions to ASW from a safety perspective have been really positive.”

In terms of the disposal of rubber tyres, the process over the last couple of centuries has been far from sophisticated. “You can't really scrap them,” says Harmen. “The only way to get rid of them is to dig a big hole and throw them in there. It then takes about 150 years for disintegration to take place.”

It is this kind of statistic which puts mining under the microscope. The launch of ASW, however, has also coincided with mining companies needing to boost their green sustainabilitymag.com

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credentials – essentially future-proofing an ancient industry for the next generation. GACW has been explicitly told by organisations that, as part of their lower emission goals, they need to be more responsible when it comes to wheel usage. After all, there is only one thing better than recycling wheels and that is not having to recycle them at all.

“A lot of mining operations want to slash their CO2 emissions by 50-60% by 2030 and the use of ASW is going to become a big part of that,” notes Harmen.

Testing times During the long journey from conception to roll-out, mining equipment will reach the 176

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hallowed ground of ‘technology readiness level’. During trials in South Africa, the ASW successfully reached the proof of concept stage, as the wheels excelled in the fields of durability, versatility, and performance. It also convinced Zoltan and Harmen that the ‘crazy’ idea of replacing the rubber tyre could become a stark reality.

GACW

Following the initial trial, GACW moved on to the United States – it was crunch time for the ASW as it faced its most demanding tests. “In America, we have been going through rounds of much more destructive testing, pushing the wheels to their very limits,” reflects Harmen. “Along the way, we have been making final minor

improvements, resulting in the best wheel we can possibly produce.”

Getting the most formidable wheel made is something GACW will not cut corners on, and that means investing heavily in collaboration. “We team up with strong partners, because at our heart we are an engineering firm,” insists Harmen. “We are proudly working with the best cylinder manufacturer, the best wheel manufacturer, and the best compound manufacturer. These entities combine to deliver the best wheel possible – a wheel that can fundamentally change how organisations approach mining.” sustainabilitymag.com

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“ WE TEAM UP WITH STRONG PARTNERS, BECAUSE AT OUR HEART WE ARE AN ENGINEERING FIRM” ZOLTAN KEMENY

PRESIDENT & CEO, GLOBAL AIR CYLINDER WHEELS

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GACW Production line GACW currently has the potential to produce hundreds of wheels every year, while its manufacturing partner has 18 facilities all over the world, allowing for significant global distribution.

The use of ASW is also a bespoke solution and the company is keen to work with clients to meet their exact mining specifications. “We're not limited to an off-the-shelf solution,” concludes Zoltan. “We ask the client what their specific challenge is and, by working together, we create a solution. Historically a company would choose a rubber tyre and build the vehicle around it.

With ASW, we can do the opposite by taking the existing vehicle and integrating a made-to -measure wheel. Subsequently, this method opens up many more possibilities.”

The brand of forward-thinking epitomised

by ASW is certainly drawing the attention of tier one global mining companies, whose commitment to tech and modern solutions is growing exponentially. Many have even included the embracing of innovation within new mission statements. It's become a pivotal exercise for companies to implement new technology on a mine site, then throughout a country, ultimately resulting in global rollouts.

With this in mind, ASW is set to make a seismic impact on mining operations across all continents, taking the industry into unchartered territory and yielding new opportunities in the search for sustainability. The opportunities for mining companies to reboot their systems with the ASW are manifest, while the chance to engage with the public about how they operate represents a unique milestone.

The dawn of change has arrived for mining and over the coming years GACW will play a pivotal role in its transformation.

Evidently, ‘reinventing the wheel’ is possible after all.

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A GREEN VISION

TO INSPIRE AND A REALITY TO LIVE BY WRITTEN BY: JOHN PINCHING

PRODUCED BY: MARK CAWSTON

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The City of San José has been a trailblazer in promoting cultural shifts within its communities by providing opportunities for residents to embrace sustainability

W

Kerrie Romanow, Chief Sustainability Officer, City of San José; Director

hen you talk to Kerrie Romanow, you can tell why she holds the title of the City of San José’s Chief Sustainability Officer. She gets the climate emergency. She gets the need for community engagement, and the reason you know she gets the situation is because she regularly explains that ‘everything has to be done faster’.

Kerrie is not a person who is satisfied for San José to be a pioneer for societal, cultural, and environmental change; she wants ‘progress’ itself to speed up. Indeed, in the race against time, she has found the perfect philosophy to live by and, through the momentum created by projects like ‘Climate Smart’, the challenge is to convince everyone else too.

She knows, however, that the people of San José have already come a long way and that many of the foundation stones have been laid for the future. “One of the cool things about San José is we've grown our commitment to sustainability over the last decade,” she enthuses. “Having someone in the organisation specifically tasked with leading, and being accountable for, our sustainability initiatives is exciting, and I'm proud of our city for moving in that direction.”

Kerrie is also immensely proud to live in the city and, in doing so, is able to live, breathe and participate in the sustainability initiatives in a way that is completely sustainabilitymag.com

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Sustainability, community and action

authentic. Her experience in both the private and public sectors has given her a wide frame of reference and experiences she can pull on when dealing with the nuances of environmental service implementation.

“By being a resident of San José, you have to be acting sustainably at all times. Otherwise, someone's going to call you out!” reflects Kerrie. “Being in the community reinforces my commitment in a personal way and reminds me that young people – including my own 17-year-old daughter – deserve to have a great future.”

Street cred California has always been the spiritual home of cool ‘movements’, whether it be the beatnik generation or surf culture, and upholding green credentials is no different. Indeed, the state is playing a pivotal role in pushing proenvironmental paradigms into the mainstream.

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“ I'M PROUD THAT THERE ARE SEVERAL VERY ACTIVE, VERY VOCAL AND VERY INFLUENTIAL COMMUNITY GROUPS, AND I'M SUPER EXCITED THAT THEY'RE SHOWING UP TO COUNCIL MEETINGS AND TELLING ME I'M NOT DOING ENOUGH!” KERRIE ROMANOW

CHIEF SUSTAINABILITY OFFICER, CITY OF SAN JOSÉ

CITY OF SAN JOSÉ

Kerrie has witnessed the remarkable incline of sustainability: “I'm certainly glad that being sustainable and green is viewed as cool, and I do think that is an important element of it. The public has expressed their interest and their desire, and companies have listened to them and responded accordingly. Some companies simply know it's the right thing to do, and by leading in that way, they naturally draw customers in. Consequently, there's a really interesting push and pull dynamic.”

Kerrie is wary of too much high-fiving, however, and knows that corporate awakenings, however impactful, come with a caveat. “I think it's been an evolution, but we’re still not doing enough, fast enough,” she insists. “We've got to apply more pressure to companies, cities, and municipalities, and then make it even cooler, so even more people believe in it for the right reasons. Not everyone's on board with climate change, but there are a lot more than there were 10 years ago.”

Change in perception, attitude, and approach have been exponentially increasing, even for a free-thinking city like San José. In 2011, there was little environmental advocacy but, a decade later, that has all changed. One of San José’s pivotal goals, when it started Climate Smart, was to get the community to fundamentally shape that movement and, ultimately, create the sense of togetherness and solidarity which is so fundamental to sustainability.

“I'm proud that there are several very active, very vocal, and very influential community groups,” she says. “I'm super excited that they're showing up to council meetings and telling me I'm not doing enough. By demanding more, it demonstrates that we're getting the right folks elected, and the community feels motivated to express themselves.”

Something in the water Among the initiatives in San José, one, in particular, flows through everything – quite sustainabilitymag.com

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CITY OF SAN JOSÉ At San Jose Water, every drop of water counts. This means looking for leaks in our own pipes and fixing them before they become catastrophic.

By doing this, we saved 480 million gallons of water in the last year alone.

Learn more at: sjwater.com/leakdetection

FROM

We’re Proud to Serve Our Community

©2021 Republic Services, Inc.

Serving customers in San Jose for over 40 years

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Kerrie Romanow TITLE: CHIEF SUSTAINABILITY OFFICER, CITY OF SAN JOSÉ; DIRECTOR INDUSTRY: GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION LOCATION: UNITED STATES

EXECUTIVE BIO

Kerrie Romanow is the Chief Sustainability Officer for the City of San José and Director of the San José Environmental Services Department.

Kerrie has worked in the environmental field for almost 25 years. Before joining San José, she served as Chief Operating Officer for a nationwide environment, health and safety consulting firm. Kerrie earned a bachelor of science degree in environmental economics and policy from UC Berkeley and an MBA from the Santa Clara University Leavey School of Business.

She is an American Leadership Forum Senior Fellow. In 2018, Kerrie was awarded Oracle’s Chief Sustainability Officer of the Year.

“ WE ARE NOW DIVERTING ABOUT 20 MILLION GALLONS A DAY INTO OUR SOUTH BAY WATER RECYCLING SYSTEM” KERRIE ROMANOW

CHIEF SUSTAINABILITY OFFICER, CITY OF SAN JOSÉ

CITY OF SAN JOSÉ

literally. The city runs the largest tertiary treatment facility west of the Mississippi, discharging into just a few feet of water, meaning what it produces has to be exceptionally clean. It’s a mission that has many moving parts and represents what can be achieved if collective minds are willing.

“We are now diverting about 20 million gallons a day into our South Bay Water Recycling system,” enthuses Kerrie. “It has become one of the state's largest recycled water systems, and we're looking to continue expanding it in order to supply all the large parks, schools and golf courses in the community. Getting those big hitters not to use portable water is a key initiative.”

San José’s recycled water operation has also been boosted by the sustainability vibe sweeping through the city – to such an extent that it no longer has to be subsidised and is, essentially, ‘running on its own’, which is very rare for such a system. Kerrie and her team are hoping for an expansion soon as the current operation has been so popular it is oversubscribed.

From a wastewater standpoint, San José is looking to hit the ultimate home run of powering itself. “We are now about 65% selfpowered and, in the next 5-6 years, we'll get to 100%. It’s vitally important that we're using all of our own systems efficiently and also installing systems to power ourselves.”

“ BY BEING A RESIDENT OF SAN JOSÉ, YOU HAVE TO BE ACTING SUSTAINABLY AT ALL TIMES. OTHERWISE, SOMEONE'S GOING TO CALL YOU OUT!” KERRIE ROMANOW

CHIEF SUSTAINABILITY OFFICER, CITY OF SAN JOSÉ

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“Mix and match the size of th quote. Keep the style consist within the same article Keep style consistent within articl NAME SURNAME JOB TITLE, COMPANY NAME

Totally energised The City of San José will also transition how it handles biosolids, of which it produces 120,000 tonnes a year. These biosolids are in the process of being solar dried with a view of transitioning out of that stage and into a fertiliser plant, which is currently being procured. The treated biosolids will then be used beneficially on a localised basis.

Kerrie explains why this dynamic vision of circular sustainability has such an impact: “If we didn't complete the circle, we would have been transiting 15 trucks every day into the Central Valley, and the greenhouse gas emissions from that would have been enormous. So we have re-tooled, leveraged new technology and created new opportunities.”

San José’s wider energy initiative ignited three years ago when it started ‘San José Clean Energy’ – a community choice aggregation energy programme within the city that gives residents the option of 100% renewable energy at an affordable price. The city is also pursuing building electrification 190

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“ THE KEY ASPECT WITH YOUNG PEOPLE, HOWEVER, IS THEIR DESIRE TO DO GOOD – TO ENSURE THAT PEOPLE, ANIMALS, AND THE ENVIRONMENT ARE CARED FOR. THEY HAVE A BETTER CONNECTION TO THAT BELIEF SYSTEM AND ARE MORE THOUGHTFUL ABOUT ALL PEOPLE” KERRIE ROMANOW

CHIEF SUSTAINABILITY OFFICER, CITY OF SAN JOSÉ

CITY OF SAN JOSÉ

he tent the le”

and the electrifying of vehicle fleets. “It’s about gaining control and, as a result, we’ve moved to 100% renewable and 100% carbon-free. That’s one of our biggest goals taken care of.”

Such giant leaps of faith take courage, and Kerrie knows that in the diverse people of San José, she has a community willing to take responsibility. “We are super lucky in San José,” acknowledges Kerrie. “We have a really entrepreneurial community, and our local government is very open to innovation and new ideas.”

This fruitful spring of optimism also extends to partnerships and joint working, with businesses regularly pitching ideas. The first dry anaerobic digestion facility in the United States is already processing organic material from the city’s commercial solid waste system. “That was because Zero Waste Energy Development [ZWED] came to us and said, ‘Hey, we'd like to partner with you on this’, enabling us to form a public-private partnership,” explains Kerrie.

“Folks know that we want to move the needle, we want to take risks, and we really

want to make a positive impact. The message is clear, we're open to ideas and innovation, and we want to see where those business levers make sense for the environment and for their particular business model,” she adds.

Next-gen With all the city’s initiatives, it’s essential that young people are invested in sustainability, but Kerrie is confident that the future is in safe hands. “I think the next generation is much more comfortable with walking, taking Uber, and they’re not caught up in our obsession with ‘owning a car’ and meeting somewhere 30 miles away,” concludes Kerrie.

“The key aspect with young people, however, is their desire to do good – to ensure that people, animals, and the environment are cared for. They have a better connection to that belief system and are more thoughtful about all people. I think that they’re eventually going to take the baton and surpass us, and that's super exciting, but we still have to get moving.

We can't wait ten years until they're ready to take it!”

That’s typical Kerrie, getting things done, motivating people to find solutions and, yes, speeding things up. And she’s right. This is a job involving all of us, with no endpoint and absolute reliance on industriousness, humanity, and an all-encompassing appreciation of our responsibilities.

The City of San José is making its mark in a deeply profound and impressionable way, becoming a template for sustainable living.

For it to accomplish its long-term missions, it needs cities to follow its example – not just in the United States, but throughout the world.

Needless to say, it can’t be put off until tomorrow. It has to happen today.

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