IDLE THOUGHTS
Business is about people,
so travel is a necessary evil
Something quite unique happened last month. I was at a conference
where two rival politicians were speaking, and one of them refused to
Editor Tom Idle 020 8651 7070 tom.idle@fav-house.com
take a pot-shot at the other. This was just before the expenses scandal
Chief sub-editor Brendan Thomas
Production Sharon Miller 020 8651 7104
broke. So, maybe I witnessed a chilled-out version of shadow energy
Design and production manager Luana Marca
and climate change speaker Greg Barker promising not to have a go
at government ministers for taking many flights this year in their bid
Publisher Angela Himus 020 8651 7164
to get political buy-in ahead of the UN Copenhagen meeting. “I angela.himus@fav-house.com
understand the importance of these meetings,” he said. (However, the Corporate partnerships Rob Barton 020 8651 7065
very next day, the Tory press office issued a statement from Barker
07852 220150 robert.barton@fav-house.com
lambasting the government’s “unnecessary flight policy”. If this is
Group advertisement manager Ella Westaway
020 8651 7077 ella.westaway@fav-house.com
what we can expect from David Cameron’s new, open, transparent
Subscriptions Sue Linkson 020 8651 7160
politics, he can keep it.) subs@fav-house.com
‘
In big business
But the flying debate is one that won’t go away. It’s not just about
Administration Clare Klos 020 8651 7121
people like to
third runways at Heathrow (and BAA’s boss, Colin Matthews has
clare.klos@fav-house.com
eyeball each
been defending that decision again this month – see page 31). It’s
other, to ease
about changing business culture. “Meeting people face to face is
The editorial board
important, so avoiding flying is not an option,” admits Dominic
■ John Alker UK Green Building Council
’
the process Lowe, the managing director of chocolate firm Green & Blacks. He ■ Mark Barthel Wrap
has a point. In big business, people like to eyeball each other; to ■ Charlie Browne UK environment manager, Ikea
socialise and ease the process of doing business.
■ David Crowhurst BRE Environment
Undoubtedly, some flights and car journeys are unnecessary and
■ Sara Johnson Environmental manager, Wolseley
cutbacks need to be made (not least to reduce expense receipts filter-
■ Anya Ledwith consultant, ESHCon
ing through to accounts teams). And companies need to know that
■ Liz Parkes Head of waste, Environment Agency
it’s fine to cut back on business travel; that using videoconferencing
■ Bruno Zago UK & Ireland environmental manager,
Hewlett Packard
kit or software like WebEx is okay.
But as events like the monthly CSR get-together Green Mondays,
and last month’s Sustainable Business – The Event (see below) go to Magazine information
show: you can’t beat in-person meetings. After all, business has been,
Email sb@fav-house.com
and always will be, an effect of human interaction.
Website www.sustainablebusinessnetwork.net
ISSN 1756-8633 © Faversham House Group
TOM IDLE EDITOR
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The inaugural Sustainable Business – The Event was
held last month as part of Sustainabilitylive! in
Faversham House Group Ltd
Birmingham at the NEC. For those of you that didn’t
Tel 020 8651 7100 Fax 020 8651 7117 ISDN 020 8651 1471
make it to the event, you missed a great show. Address Faversham House
Over three days, the SB conference provided a
232a Addington Road,
South Croydon, Surrey CR2 8LE
unique snapshot of the UK’s climate change
agenda. Delegates filled the huge conference
space to hear from government figures like
The FHG portfolio also includes www.edie.net
and Sustainabilitylive!
Secretary of State Ed Miliband, his
department’s Catherine Pike and DCLG’s John
Fiennes. And they heard the success stories of
business leaders from the likes of Ikea, Adnams,
IBM, Hewletter Packard, WHSmith, Eurostar,
BSkyB, Vodafone, Asda and the John Lewis
Partnership.
FHG is a member of the
Periodical Publishers Association
Next month, we will take another look at
what happened. In the meantime, I’d like to
Printed on PEFC
say a big thank to our sponsors of the
accredited paper.
For more info see
conference, Hyder Consulting, Parsons
www.PEFC.org
Licence number
Brinckerhoff, First Climate and DNV.
PEFC/16-33-141
Sustainable Business ❘ June 2009 5
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