THE BACK PAGE
Notes from Selsdon
‘S
ustainability communi- cations doesn’t exist,” said Diana Verde Niedo, kicking off the no doubt unsuitably titled session, “Sustainability Communications: Getting it Right”. The CEO of Clownfish, one of the UK’s lead- ing comms agencies, was just being provocative, enticing the audience at this year’s Sustainable Business – The Event conference to think again about how they position their “green” business in the media. She has a point. How many companies fall into the greenwash trap of concentrat- ing their PR efforts on their so- called green credentials? As Diana rightly points out: it should be about understanding your customers and communicat- ing appropriately. If the green message is relevant, then use it. If it isn’t, don’t bother.
T
here were a few sleepless nights in the lead up to this year’s event in Birmingham, for the usual rea- sons that one gets anxious ahead of something one has spearhead- ed. Suffice to say, the conference went well, with all of our speak- ers beating the lingering ash cloud to be there and delivering excel- lent, largely slide-free presenta- tions. If you were there, I hope you found it energising. If you weren’t there, well, you missed a fantastically free opportunity to hear from a plethora of business- es that explained how they have successfully tapped into the sus- tainability market. We’ll be doing it all again in 12 months, so we’ll see you there.
L
urking among the delegates for the late morning session on climate change regula- tion was a nameless UKIP candi- date for one local constituency in the Midlands. Determined to get his climate scepticism aired dur- ing the Q&A session, he asked the panel: Why does the UK government insist on giving cli-
Professor Julia King kicks off this year’s SB – The Event
“I said to her, ‘I believe in global warming, but I'm not sure many of my colleagues do’. She said that she agreed, making two members of the cabinet in favour – and that was a majority.”
mate change attention when we still don’t know that it is really happening? Well done to the Environmental Industries Commission’s Adrian Wilkes, who suitably shot him down, arguing that he was happy for the government to go along with the 99.9% of scientists who state that global warming is man made and is a problem.
T
he SB website will soon go live; we’ll tell you more about it in the next issue. In the meantime, I’m looking for guest bloggers to join the SB community, to use our audience to get your voice heard and to build up your very own follow- ing. We are looking for interesting commentators to vent their spleen on any number of subjects
– from transport and waste, to renewables and carbon manage- ment. Email me at my usual address if you are interested in joining the debate.
T
he unseasonably warm temperatures on the South Coast last month didn’t stop me struggling over the finish line at the inaugural Brighton Marathon to raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust Fund. I wasn’t the quickest but I was more than happy with my finish time of five hours and 16 minutes. It was a first for me and will most certainly be my last. It was painful.
If anybody out there would like to donate cash to show their support, my Just Giving page will be open for the next two months at
www.justgiving.com/tomidle.
Quote of the month
Former environment minister, John Gummer is on good form at Sustainabilitylive! explaining how he convinced then prime minister Margaret Thatcher about the potential dangers of global warming
THE JUNE ISSUE OF
SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS
WILL HIT YOUR DESK ON
4 JUNE 2010
Sustainab le Business ❘ May 2010 35
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