EDITOR INTERVIEW In conversation with...
Chris Hines MBE Hon.
D.Sc., former Sustainability Director of the Eden Project, Co-Founding member of Surfers against Sewage, environmentalist and motivational speaker
Ahead of the Lube magazine Sustainability Conference at the Institute of Directors in London on the 25th May, we spoke to keynote speaker Chris Hines about his view on sustainability.
Your MBE for ‘services to the environment’ was awarded in 2008, but your passion and commitment to sustainability began much earlier - how and when did your activism begin? The roots of my activism began through growing up and spending a lot of time out in the natural environment in the south-west including surfing around Cornwall’s beaches. In late 1989 our community had to take action over the appalling state of our beaches. Something had to be done and Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) was formed. Thirty years later it is still going strong.
You often speak of the ‘balance between the social, environmental and financial aspects of sustainability’ - is industry/business taking this issue seriously enough? There are a lot of good signs and a lot of companies accelerating both their understanding and their actions but sadly there are a lot who are just still focused too much on the financial bottom line whilst not understanding that by thinking of all three aspects of the triple bottom line, you actually create better companies.
How realistic is it to expect consensus among global corporations given the universal differences across countries, cultures, continents and communities?
Whilst it may seem that way, the commonality and shared occupancy of what increasingly feels like a smaller and smaller world bind us all together. Climate change and biodiversity reduction are threats that affect everyone and are all interlinked.
It is also part of the responsibility of such corporations that they do manage to bridge these differences. The future success of these corporations requires this consensus. Even in purely financial terms failure to deliver will have disastrous impacts further down the line. The old adage “There is no business on a dead planet” rings true.
How can companies align profitability with purpose whilst balancing the needs of their shareholders and investors? There is an increasing requirement from shareholders and investors for companies to have a clear purpose and values in their operations and structure. There is a quote in Mark Carney’s book Values, Building a Better World for All from Sir John Kay: “Profit is no more the purpose of business than breathing is the purpose of living.”
There is also increasing evidence that companies who take their ESG seriously outperform others in their sector who haven’t truly embraced these issues. Investors and shareholders need to also play their part and start to stretch the time frames away from quarterly reports.
Closer to home, are energy companies taking enough action to address global warming and maintain that crucial 1.5° Celsius temperature control? There are some really good signs but more needs to be done. Gas is being promoted as a carbon reduction form of energy. But we don’t have time to go through a “transition energy”. We need 100% commitment to decarbonise our energy sources ASAP.
LUBE MAGAZINE NO.168 APRIL 2022 43
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