Climb23, is a festival for the future. Bringing thousands of experts, entrepreneurs, investors and business owners from all over the world to share insights and ideas into the latest trends across industry.

This is a festival about innovation. To drive better business for a sustainable world.

In this episode, I speak with Gordon Bateman, the individual behind Climb23. Gordon shares why he believes this event is crucial for driving innovation across all sectors.

The event takes place at Leeds Dock on 23rd and 24th May 2023. If you want to get involved in the event, head to Climb23.com or email me on [email protected] if you want to join me in the roundtable and panel discussion I will be hosting.

In episode 10, I speak with Chris Thompson, the founder of Citu. Citu is a property developing company like no other. Focused on building beautiful Scandinavian style homes that are as kind to the environment as they are to your eyes.

Sustainability is the core of Citu. From material sourcing all the way through to use of the building for decades to come. They focus on the people and the processes to ensure the buildings have maximum value with minimum impact.

In this episode, Chris shares the story of Citu and their mission to build sustainable communities. He also reflects on some of the challenges the building industry faces and the changes we need to drive more innovation.

Have a listen. Share your thoughts.

The workplace is changing.

Businesses all over the country are shifting away from a typical 20-year office lease to a more flexible working arrangement.

Employers are creating more suitable working environments for their employees, whether that be through homeworking, hybrid working or a four-day working week.

This change creates a sustainability challenge.

In this episode, I speak with Sam Pickering and Mike Bascombe from Incendium consulting, a Corporate Real Estate (CRE) consultancy, helping businesses innovate and rethink their workplace.

Sam and Mike share their insight into the future of CRE and how businesses can overcome some of the challenges.

The eighth and final episode of 2022.

In this episode I speak with Andrew Griffiths, the Director of Policy & Partnerships at Planet Mark and the Chair of Institute of Directors National Sustainability Taskforce.

Andrew recently attended COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh. The 27th Conference of the Parties, the next in the series following the UK hosting COP26 in Glasgow in 2021.

There were many key things that came out of COP that are relevant to businesses and directors. Including new guidance from the Transition Plan Taskforce and ISO Net Zero guidelines.

In the first half of the conversation, Andrew shares insight into practical things for businesses. There are some great bits of information that will support any business or director not matter how far down the business is with its net zero transition. The second half of the conversation discusses some of the challenges of COP, how they are run and some other key outcomes such as the loss and damage fund. 

This podcast could have continued for hours as the conversation was full of interesting topics!

Enjoy

Electric bikes that sound like they should be made in the kitchen. Making teeth cleaning environmentally friendly. The push for sustainable sleep. Fashion trends that are green by default. Transporting the travel industry into a post-carbon world.

These were a few of the topics I discussed with Leo Rayman on The Sustainable Director podcast this week. Leo also shares his 5 principles! These are worth hearing if you want to understand what your business could be doing to evolve into the future of business!

A bit about Leo

Leo is the founder of EdenLab, a new kind of consultancy and venture studio. They don't just advise on how to win in the Net Zero future, they build it with you. He's the former CEO and Chief Strategy Officer of ad agency Grey London, founder of Grey Consulting, speaker, adviser to Carbon13 the climate tech incubator and writer. He believes businesses can help shape the planet for the better. To do that he says we need to invent - and reinvent - companies for a post-carbon world. He scouts, designs and assembles new business models, products and services that actively create a better future for all of us.

In this episode I speak with Rashmi Dubé, Partner at Gunnercooke leading ESG Litigation, National Spokesperson Ambassador for Policy & Governance for the Institue of Directors, Serial Entrepreneur and Business Writer for the Yorkshire Post.

Rashmi is an expert in ESG. In this episode, Rashmi explains what ESG is, why it is important for businesses and why it is helpful for organisations of any size.

People often associate ESG with large corporates, but it is definitely not the case.

If you're interested in learning more about ESG, then this podcast is for you. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Rich Kenny wears two hats. He is the sustainability and research director at TechBuyer, and managing director at Interact.

TechBuyer is a global specialist in buying, refurbishing and selling enterprise IT equipment. They believe repurposing IT equipment is key to reducing one of the fastest growing waste streams in the world. The waste stream known as Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE).

Interact is a sustainable start-up using machine learning to recommend the best vendor-neutral hardware choices by projecting cost, energy use, and carbon emissions over a variable timeline of 1-10 years. The tool was developed through a research partnership between University of East London and Techbuyer, the results of which have been peer reviewed and published in IEEE.

Rich has recently been awarded Visiting Research Fellow in the School of Engineering at London South Bank University. This is recognition for the world leading research coming out of TechBuyer and Interact.

In this episode, Rich discusses how businesses can optimise their IT suite to reduce costs, energy and carbon. He talks about the challenges we face with IT equipment and gives some great recommendations for business leaders.

If you're wanting to learn more, give it a listen and let me know what you think.

Simon Tate, Sales Director at Mer, joins me to talk about all things electric vehicle (EV) charging solutions. Simon has been part of EV industry for a number of years. He has seen the landscape change and been at the heart of the industry during the recent boom. In this episode, Simon talks about why EVs are such a good choice for businesses, the importance of EVs in reaching net zero, and how businesses can switch their fleet from combustion to electric. It’s crucial we adopt you the best technology to achieve net zero. EVs can play a part in this journey, but it comes with challenges, something we must overcome as the innovation around EVs increases.

In this episode I speak to Holly Kragiopoulos, director and co-founder at North Star Coffee Roasters in Leeds. Holly shares the sustainability story for North Star over the past 9 years since starting in 2013.

She shares the challenges and risks they have taken to whilst innovating new sustainable products. The risks may sound scary but the passion for social and environmental sustainability is inspiring. 

Holly also discusses how North Star have worked with their supply chain to improve the lives of coffee producers all over the world. Understanding the issues they face and determining the best way to remove the obstacles to ensure the same great quality coffee can be provided year on year.

In this episode we hear from Adam Woodhall, Chief Executive at Lawyers for Net Zero. Lawyers for Net Zero is a non-profit designed to equip in-house lawyers with the skills to deliver climate action.

Lawyers may not be synonymous with sustainability, but we hear about why they are crucial to delivering positive change to help our climate.