Addressing the Global Climate Crisis: In conversation with Jeremy Leggett

Transforming our Sustainability Data Reporting

Earlier this year, we launched our sustainability data platform: PACT (Platform Advacing Change Together) - powered by Salesforce and delivered by PWC. The platform allows us to gain access to AI and data-driven insights to enhance reporting across our global corporate business and private equity portfolio. Businesses are under growing pressure to capture broader ESG data, as new regulations, accounting standards and rules aimed at accelerating the drive to Net Zero come into force. SMEs, which account for 99% of UK businesses, often do not have the resources to effectively manage their emissions and broader sustainability imapct. PACT will revolutionise this and transform the Private Equity sector's approach to sustainability, making new forms of data and reporting accessible to smaller companies - a previously underserved market. In this episode, Lily Billings, Head of Group Sustainability at Foresight, is joined by Keiran Bell, Senior Account Executive at Salesforce, and Matt Cook, Partner at PWC. The group discuss how PACT will transform sustainability analytics across Foresight, mitigate the risk of greenwashing and support organisations to make improved data-driven decisions. The podcast is for information purposes only and without limitation, does not constitute an offer, an invitation to offer or a recommendation to engage in any investment activity. Listeners should not construe the content of this podcast as investment advice and no reliance may be placed upon the content. The opinions of speakers are their personal opinions and not necessarily those of their respective companies. Foresight Group LLP is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 198020). Foresight's registered office is at The Shard, 32 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9SG.

Foresight Sustainability Forum: The Big Debrief

The Foresight Sustainability Forum, held over two days at the Eden Project, brought together leading experts and visionaries to address the fundamental challenges facing our planet and explore innovative solutions to these challenges. The event provided a platform for insightful discussions, thought-provoking panel sessions, and enlightening keynote speeches, all aimed at shaping a more sustainable future for our planet.

In this episode, Dan James, Development Director at the Eden Project, Lily Billings, Head of Group Sustainability and Henry Morgan, Infrastructure Sustainable Investment Lead at Foresight unravel some of the key initiatives, thought-provoking discussions, and innovative ideas that emerged from the two days.

The podcast is for information purposes only and without limitation, does not constitute an offer, an invitation to offer or a recommendation to engage in any investment activity. Listeners should not construe the content of this podcast as investment advice and no reliance may be placed upon the content. The opinions of speakers are their personal opinions and not necessarily those of their respective companies.

Foresight Group LLP is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 198020). Foresight’s registered office is at The Shard, 32 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9SG.

What role will hydrogen play in the global energy transition?

Hydrogen is increasingly being recognised as a key player in the transition towards a low-carbon future. As a clean energy carrier, it has the potential to decarbonise a wide range of sectors including transportation, industrial processes, and heating. Hydrogen can be produced using renewable energy sources, such as wind or solar, and can be stored and transported as required. Its versatility and flexibility make it a useful alternative to direct electrification, particularly in hard-to-abate sectors such as heavy industry, aviation and shipping. However, scaling up the use of hydrogen requires significant investment in infrastructure and technology, and regulatory support from governments to enable its widespread adoption.

In this episode, Joe Davis, Associate Director at Foresight Group and William Mezzullo, Head of Hydrogen at Centrica explore the development of hydrogen as a vital part of the energy transition, what stands in its way, and what needs to be done to realise its full potential.

Key Takeaways include:

• Understanding the importance of the UK government’s new suite of policies addressing the drive to net zero.
• Understanding why a country’s hydrogen policy framework is one of the most important factors for informing investment decisions.
• Addressing whether the UK government is on the right track for supporting increased investment into hydrogen and whether this is competitive with other countries.
•  Understand what is meant by hydrogen blending, and some of the main opportunities and challenges associated with it.

How can a systems thinking approach help us achieve a sustainable future?

Accelerating resource consumption, biodiversity loss and climate change are damaging the planet's ability to support life. In order to secure a sustainable future, we must adopt new ways of thinking and addressing complex problems. System thinking represents one of society’s best bets for making real progress towards the sustainability transition by viewing all natural and human systems as interdependent. 

In this episode, Sophie Warren, Sustainability Manager at Foresight Group and Lola Bushnell, Sustainable Futures Strategist at Arup, discuss what is meant by system thinking, and how the Earth's natural and built systems can be designed in a way to co-exist and co-evolve to benefit society and the environment. 

Key Takeaways include:

• Understanding what systems thinking is and how can it help us to achieve a sustainable future
• Understanding how well systems thinking principles are currently integrated within industry
• Identifying what policies are driving systems thinking
• Understanding what is meant by regenerative design and the benefit of it
• Addressing the main barriers to achieving true regenerative design in infrastructure

Why is soil vital for people and planet health?

Soil is the foundation upon which life is built. Soil puts food on the table, purifies our water, stores vast amounts of the worlds carbon, and protects us against floods and droughts. We are intrinsically linked; when soil’s health is at risk, so is our own.

In this episode, Lily Billings, Head of Group Sustainability at Foresight Group discusses why soil is so essential to life, and what needs to be done to protect it with Mark Nason, head of professional practice at the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management.

Key Takeaways include:

• Understanding what soil actually is and why it’s so essential to life
• Understanding the different ecosystem services that soil provides
• Addressing some of the key threats facing soil health
• Understanding what we can do to improve the health of soil

Mark Nason is Head of Professional Practice at the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (CIEEM), and has over 25 years of experience in environmental research and education. 

The podcast is for information purposes only and without limitation, does not constitute an offer, an invitation to offer or a recommendation to engage in any investment activity. Listeners should not construe the content of this podcast as investment advice and no reliance may be placed upon the content. The opinions of speakers are their personal opinions and not necessarily those of their respective companies.

Foresight Group LLP is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 198020). Foresight’s registered office is at The Shard, 32 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9SG.

{TRANSCRIPT}

Lily Billings [00:00:04] Welcome to Foresight Sustainability Podcast, a series that explores the sustainability themes that will play a crucial part in shaping our world in the current period of accelerated change. In this series, we will be sitting down with industry experts to explore some of the major developments in sustainability related fields, and consider the challenges facing businesses in a new decade of climate action. With these sessions, we aim to inform and promote dialogue around the mainstreaming of sustainability. I'm your host, Lily Billings, and I'm the Head of Sustainability at Foresight Group. I'm responsible for the corporate sustainability strategy, and everything from emissions reporting down to nature recovery and social responsibility. I'm joined today by Mark Mason. Mark is a soil expert and he's here today to talk to us about all things to do with soil and how it relates to carbon and nature recovery as well. So welcome, Mark. Would you like to introduce yourself? 

Mark Mason [00:01:01] Hello. Yeah, thanks, Lily. So I, well, I've worked in environmental research and education in some shape or form for my whole career, and that's involved lots of teaching, writing new degrees and apprenticeships, and doing research into soils and ecology. And so this month I started a new job as Head of Professional Practice at the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management. And so in that role, I'm really excited about it. I'm basically here to support and challenge people working in ecology and environmental management, to be ambitious for themselves and for nature. 

Lily Billings [00:01:40] Brilliant. Well, we're really happy to have you here today because I think so many of us are starting to realise just how important soil is when we're thinking about how we might tackle climate change and also the impact that nature has experienced over the last few hundred years, really. So is it possible for you to tell us a little bit more about your day to day job? Obviously you've moved recently, but how you get involved with what you do around soils. It would be really interesting to hear what's a normal day look like for you. 

Mark Mason [00:02:11] Yeah, well, I'm not entirely sure yet, but so basically I'm responsible for helping to evolve the training programme for CIEEM. So we've got about 7000 members who work in ecology and environmental management. So it's a significant responsibility and the world is changing so quickly and we need more people to know more about the environment and to know more about soil. So I'm responsible for thinking about the types of training programmes we need, thinking about the competency frameworks and accreditation so that when people do things there is, we know that they're doing them to a certain standard best practice. And one thing that I'm also really excited about is that I get to carry on working on projects as I have been for a number of years, to try and support new people into the profession. So getting people into good jobs in environmental management and also helping to make sure that it's a rewarding and inclusive environment to work within. 

Lily Billings [00:03:11] Brilliant. Thank you for explaining some more. And I actually have a question then. So how did it all start? I mean, what first got you interested into the world of soil? Soil is obviously quite a niche subject area, albeit we now realise it's much more important than we ever really realised before. So yeah. What got you interested? 

Mark Mason [00:03:28] Yeah. So I don't think I started off being that interested in soil, if I'm honest. I've always been really interested in nature and in fact I tell people that one of my earliest memories is playing in the garden with my friends aged three or four, and I have a distinct memory of telling them off because they were getting spiders confused with red spider mites. And that really offended me on some level. I think my interest in soil came a little bit later, so I did an ecology degree and that allowed me to keep my interest quite broad. So I studied everything from fish migration to fern classification, and a small amount of soil science. And then after my degree, I worked briefly as a quality assurance analyst in a lab. So I was looking at testing the equipment that hospitals use to measure levels of drugs in patients blood and urine. And it wasn't really for me. I enjoy lab wor