UK directors sign up to sustainability project

An organisation representing Britain's company executives has entered into a "strategic collaboration" with a leading educational charity in a bid to develop practical sustainability policies at board level.

Business person looks at green data holding a pen

David Sapsted

4 November 2021

The project between the Institute of Directors (IoD) and the Royal Scottish Geographical Society (RSGS) represents "a shared goal to support the development of directors and boards in the critical area of sustainability, so that we can tackle the climate crisis together and create a positive legacy for generations to come".

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Sustainability on the boardroom agenda

Coming as the COP26 climate conference continued in Glasgow, the announcement was made a day after an IoD survey of more than 600 directors found that only 16 per cent of their companies had set a date for achieving net zero. "Our call to action is to encourage the business community to be part of the solution – sustainability should be one of the key items on any board’s agenda right now. Many organisations, particularly in light of the disruption caused by the pandemic, do not know where to start," said the IoD in a statement.

Updating sustainability skills and knowledge

The organisation described the ‘Climate Solutions Accelerator’ programme as a high-quality, interactive online course, curated by industry experts, which would be available to IoD members free of charge.Jonathan Geldart, director-general of the IoD, said: “It is vital that directors acquire the knowledge and skills needed to combat climate change – working together as a business community will make an enormous difference to our economy and society."We are delighted to be working with RSGS to offer the Climate Solutions Accelerator, which complements our growing portfolio of high quality continuing professional development for directors and their boards.”Mike Robinson, chief exec of RSGS, added: “I cannot think of a better partner than IoD to collaborate on this course to help managers and directors get up to speed quickly in what must be the most critical issue of our generation.

'A powerful precendent'

"The adoption of the climate solutions course by IoD will surely set a powerful precedent for what we should be expecting from organisations responding to the climate emergency," Mike Robinson continued.IoD signed up to the programme after its survey of business leaders showed "it is clear that firms are not yet confident in their ability to meet net zero goals".The survey found that only 28% of directors’ companies measured their carbon impact and that only 27% had adopted effective plans on reducing their carbon footprint.Just over half of the business leaders in the survey believed that it should be up to the government to provide advice and guidance to businesses on how to reduce companies' carbon impact.

Action to achieve Net Zero

Alex Hall-Chen, senior policy adviser at the IoD, said: “As world leaders meet in Glasgow to discuss and agree a global response to the climate emergency, it is clear that businesses closer to home are looking for government to offer guidance and support to enable them to play their part.“The government’s recent Net Zero Strategy was a welcome first step, but further action is needed to help businesses to meet decarbonisation goals – too few businesses have concrete plans to measure and reduce their carbon impact.“It is only through close collaboration between business and government that we will be able to meet net zero goals. We urge the government to work in close partnership with business to make net zero a reality and we are setting out some clear steps which can be undertaken to ensure that sustainability is embedded into corporate culture.”