Wendy Whewell and Polly Harold - Leadership roundtable: How small businesses can become more sustainable

Nottingham Business School Business Leaders

Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders’ Podcast

Episode 55

Leadership roundtable: How small businesses can become more sustainable

SUMMARY

Small and medium businesses account for half of Britain’s turnover, 60 per cent of UK employment and 99 per cent of all our business enterprises. They also generate around half of Britain’s greenhouse gas emissions.

But according to research by Santander, businesses are struggling to become more sustainable – and hit the Government target of achieving Net Zero by 2050.

In Episode 55 of the Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders’ Podcast, Wendy Whewell - Head of ESG and Climate Change at Santander, and Polly Harold - Senior Public Affairs and Public Policy manager at Santander, explain why climate change is such a big issue for businesses – and what they can do to become more sustainable.

KEY LEADERSHIP TAKEAWAYS from the sustainability roundtable with Wendy Whewell and Polly Harold, from Santander

They tell Honorary Visiting Professor Mike Sassi…

WW: “Climate change is happening so quickly… Businesses need to build resilience and adapt, to ensure they can continue to sell their products and services.”

WW: “Sustainability means, how are businesses going to survive the challenges they face? [For example] None of us realised Ukraine produced 50% of all the sunflower seeds used in Western Europe. Suddenly, we’ve got to think, where are we getting our oil from?”

WW: “It’s all about collaboration. Businesses have to work together… with banks, with universities… to make a difference.”

PH: “There is also a role for Government here. There are things businesses feel Government could do to support them… What’s the plan for SMEs in the Government’s path to Net Zero?”

WW: “For a small business such as a fish and chip shop, the cost rises have been staggering. One, is the energy prices. Two is the cost of fish. But three is the cost of finding the fish…. Fishing quotas and the price of cod mean what was previously a cheap meal is now very expensive.”

PH: “I've done numerous pieces of public polling this year… overwhelmingly, you can see that that younger generations care more and more about the environment and are taking that into consideration when making all their decisions [as consumers].”

WW: “Every single business needs to think about every single aspect [of what they do] and how it’s impacted by sustainability, climate change, and where they can make a difference.”

PH: “When I think about leadership, I think about the skills that we need to transition to Net Zero and how you lead the workforce through that change. There’s a leadership role there – in the skilling.”

WW: “This is the biggest behavioural change project the world has ever seen because we all have to change our own habits if we want to make a difference.”

RELATED LINKS

• Santander research into Net Zero transition

• Santander’s own Net Zero aims

• Wendy Whewell spoke about sustainability at this event

If you enjoyed this episode of the NBS Business Leaders’ Podcast with Wendy Whewell and Polly Harold, listen to previous shows with…

• The former CEO of ASOS Nick Beighton

• The former Chairman and Chief Exec of Experian Sir John Peace

• The Chief Marketing Officer of Boots UK Pete Markey