Following last week’s Norwich City Vision 2040 Conference, where Chris Sargisson, CEO of Norfolk Chambers helped to a launch an initiative to support Norwich and Norfolk towards becoming carbon neutral. Norfolk Chambers, together with the Tyndall Centre, UEA, Aviva and Norwich City Council are calling for ‘super hero’ business leaders to join and form the ‘Norwich Business Climate Leaders.’ (NBCL)
The business need to focus on climate change is routed in corporate accountability with many business leaders viewing the issue as one of the greatest risks to growth stating: ‘business climate change isn’t just an environmental issue, it’s a pressing financial issue’.
What can we do?
Well, a former boss of Unilever recently spoke on how company boards should put climate change into their strategy and should seek “heroic business leaders” to deliver that strategy.
Heroic business leaders need to drive a compelling shift towards a low-carbon and more inclusive way of doing business and will need to do some heroic and exceptional things:
- Setting new targets and measurements that are currently not being discussed, whilst still focused on the KPI’s that are being discussed.
- Drive a strategic narrative into their business, that empowers everyone to think and act differently.
- Influence and motivate those outside their business: supply chains, employees, other businesses, and the policy makers.
- Create and embracing some ‘Big Hairy Audacious Climate Goals’!
These Big Hairy Audacious Climate Goals, when set won’t be achievable until dramatic mechanisms to stimulate new and different progress are put into place, forcing the re-engineering of the organisation to achieve them. A paradox in other words!
We need to do this because ‘normal’ isn’t working and we are on target to miss the global warming target set in the Paris Agreement in 2016.
If you’re a business leader, either already on the zero carbon journey or wanting to start then you’re a ‘hero’ and we’d love to hear from you.
With your input and the support of The Tyndall Centre, UEA, Aviva and Norwich City Council, we can form the Norwich Business Climate Leaders to set the exemplar of change and help save the world.
Drop me an email if any of this strikes a chord and we’ll be in touch.
Chris Sargisson [email protected]
