Dr Carol Lord, gave a talk entitled ‘Corporate Sustainability: From Tree-Huggers to Suits’ which began with discussion of the concept of sustainability and stresses on earth systems. Dr Lord then introduced the idea of corporate sustainability and its role in corporate social responsibility, particularly focusing on how corporate sustainability develops with a company’s maturity. She moved on to explain the key drivers for corporate sustainability and what companies are currently doing in order to improve this. One of the main points of Dr Lord’s talk was explaining how a huge variety of careers all have roles in improving a company’s corporate sustainability. This was achieved by going through a detailed retail example which showed the actions (potential and actual) of each component of the business. Further examples looking at sustainable packaging, the financial services and the military drove home the importance of corporate sustainability. Dr Lord ended by explaining that many corporate jobs incorporate elements of sustainability and how, although there are ‘green jobs’, the impact of sustainability is not limited to those who chose a career in the ‘sustainability industry.’
Will Bowen (JMG)
