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Stephen Timms MPSectoral Sustainability Conference |
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I am delighted that so many sectors are represented here today. The purpose of today is to celebrate and to share the success of those sectors that have developed and are implementing sustainability strategies – the Pioneers. And we hope we can explore also how we can help more sectors to develop their own strategies – and to reap the benefits. Creating benefits for business sectors for the economy and for society as a whole. Sustainable Development We can't afford to see economic success as being necessarily in conflict with social and environmental goals, and we don't need to see those things as being in conflict either. We have learnt that creating a fairer society and a dynamic economy go together. And that caring for the environment can create jobs. The policies we need for social justice and environmental improvement can go hand in hand with the policies needed to create a successful modern economy. That is the essence of sustainable development. Recognising that you cannot achieve long-term economic success if it is based on despoiling the environment and it won't be durable if parts of society are excluded from the benefits. That investment in people is an economic necessity rather than an unfortunate social cost. Business Case A business adopting sustainable approaches:
And the approach can bring clear benefits to business by reducing risk, enhancing brand value, opening doors and creating goodwill, and by improving staff moral and efficiency. As Tony Blair said when he spoke to business leaders in Johannesburg, Being competitive does not mean jettisoning environmental and social standards. On the contrary, for the future, the most competitive companies will be those which build environmental and social considerations into their core business. Environmental and social issues are having an increasing impact on business performance and shareholder value. Effective management of these issues – alongside traditional financial and economic risks – is becoming fundamental to business success. Relevant Trade Associations And this is very important to trade associations. Trade associations are in the business of representation. They exist to represent their members - to government, to other sectors as customers or suppliers and to the consumer at large. And social and environmental issues are becoming increasingly important to all of those constituencies. This has important implications for trade associations: in representing and promoting the sector effectively with policy makers here and in Brussels; in safeguarding and enhancing the reputation of the business sector; and in activities to promote competitiveness of the sector as well. The trade associations that are effective will be those that are addressing environmental and social issues in a strategic, forward looking way. Those associations will have credibility and will be listened to. And they will be better placed to make a difference for their membership. And in turn, member companies will be more likely to see their membership as a worthwhile investment for the future. Those who ignore these issues, or try to fend them off are likely to find it increasingly difficult to be effective champions of their sector. Sustainability Strategies Sustainability strategies provide a framework for business sectors to identify and to manage economic, environmental and social risks in an integrated way. And an approach for unlocking opportunities for improving sectoral competitiveness and enhancing reputation. It is essential that sustainability strategies are business owned – so the pace and nature of their development is determined by business drivers. There isn't a single blueprint - each strategy needs to reflect the individual circumstances and priorities of that sector. Many sectors are already engaged in economic, environmental and social activities - addressing competitiveness and innovation; health and safety and environmental issues; skills and community relationships. And so strategies need to build on these existing activities, exploiting linkages and addressing gaps - sectors will not be starting with a blank sheet of paper. Sustainability will not be achieved in a day. Strategies need to be seen as a long-term process of continuous improvement. And as you will be hearing from those sectors that have developed strategies - many of the benefits come from the process itself. The Role of Government Business has told us that strategies need to be owned by each sector. They have also made it clear that Government has a role to play. In encouraging greater sector engagement. In facilitating more effective sectoral action. In identifying and sharing best practice and promoting success. And hence work of the Pioneers Group. For the past year, officials in DTI and DEFRA have been working alongside around 20 sector bodies committed to developing sustainability strategies. The remit of each group has been to identify the essential components of successful sustainability strategies, for example, developing relevant indicators and setting targets. And reporting on progress to stakeholders. We were delighted to receive the active support of the Sustainable Development Commission – the Government's independent sustainability advisors. They set benchmarks and standards to improve the quality and accountability of the strategies. Those are set out in the Commission's self-assessment guide published in May, which provides a quality assurance framework, which sectors can use to assess the quality of their strategies that they are developing. Going Forward The Pioneers was envisaged as a one-year programme to accelerate the development and implementation of sustainability strategies. And in this it has been undoubtedly very successful. Five sectors have published strategies and more are expected shortly. The automotive and offshore oil and gas sectors have also published annual reports on progress. You will be hearing directly from sector representatives about the benefits they have secured for their sectors and the lessons they have learned on the way. It is now essential that these lessons are transferred effectively to other sectors. And so I am delighted to announce today the publication of two Sectoral Sustainability Best Practice Toolkits. They have been produced so other sectors can benefit from the practical experiences of the Pioneers and replicate the key components of successful approaches to developing a sustainability strategy and reporting. You can collect a hard copy here today or download them from DTI's Sustainable Development website where they appear as well. To complement the toolkits we will be offering a half-day mentoring workshop to get sectors started. The Sustainable Development Commission will continue to offer comments and advice on the draft strategies as they emerge. And we will continue to organise networking events to identify best practice and share experiences. The first of the new Pioneer Group meetings will take place on 22 November – and will be open to all sector bodies engaged in developing sustainability strategies. And to complement these meetings we will also be setting up a "Virtual Networking Group". Amongst other things this will be used to stimulate greater collaboration between sectors by highlighting both commercial and technical opportunities. The Pioneers have given us a great start. Momentum is building as more strategies are published, experience grows and as the business benefits become clearer. I am looking forward to this process accelerating over the coming months – and let me just end by thanking all those who have contributed, and by thanking everybody who has shown their interest by being present today. Thank you. |
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Other speeches by Stephen Timms MP
(the following are available from the archive) |
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