Running a successful and responsible business is perhaps more challenging today than ever before. In a complex landscape of risks and opportunities, technological innovation is moving at an unprecedented pace, resource availability and social instability are immediate challenges, and companies must navigate capricious policy conditions while competing versions of reality have destroyed trust. Nonetheless, stakeholders want businesses to address the pressure our planet and its population are under.
Sustainable Development provides businesses with a clear unifying vision for a viable and prosperous economy of the future.
Ambitious sustainability targets have been set at every level from individual companies to international pacts. Approaching the midpoint of the UN ‘Decade of Action’, the time to deliver on these commitments to avoid the worst impacts of climate change and inequality is now. However, progress is not happening fast enough, and in some cases is reversing. Business professionals must be equipped and empowered with robust solutions to respond to the challenges spanning all three tenets of ESG.
Through panel discussions, fireside chats, hands-on practical workshops, and extensive networking opportunities, the UN Global Compact Network UK’s Annual Summit will bring together stakeholders from across sectors for practical, output-focused discussions, to give you the strategic insights needed to bridge the ambition to action gap and transform your business for people, planet, and prosperity.
All key takeaways from the day will be captured and made exclusively available to attendees, forming a strategic action plan to accelerate sustainability solutions.
Every month in Cynnal Cymru’s excellent newsletter (subscribe here), we explore a different question or topic through the lens of our core organisational aims of a fair and just society, an inclusive low-carbon economy, and healthy, restored ecosystems.
Last month, we thought about how to handle complexity within times of change in our job roles or the wider sustainability conversation. This month, we’re thinking about what it means to craft and build a new future together. We’re a few weeks out from an election that saw the Conservatives leave office for the first time in 14 years, with Labour winning a majority of 172 seats. Labour’s campaign slogan was simple: Change.
The public policy landscape has started to shift already, with 40 pieces of legislation introduced by the new government (and an additional two carried over from the previous parliamentary session).
Unsurprisingly for an organisation called Cynnal Cymru – Sustain Wales, we have a core focus on sustainability. We also want to ensure that action on climate change leads to a better society, and doesn’t leave workers behind – that’s where our Fair Economy team comes in. For an organisation that has this focus on sustainability and a fair economy (such as fair working practices), there is plenty for us to sink our teeth into.
Sustainability
One of the new government’s flagship policies has been the creation of a new organisation called GB Energy – a new, publicly-owned green power company. The UK Government intends to invest over £8bn in this organisation over the next five years – a major spending commitment.
It’s still early days for GB Energy, and there’s more to learn about how it will operate as it comes into life. However, it seems that a core remit will be co-investing in emerging renewable energy technology and scaling up investment in more established technologies. Essentially, it will aim to unlock private sector investment in renewables by de-risking and clearing the way for this investment.
Chris Stark – former Chief Executive of the Climate Change Committee – has also been appointed to lead a new ‘Mission Control’ that will aim to break down barriers and accelerate progress on clean energy projects.
UK Labour appears to lean on some of the work of economist Professor Mariana Mazzucato. Labour’s ‘five missions to rebuild Britain’, chime with Mazzucato’s 2021 book ‘Mission Economy: A Moonshot Guide to Changing Capitalism’. This book was inspired by the space race, which, in the US, took a ‘missions-based’ systems-engineering approach to coordination of the public and private sectors to put human beings on the moon.
Sound familiar? This appears to very much be the approach of the new UK Labour government with regards to its ‘National Missions’, ‘Mission Control’, and the public-private approach of GB Energy.
This plan is not without controversy. Many will question the need for private sector involvement, with the inevitable siphoning off of proceeds into private profit, particularly where the public purse is de-risking projects – although the government would counter that private expertise and buy-in is necessary.
There is a particular sensitivity in Wales, too. GB Energy has already announced a partnership with the Crown Estate in England and Wales. The Crown Estate owns a substantial amount of Britain’s land, including the majority of the seabed, and public money will be used to lease this land to develop windfarms.
There have been calls for the Crown Estate to be devolved to Wales, a position long supported by the Welsh Government. However, the UK Government does not have this as a proposal in its legislative agenda.
Fair Work: Policy Highlight
There is news on the fair work front, too. The King’s Speech included a new Employment Rights Bill. The UK Government has said this Bill will enhance a long list of working rights:
Banning ‘exploitative’ zero-hours contracts
Ending ‘Fire and Rehire’ and ‘Fire and Replace’
Making parental leave, sick pay, and protection from unfair dismissal available from the first day of employment (whilst retaining the option of probationary periods)
Removing the lower earnings limit for Statutory Sick Pay
Flexible working the default from day-one for all workers
Making it unlawful to dismiss a woman who has had a baby for six months after her return to work (except in specific circumstances)
A new Fair Work Agency to strengthen enforcement of workplace rights
A new Fair Pay Agreement in the adult social care sector, with potential expansion to other sectors
Removal of some restrictions on trade union activity
Simplifying the process of statutory recognition for trade unions
Introducing a regulated route to ensure workers and union members have a reasonable right to access a union within workplaces
This appears to be a strong set of proposals to strengthen workers’ rights in the UK. However, the detail will be crucial – for example, the ‘teeth’ that the new Fair Work Agency is given, the exemptions for employers around new rights such as protecting new mothers, and how broad the definition of ‘exploitative’ zero hours contracts is.
The Fair Pay Agreement in the adult social care sector will be particularly interesting, and is under-remarked on. ‘Fair Pay Agreements’ are essentially an industry-wide employment agreement, where government brings together trade unions and employers to agree minimum pay rates and conditions across the sector.
The UK model of collective bargaining currently focuses largely on the firm level. Research has found that this model poses a significant challenge to trade unions, which have to secure agreements workplace-by-workplace. It also found that no country which operates on this model has collective bargaining coverage of over 35%, with collective bargaining coverage only remaining high and stable in countries where multi-employer or sectoral agreements – such as these Fair Pay Agreements – are negotiated.
That the UK Government is now proposing to bring sectoral agreements into the social care sector, potentially as a ‘proof of concept’ for other low-paid sectors, is significant. If rolled out successfully and more extensively, this could be the start of a quiet revolution in the UK’s industrial relations settlement.
Given Cynnal Cymru’s longstanding work on the real Living Wage (we’re the Living Wage Foundation’s Accreditation Partner for Wales and host Living Wage Wales in-house), there’s a particularly interesting commitment to deliver a ‘genuine living wage’. The Low Pay Commission, which suggests the minimum wage rate (or National Living Wage as it’s now called) will now have to consider the cost of living when making its recommendation.
For our part, the real Living Wage is set directly according to the cost of living, based on a basket of household goods and services. That’s a different remit to the one of the new Low Pay Commission, so we’ll be keeping an eye on any differences in the two rates.
What does this mean for our future?
There is so much we could say around policy that relates to fair work and sustainability, and the impacts these changes could mean for our foundational economy too.
There is clearly a huge amount of change being undertaken that speaks to the things we care about at Cynnal Cymru, encompassed by our vision of a fair and just society, an inclusive low-carbon economy, and healthy, restored ecosystems. .
We know that legislation can’t deliver everything and it doesn’t work on its own. We also believe in the power of partners, citizens and action-focused advocacy to bring about the transformative change that we need.
Harry Thompson is Senior Programme and Policy Lead: Fair Work and Economy and manages the Fair Work and Living Wage team, which work towards Cynnal Cymru’s strategic goal of a fair and just society.
Counting down to the 2024 National Eisteddfod in Pontypridd next week, I am filled with a sense of excitement and nostalgia. This year’s festival is not just a celebration of Welsh culture; it’s like a homecoming, both for the Eisteddfod and for me personally.
The Eisteddfod has always been a special place in my heart. Growing up, it was more than just competition – it was a gateway to new experiences and learning opportunities. As a young attendee, I discovered hands-on science activities, engaged with charities, and explored new fields of interest from agriculture and Welsh wildlife conservation to animation and robotics. These experiences helped shape my interests and ultimately led me to where I am today, working for Cynnal Cymru.
It has been 68 years since the Eisteddfod was last held in Rhondda Cynon Taf, when the first modern Eisteddfod was held in Aberdare in 1956.
Pontypridd, one of the former coal and iron industrial centres of the three valleys, often does not get the recognition it deserves for its vibrant Welsh community and culture. By bringing one of Europe’s biggest festivals to this area, we are drawing attention to a community that really deserves it.
The aim of the Eisteddfod is not just to celebrate our past; it is also about shaping our future. Over 160,000 visitors were expected, it gives our organization an opportunity to engage with people from all over Wales.
Our presence at the Eisteddfod is about more than just showcasing what we do. It’s about making sustainability accessible to everyone, regardless of age, background or circumstances. The sustainability and environmental sectors are not only among the least racially diverse in the UK, but they are also dominated by individuals from middle-class backgrounds. We want to inspire the next generation of Welsh environmental champions, just as I was inspired years ago.
Wales has been at the forefront of sustainable policies and actions in the UK and beyond. The Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 is a great example of Wales’ innovative approach to sustainability. This groundbreaking legislation requires public bodies to consider the long-term impact of their decisions, work better with people and communities, and adopt a more joined-up approach to tackling persistent problems such as poverty, health inequalities, and climate change. Wales was also one of the first countries in the world to declare a climate emergency in 2019 and has set ambitious targets for renewable energy and waste reduction. Our aim is to celebrate these successes and encourage even more people to join Wales’ sustainability journey.
The Eisteddfod embodies the Welsh spirit – inclusive, progressive, and deeply connected to its roots. It celebrates our language and traditions and our links with cultures across the world. As a sustainability charity, we see our participation as an opportunity to weave environmental awareness into the fabric of Welsh culture. By attending the Eisteddfod, we’re not just taking part in a festival; we are investing in the future of Wales.
It is necessary to create opportunities for young people who would not necessarily be able to access the world of sustainability and environmental work otherwise. And looking after our planet is an integral part of looking after our Welsh culture and communities.
We invite you to join us on Monday 5th and Tuesday 6th of August at the Voluntary Sector Hub. Come and discover how sustainability and the environment intertwine with Welsh culture, and help us build a greener, more inclusive future for Wales.
Alys Reid Bacon is the Living Wage and Human Resources Administration Officer. Alys is passionate about sustainability and is currently working on her PhD in Biological Sciences, titled, “The influence of genotype, environment & management factors on yield development, grain filling & grain quality in oats.”
Living daily on this planet, particularly in Western countries, we are all faced with the reality of our disproportionate contribution to the climate crisis. We know that we have a responsibility to do something – but what? With so many conflicting and changing sustainability narratives, it can be difficult to know the right thing to do when faced with complex and complicated advice. How can you know that the information you’re receiving is accurate, timely, and the best option for you and the wider world around us?
We are in a time of climate anxiety, with so many apparent ‘quick fixes’ that make us feel good but turn out to do more harm than good. The fear of accidentally causing more harm can lead us to become frozen by indecision, stuck with old sustainability policies and practices and no real shift in our mindsets. It’s scary to look carefully at our climate impact, particularly when we know that everything we do necessarily impacts our environment and other people. Will we be judged by others for not knowing the newest advice? What if we can’t make the changes suggested to us because of issues like finances, staffing shortages, or accessibility?
As an organisation working to help people change their behaviours around climate and nature, we’ve thought carefully about the nuance and complexity of sustainability conversations. We know that shame is not a good motivator and that the weight of eco-anxiety can take a heavy toll. In order to make collective change, we must be each other’s allies and cheerleaders. Our model of training, membership, and advice services all seek to meet every organisation where they’re at, without judgement, and work together to get you to the next step of your journey. We also don’t shy away from recognising the emotional impact that dealing with these issues can bring. We aim to create space for understanding and managing that emotional impact.
Our staff have reflected on how they manage the complexity of sustainability conversations, as experts who have spent years working to help change mindsets and behaviours across small and large organisations. If we can carry the complexity of knowing our lives necessarily contribute to climate change, while still reducing our impact and protecting our land, we can find the hope that leads to action.
Making Climate Science Accessible
Our climate is one of the few things that impacts all of us all of the time. Yet climate science is often siloed and separated from the general public, who receive advice and instructions without always knowing why and the costs and benefits of both action and inaction. As sustainability experts, we must be open to these questions and concerns from the general public and translate what we know into language that resonates with them.
Phoebe Nicklin, our Policy and Engagement Officer, uses her background in community engagement to connect dense policy research with the people whose lives will be affected by it.
“It always comes back to the people for me. Who am I trying to make the world a better place for? I think about the people in my community, my friends and family, and future generations, and I’d like to make the world a better place for them. For me, when I get bogged down in details or disheartened at things not moving fast enough, I bring things back to that personal level. We like to say that by grounding it in the earth and bringing things back to basics the complexities become less scary.”
Connecting to people and their stories is crucial to maintaining hope for our future, and remembering that sustainability is interconnected with all our other social concerns. We believe that most people and organisations want to care about sustainability and the world around us. We are all living in the world, so why wouldn’t we? It is unfair to suggest that people don’t care about sustainability issues, when maybe they just don’t yet understand them. We’ve all experienced that feeling of embarrassment when we don’t know something we think we should. We aim to not make anyone feel that way, and we do that by creating ways for groups to engage in and understand climate science in the format that suits them.
“Most people don’t know the language of sustainability, and I don’t blame them – it’s really jargony. I want instead to connect them to the day-to-day of what does this look like in practice, making it more tangible so it isn’t this theoretically abstract thing. Our Wales in 2051 stories were an example of connecting people to those tangible things, bringing in practices towards a better quality of life with more inclusion, more collaboration, and seeing how that can look in real life.”
When we envision a better future for our communities, we may imagine access to nutritious food, great healthcare, and a thriving natural world. How do we get there from where we are now? The practical work to get us there can take different forms, and we must think about the ways people in all positions of society can come together to create change. If we think of sustainability as simply farming or cleaning rivers (although these are certainly crucial parts!), we neglect many of the human elements of this work that are blocking us from making progress.
What is blocking us from making change?
In a country suffering a cost-of-living crisis and still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s not surprising that people are still focused on rebuilding and trying to regain lost ground, with less time to focus on sustainability. If people are struggling to meet their basic needs, how can they find the time and energy to take care of our world? In our roles as agents of change towards a better climate, we must recognise those who have been excluded from and forgotten in climate conversations. How can we claim to be looking after our planet without looking after those who are most marginalised within it?
“I’ve always been someone who wants to do a job that helps people. When an organisation becomes Living Wage accredited, they obviously have to pay the real Living Wage as a minimum. So in order to accredit, lots of organisations will give their staff a pay rise to meet that minimum. I think that’s the biggest part where I see that we’re making an impact, changing people’s lives for the better.”
Have you ever rushed into sustainability action, only to find that people don’t seem to want to engage with it? Especially within organisations, leaders can sometimes be out of touch with their staff, not knowing how to engage them with new sustainability practices. Instead of simply introducing new mandatory policies, we can dig a little deeper into understanding what our staff need. When our staff are paid well, feel respected, and trust us to support and nurture them, they are more likely to engage with new policies and practices.
How do we effectively change hearts, minds, and actions?
While most of us are aware of the climate crisis, we are all on different steps on our journey to understanding our sustainability responsibilities. Every individual and organisation has a different idea of the best steps for them. With different values, priorities and concerns, one path of action may be perfect for one organisation and impossible for another.
If we meet these conversations with rigidity, assuming that we know what is best for an organisation or individual, we are bound to experience resistance and may even end up pushing them further away.
Our new Sustainability Trainer, Chris Woodfield, is used to encouraging conversations with people on all steps of their journey, having started his career working within community activism.
“For me, it’s about framing what we’re doing. One tool I often use is called The Business Transformation Compass from Forum for the Future. It looks at what mindset we’re coming from, and looking to shift our thinking from a risk mitigation and zero harm mindset towards a do good and just and regenerative mindset focused on building capacity for justice and regeneration. This helps us look at the system as a whole to move beyond sustaining and maintaining to enabling life to flourish and thrive.”
Conversations around changing attitudes and habits can be tricky and need to be handled with care. If we want to turn sustainability aims into actions, we need to recognise that a sense of control and agency to act for the things that we care about are far more powerful motivators than fear or shame.
In our sustainability advice services and training courses, we think about the values and needs of each organisation and develop sustainability goals to match them. That’s where our membership programme becomes so useful. Learning from similar organisations across different sectors has helped our members discover appropriate sustainability goals for them, feel less alone on their sustainability journey, and practice peer accountability.
Can the sustainability journey be made easier?
In the past few years, our lives have all changed hugely, meaning our habits have changed, too. It can be difficult to focus our attention in a specific direction, which can result in our sustainability aims getting left behind. Even with the pressure on organisations to meet sustainability goals and a widespread awareness of climate issues, time-poor organisations may struggle to find the time to dedicate to meaningful sustainability work.
Noticing this, we’ve adapted things like our membership offer to fit with the needs of our members, particularly when it comes to their time. Our large quarterly member events always bring in a great crowd, alongside our digital events that are held each month, but developing this programme has required a lot of listening and adaptation from our Membership Officer, Abi Hoare:
“Members ask us for networking opportunities, and they are always so engaged at our in-person events. But there are always practical issues, from people’s availability to wider issues of transport infrastructure and budgets. With the shift to remote working, people are more spread out and structuring their lives around being online, so in-person events can be tricky. We balance our in-person sessions with online sessions, having taken accessibility concerns into consideration, but we’re always listening to ways we can expand and evolve our programme.”
If your events are under-attended, it’s worth thinking beyond the idea that people don’t ‘want’ to engage, and questioning how these events might be inaccessible. This could be down to practical issues, such as the space used and the time chosen, as well as interconnected issues such as clear event marketing, pricing, and the return on investment for your attendees.
Many organisations are struggling financially, particularly in the third sector. One question that comes up sometimes is why should we budget for sustainability? When budgets must be cut, it makes sense to ensure that this sustainability work is, in itself, sustainable for us. This is why we think carefully about our pricing structure, offering different tiers and kinds of support to meet each organisation’s needs and budget.
Fiona Humphreys, our Finance Officer, has seen the organisation grow and evolve over three years. She has reflected a lot on the value sustainability training provides.
“As climate science changes so rapidly, we need to ensure that we continue to develop alongside it. The paid services we offer factor in our team’s research into evolving climate science, and purchasing our training helps an organisation to remember the value and importance of climate consciousness. We put a value on our work because we believe it has worth – and doing so allows us to offer pro bono work where it’s most needed, while also ensuring that we can continue to provide a service that is both up to date and effective in helping our clients become more sustainable.”
When we have conversations around the need for sustainability action, it’s important to remember the nuanced factors that affect people’s behaviour. Through our training, advice, fair work, and membership services, we work with organisations of all sizes to take the next step towards more sustainable ways of working. When we’re honest with ourselves about our progress and our pitfalls, we can begin the journey of deepening our positive impact on the planet. Even as experts, we all have a way to go, and we hope you’ll join us in navigating this complex journey.
Ready to start your sustainability journey?Get in touch to hear about our membership, training programmes, and sustainability advice.
In this mini-series, told through six characters, we explore what the world could look like in a healthy, collaborative, and inclusive future where governing structures have adapted to fit a way of life that supports planetary boundaries and fair treatment of all people, with well-being as the focus for measuring societal success.
More importantly, through these stories, we want to focus on the role of skills and enabling environments to illustrate that we need all kinds of ideas, people, and institutions working together as one creative hive mind.
Our first set of stories has been developed by Camille Løvgreen and Dr Karolina Rucinska as part of their work on green skills, alongside a series of events and advice sessions.
Here is what they said:
“Nothing moves us like a good story. Through storytelling, we can imagine the future we are working towards, build hope and momentum, and come together to take collective action. These six characters and their setting let us talk, creatively, about big ideas without using big words. This makes it possible for everyone to see how they fit into the current and future world visions”
Karolina
“The idea of exploring these characters through an imagined society with different operating structures and a different priority on the way we live is not only to imagine what a healthy coexistence between people and planet may look like, but to explore how quality of life can improve with a deeper connection to the people around us.”
Camille
Setting the scene
It’s 2051, just a year after what leaders of the past called the Net Zero deadline. Although the emissions continued to reduce over the decades, only a few benefited from the shift to low-carbon economies. Why? Worldwide, the transition was a disaster. There was a lack of planning, of imagination and foresight, of inclusion and system thinking… Everything that was not meant to happen…happened. Between 2024 and 2035, the world experienced mass unemployment, instability, closure of borders, the collapse of ecosystems, barren agricultural fields, reversal of human rights, and the collapse of economies.
A year after the big two-oh-five-zero, a leading news agency correspondent visited nations worldwide to see how they were doing. Most people had forgotten what 2050 was about, but a few remembered.
The stories are viewed through the eyes of the narrator, a journalist who sets the scene through a message sent to the editors of a leading news agency about their tour around Wales in…2051!
Starting with Adi, each story introduces a new character who describes their day. Each story leads onto the next, showing how we are all connected directly and indirectly and can positively influence each other’s lives.
Adi – a civil engineer with an expertise in environmental resilience
What can a just and fair net zero transition look like?
What can a just and fair net zero transition look like? It’s a topic that has been on my mind a lot since joining Cynnal Cymru in February as the Senior Programme and Policy Lead, leading our Fair Work and Living Wage team. Unsurprisingly for a charity called ‘Sustain Wales’, we’ve always been a sustainability charity first and foremost. But for a few years now, we’ve worked on developing our aims on ‘just transition’, and that has included embedding the fair work agenda outlined in the Fair Work Wales report in 2019 into our aims. That has meant working with trade unions, writing policy papers on spreading fair work principles throughout existing government programmes, and sitting on the Welsh Government’s group aimed at tackling modern slavery.
We’re also the Living Wage Foundation’s accreditation partner for Wales, meaning we essentially host Living Wage Wales in house. Living Wage Wales has delivered over 22,000 pay rises for low-paid workers across Wales through this work, including 5,575 in 2023 alone – making a direct contribution to tackling the cost of living crisis. This fits with another key Cynnal Cymru principle – focus on action, not just words.
This is what myself and my colleagues on the Fair Work and Living Wage team work on – but what does it have to do with sustainability? I’d say it has a huge contribution to make. We should be honest about the fact that there are vested interests who are opposed to carbon reduction and nature-positive actions, particularly at the scale we know these need to happen at. It barely needs saying, but profit motives very often run against sustainability aims. A tree can be a project stewarded by communities over hundreds of years that provides space for nature and clean air for people, or it can be a blocker to a new car park. At time of writing, it was only yesterday that we heard the UAE government plans to use COP28 to make oil deals.
There are often efforts to protect private profit motives via leveraging the jobs business creates, to bind the inexorable destruction of the natural world to the interests of working people. In this framing, environmentalists and their causes are painted as cloistered from the demands of the real world that most people have to deal with. There’s no hiding from the fact that this can be an emotive and powerful dividing line, carving the people whose world is being worsened away from efforts to protect it. We saw in the recent Uxbridge by-election how action on emissions, in this case Ultra Low Emission Zones (ULEZ), can be utilised for political gain.
Focus on action – not just words.
For me, then, a just and fair transition isn’t just a slogan. It is a vital tool in our efforts towards carbon reduction and nature restoration. If our sustainability efforts are questioned, we can very happily point to the work we do to ensure that people have access to fair working conditions and boosting the pay of those in the lowest-paid jobs so that they can afford to live and not just exist. Work on a fair and just transition can bind working people to the cause of sustainability – not an inconvenience for people, but an opportunity. At a legislative level in Wales, the recent Social Partnership and Public Procurement Act has amended the Well-being of Future Generations Act to include ‘fair work’, and our well-being indicators include payment of the real Living Wage and trade union membership. This binds the cause of working people even closer to the task of saving our planet.
If we get it right, the green transition gives us the opportunity to repair many of the broken elements of our economy. It can mean high-quality, unionised, green jobs spread across communities that have seen unfair working practices and low pay proliferate. Green skills training programmes that prepare our workforce for the future can contribute to bringing an end to the gender and racial inequities we see today. And of course, it can mean the avoidance of the road to disaster our climate and natural world are currently on.
So, as we look at Wales Climate Week and COP28, let’s keep the things that are important to people – their livelihoods, incomes, and their everyday lives – at the forefront of our minds. That’s what a just and fair transition is all about.
Harry Thompson is Cynnal Cymru’s Senior Programmes and Policy Lead. He manages the Fair Work and Living Wage team, which work towards Cynnal Cymru’s strategic goal of a fair and just society. He comes from an economic policy background, having led projects on topics such as empowering trade unions, the Welsh Government’s fiscal framework, and community empowerment.
How do we build green skills for a Net Zero Wales?
Last week, a few members of the Cynnal Cymru team attended Green Skills for a Net Zero Wales led by Business in the Community. In this breakfast briefing about the Green Skills agenda in Wales, likeminded organisations met to discuss green skills, with an address from the Minister of Economy in Wales, Vaughan Gething. Cynnal Cymru facilitated round tables with senior leaders in business of all sizes across Wales to exchange ideas on how everyone in Wales can grow a skilled workforce that meets Wales’ net zero commitments.
What are Wales’ Net Zero Commitments?
As part of the All Wales Plan 2021-25, organisations across every sector have pledged to make changes towards a net zero economy. In order to achieve a net zero economy, Wales as a whole needs to reduce our total emissions in 2030 by at least 90% relative to the baseline year, 2019-20.
How can we do this?
A key message in the event was championing the notion that green skills are not just about technical skills or the creation of new jobs. At Cynnal Cymru, we believe in a well-rounded approach to sustainable change, which is why we have a Fair Work team leading Living Wage Wales and a just transition to sustainable changes.
Since joining Cynnal Cymru, I have attended and led events such as a Net Zero Skills round table for the Open University, a steering group for the IEMA green careers hub, and a Mainstreaming Equality for a Just Transition evidence panel. Through these conversations and research, I have come to realise that if we define green skills narrowly – only as technical jobs in energy and transport, for example – we will alienate people and will not reach our Net Zero transition goals. The UK economy, like many others, relies on sectors such as hospitality, retail, healthcare, construction, creative arts and more, which also need to be a part of this transition. Our focus must be on supporting existing sectors to upskill and re-skill their existing workforces so that huge communities don’t miss out on being part of a Net Zero economy.
If we define green skills so narrowly – only as technical jobs in energy and transport, for example – we will alienate people and will not reach our Net Zero transition goals.
So why aren’t we doing this?
I noticed that organisations:
Don’t have the time to think about green skills
Don’t know where to start with these conversations or changes
Don’t know how green skills apply to them
I think this can be linked back to the understanding that every job can be green. The Welsh Government is currently taking consultations on how to achieve net zero skills across sector. Cynnal Cymru is a member of the SME Taskforce for Climate, alongside other small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). As part of my work on this taskforce, I am educating workplaces across sectors on the ways they can understand their own skillset in relation to net zero.
Karolina joined Cynnal Cymru in 2021 as our Sustainability Advisor to provide consultancy support to the public and private sectors on how to become more sustainable in their operations. She represents Cynnal Cymru on the SME Taskforce for the Climate.
The project, funded by the Wales Innovation Network, identified businesses in Wales that have successfully implemented circular economy principles and content that can help businesses and public services develop their CE knowledge and skills.
The Circular Economy concept requires a new way of thinking, away from the traditional linear economy thinking, where products are bought, used, and thrown away. Put simply, the circular economy is a system in which resources such as materials and equipment are used, reused, and repurposed as effectively as possible, for as long as possible.
Partners have researched and written a report that outlines 21 case studies of Welsh businesses that have successfully implemented circular economy principles, including inspirational video clips, such as Bluestone National Park Resort in Pembrokeshire or Celsa Steel UK in Cardiff.
Marten Lewis Head of Corporate Responsibility at Bluestone National Park Resort states “The circular economy programmes we have embedded in our operations have been very impactful, supporting need in the local community, creating positive engagement with staff, reducing our waste streams, and providing evidence of our lived brand values”.
Adele Williams founder of Green Wave Hair Workshop gathers hair donations and sews them into an absorbent mat which can be used to soak up oil spills in the ocean and on land commented on how circular economy practices have helped her business:
“Implementing circular economy practices within my business has attracted many more customers and helped to create goals, inspire, and create a sense of fulfilment for myself and Green Wave’s customers.”
Suzanne Wardell, CEO of Circular Economy Mid Wales, a not-for-profit organisation that aims to save waste from landfill explains
“Implementing circular economy principles is at the heart of what Circular Economy Mid Wales not only does, but it is what and who we are! Every aspect of our business is driven by recycle, reuse, repair – from the core business of reducing landfill to our partnerships with other social enterprises. Our aim is to turn a linear economy into a more circular one.”
The case studies provide ‘how to’ examples for practitioners to better understand circular economy principles and their implementation. The case studies also aim to encourage public service organisations and businesses to begin implementation of CE principles. The report disseminates some of the magnificent work ongoing in Wales and supports organisations to reduce their carbon footprint whilst moving to a CE business model.
A capability development matrix provides a ‘road map’ which organises available resources into levels to enable organisations to develop appropriate knowledge and skills of individuals and groups. The level 1 content provides short videos and briefing notes that develop CE understanding, whereas level 7 content features intensive programmes that develop the knowledge and skills of practitioners to implement CE principles within their organisations.
A successful hybrid conference allowed partners from across Wales to participate, soft-launched the resources and findings in October 2022.
The WIN project follows the successful Cardiff Circular Economy Network Project, a pilot project working with businesses and schools in the Cardiff Council boundary which facilitated a series of workshops for practitioners and educators to come together, network and to develop a fuller understanding of circular economy principles.
Project Director Dr Gary Walpole commented on the importance of the research:
“The funding from WIN allowed us to develop a report and resources that will enable practitioners to fully understand the principles of the circular economy and embed them within their organisations. Implementing CE principles will enable clean growth and reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs).”
Nick Clifton, Professor of Economic Geography and Regional Development at Cardiff Metropolitan University explained:
“We need to transform our innovation ecosystems to deliver truly sustainable societal outcomes that go beyond narrowly defined measures of growth and development. Projects like WIN which brings together private, public and third sector actors to implement real-world solutions and share best practice, are vital to achieving this goal.”
In February 2023, Cynnal Cymru was delighted to join a project funded by the SMART Innovation team at the Welsh Government and led by Office of the Future Generations Commissioner to review a Future-Proofing toolkit aimed at the private sector.
What is the Well-being of Future Generations Act and why does it matter to business?
The Act, passed in 2015, is one-of-a-kind legislation as it places a legal duty on the 44 public bodies in Wales to think about the long-term impact of their decisions, to work better with people, communities and each other, and to work to prevent persistent problems such as poverty, health inequalities and climate change from occurring, rather than just dealing with their consequences. The Act is unique to Wales, attracting interest from countries across the world as it offers a huge opportunity to make a long-lasting, positive change for current and future generations.
Although the Act does not apply to the private sector, here in Wales large organisations such as Welsh Water began to align themselves with its overall purpose of improving Wales’s well-being in the broadest sense. They saw the Act as a framework for talking about sustainability to stakeholders and wanted to show the public sector how they too can contribute to the seven Well-being Goals that the Act sets out. After all, the private sector supplies goods and services to the public sector, so it is important to demonstrate shared values. Moreover, given that the Act reflects the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), businesses in Wales, who have been working on the SDGs, understand the Act’s relevance.
Can the Act be a guide for all businesses?
Last year we got a chance to explore this much further. In partnership with the Office of the Future Generations Commissioner we held a series of interviews with large organisations with a presence in Wales, as well as business networks who said thatbeing able to “speak” the language of the Act would be of value to the private sector. However, in the absence of a readily available, comprehensive, and peer-reviewed guide to the Act and a framework to align with, businesses turn instead to global frameworks and the SDGs, which are more familiar to the private sector. The link between the SDGs and the Act in Wales is therefore missed.
On the back of this research, we suggested a framework for businesses to help them start making sense of the Act, which we are now trialling with larger companies. As further research we also ran a workshop with board members of Hafren Dyfrydwy (a subsidiary of Severn Trent Water) to help them realise how to contribute to the Act’s Goals.
Future-proofing smaller businesses
While our research addressed the challenge that large businesses face, we felt that there was also an opportunity to engage smaller organisations with fewer staff and resources.
Over the last two decades, we have noticed that small-profit and not-for-profit businesses want to contribute to sustainability but lack time, people, knowledge and money to take action. They want to sustain their operations and provide employment opportunities without causing damage to the environment, communities and economy for years to come. But they feel overwhelmed by the information about sustainability and confused when this is often presented as a ‘nice to have’ rather than a ‘must-have’ like HR, health and safety or finance. They are in need of clear advice and want to talk to someone with an understanding of their challenges. We also often hear that businesses want a one-stop shop where they can read and enquire about sustainability and find solutions that are relevant to their size or sector. And because most business owners feel that they are on their own, being part of a community is important to them too.
This is why we were excited to join Matt Appleby, Annabel Lloyd and Jonathan Tench in a project commissioned by Business Wales in conjunction with the Office of the Future Generations Commissioner to review the existing Future-Proofing toolkit and expand it to make it more relevant and helpful to SMEs.
The toolkit aims to support businesses to play their part in Wales’s journey to the Act’s seven Well-being Goals. It is free of charge, available in the public domain and most importantly, is written from the perspective of businesses and their sustainability priorities.
We recognise, however, that to increase its relevance and effectiveness, the toolkit can be enhanced with more tools, examples and case studies to help businesses future-proof their operations. This is the next stage of our work and we are excited to use the knowledge and insights we have gained from working with our members and others to inform this.
We hope the toolkit will act as a guide to sustainable development as described in the Act, and as a hub of knowledge for businesses seeking ideas and solutions.
Can you help test this toolkit to meet business needs?
If you are an SME and you’d like to help test this toolkit, please get in contact.
The natural world operates on a closed-loop system where nothing goes to waste. Everything that dies or is extracted eventually returns to the soil or transforms into something else, processed and used by other symbiotic organisms. This is in stark contrast to the linear system of the human world, where high volumes of organic and inorganic materials are produced with no efficient process to eliminate waste and pollution. The planet and its inhabitants struggle to cope with the sheer volume of waste generated. To tackle this global problem, we must shift to a symbiotic, circular, and closed-loop mindset.
What is circularity
Luckily, there are dedicated non-profit organisations, companies, and public institutes that have worked tirelessly to embed this concept into all our lives. Therefore today, we speak of a “circular economy”.
According to one of the leading voices on this topic, the Ellen McArthur Foundation, the circular economy is:
“A systems solution framework that tackles global challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution. It is based on three principles, driven by design: eliminate waste and pollution, circulate products and materials (at their highest value), and regenerate nature.
It is underpinned by a transition to renewable energy and materials. Transitioning to a circular economy entails decoupling economic activity from the consumption of finite resources. This represents a systemic shift that builds long-term resilience, generates business and economic opportunities, and provides environmental and societal benefits.”
Rather than simply improving recycling, a circular economy connects the post-product lifecycle with pre-production, which is largely disconnected.
The great disconnect
As you read these words, memories may flood back to when waste was not part of your household vernacular. You might even recall times when every part of the animal was utilised, clothing was shared, and purchases were limited to necessity. Even now, it is commonplace for factories to sell their waste to other industries, which then repurposed it as raw materials.
The notion that households and factories in the past generated little waste due to financial constraints is valid. Historian William Cronon notes that early 20th century Chicago, the world’s meat production capital, had an overwhelming amount of animal by-products such as skin, fat, and hair. This forced the supply chain to repurpose them, leading to economic diversification and specialisation. However, that does not mean there were no issues just because a producer found another use for waste—quite the contrary. Mass meat processing in the early 20th century, although it seemed futuristic (the pig de-assembly line influenced Henry Ford to create an assembly line for his cars), it created a lock-in for farmers who had nowhere else to sell to, workers who were tied to the factory line, and the consumer who lost small-farm butchers. The animals, bred en masse and killed en masse, and the environment, which suffered from polluted rivers and overgrazed plains, were also locked in the system of not their creation.
The tipping point”, Sarah Hill writes, “came over several decades towards the end of the nineteenth century, when consumption got severed from production and when manufacturers no longer relied on the by-products of consumption to make new things. By the third quarter of the nineteenth century, mechanised extraction of natural resources rendered such creative practices obsolete in the United States and England. And the steady outpouring of new goods, fashioned from new materials, made it more and more pointless to hold onto anything for long, not only when things broke, but also when things became ‘outdated’. (Hill, 2016:178) . On top of all this, so much of what was produced was made from materials that cannot be reused and will not decompose, choking the earth.
Changing natures of circular economy
Since the 1960s, environmental movements have advocated for a circular economy as a response to the mass production and disposal of goods. Ekins et al. (2019) define the circular economy as having two components: the flow of materials through an economy and the necessary economic conditions to support that flow. Although terms like sustainable management and industrial ecology gained popularity during this time, it wasn’t until the 1980s that Stahel proposed a spiral-loop system that allowed for economic growth and progress while minimizing environmental harm. In Pearce et al.’s “Blueprint for a Green Economy” in the 1990s, the term “circular economy” was coined, and movements like biomimicry and Cradle to Cradle have since furthered the concept. However, Boulding’s 1960 essay “The Economics of the Coming Spaceship Earth” first called for the stewardship of future generations by criticizing the linear take-make-use-dispose system.
The dispersed origins of a circular economy are important because, as often happens, the past re-emerges while new ideas try to establish themselves. Blomsma and Brennan for instance, talked of a circular economy in terms of framing a narrative around handling waste and resources in the early days and from the 1980s onward, the discussions were framed around waste as a source of value. But in the 2020s, there is a much wider and broader framing, which we see in the definition by the Ellen McArthur Foundation’s famous butterfly diagram:
The circular economy is gaining traction in policy and private sectors, leading to diverse interpretations and evaluations. However, it is important to note that it is not solely about improving recycling but rather about reimagining production, usage, and regenerative potential for the environment and society. Adopting design and system thinking, as well as user-centric and environment-centric designs, can assist those embarking on this journey. This may mean asking new questions about things we buy or produce. For instance, as a customer, consider a T-shirt you purchased years ago that no longer fits. Did the company provide a way to return it for repurposing, or did you donate it or throw it away? Were you informed about the sourcing and manufacturing of the material, as well as the conditions under which it was produced and shipped? In a circular economy, this T-shirt would never end up in a landfill. Instead, the entire supply chain, from cotton fields to customers, would be part of a larger symbiotic system where waste is eliminated, nature is thriving, and so are workers and communities.
However, the most captivating aspect of circular thinking is symbiosis, which emphasizes cooperation and unlikely partnerships rather than an input-and-output model. This approach involves completely rethinking how we interact with products and services, from refilling stations to utilising technology to treat wastewater and reusing organic waste without causing pollution.
Although the concept and the application may still evolve, progress towards its realisation has already begun and shows no signs of slowing down. We recommend exploring the case studies featured on the Circular Economy Innovation Communities (CEIC) and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation websites to gain the latest insights and practical knowledge on applying circular economy principles.
Talk to us
This whistle-stop tour of a circular economy is not detailed enough to capture every nuance and development. To help us grow the Welsh circular muscle, please tell us what you want to know about the circular economy – or better still, what you have learnt, experimented with or successfully implemented. But please also tell us what a circular economy means to you.
Cronon, W. (2009) Nature’s metropolis: Chicago and the Great West. WW Norton & Company, 2009.
Ekins, P., Domenech, T., Drummond, P., Bleischwitz, R., Hughes, N. and Lotti, L. (2019), “The Circular Economy: What, Why, How and Where”, Background paper for an OECD/EC Workshop on 5 July 2019 within the workshop series “Managing environmental and energy transitions for regions and cities”, Paris
Pearce, D., Markandya, A., & Barbier, E. (2013). Blueprint 1: for a green economy. Routledge, London. Available via the International Institute for Environment and Development.
Stahel, W. (1982). The product life factor (Mitchell Prize Winning Paper). Product-Life Institute.
