What is the future for ESG in the UK business landscape?
Date: Wednesday 15th June, 11am BST
Cost: FREE
Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) is one of the defining trends for business in recent years, amongst many things, it provides investors with the opportunity to mobilise support for greener industries and reduce exposure to unsustainable business practices. The Lloyds Bank British Business Excellence Awards are proud to have launched the ESG Champion of the Year Award in 2022 and seeks to recognise British Excellence in ESG.
We want to delve further into this subject by asking our expert panellists what is the future for ESG in the UK business landscape for businesses of all shapes and sizes? What can SME’s and start up’s be doing to keep this within their strategy? Which bigger companies are leading the way with their ESG strategies? Will ESG simply be put to the side whilst other factors take precedence?
We recently enjoyed an educational hour long discussion with Q&A on this important subject to help support British Business with an array of industry experts on this subject. Check out the video above to see what they had to say!
The Panel
Jon Briggs - Chair
Broadcast Journalist & Communications Consultant
Jon Briggs has been a broadcast journalist for the BBC and ITN for 35 years. His credits include anchoring BBC Radio 5’s Breakfast News show, reporting for BBC Radio 4’s current affairs programmes, and chairing London’s top weekly political discussion programme for LBC.
Jon is a highly experienced international conference moderator, having hosted over 400 international events for many of the world’s largest companies, from Rolls Royce and Jaguar Land Rover to IBM, Pernod Ricard, Vodafone, Hewlett Packard and Ericsson. He is an experienced interviewer – having grilled everyone from Bill Clinton, Jack Welch and John Major to Buzz Aldrin, Sir Richard Branson and Alan Greenspan.
Jon is also one of the best-known commercial voices in the UK. Recognised as the original Voice of Apple’s iPhone assistant Siri in the UK and the voice of the BBC’s Weakest Link quiz show. He owned and ran one of the UK’s top talent agencies – Excellent Talent - representing 200 of the UK’s top artists for 25 years until 2020.
Jon has a vast amount of experience in all modes of spoken presentation, live and recorded. He has coached a large number of Fortune 500 C-Suite executives to enhance their public communications skills. He trains, speaks and lectures on the power of the human voice, and why you should and could use it better than you do. In 2019 he chaired the judges panel for the English Speaking Union’s International Public Speaking Competition.
Glenn Bemment
Head of ESG - Lloyds Banking Group
Glenn is the Head of ESG for the Lloyds Bank SME and Mid Corporate business which looks after our clients with a turnover up to £100m, who are based in all regions across the United Kingdom and that operate in sectors such as Agriculture, Real Estate & Housing, Manufacturing, Education, Healthcare, Legal and Technology.
Glenn leads a team of ESG Directors using finance as a force for good to help, educate and provide insight and ideas to support our clients ambitions to make a just transition to a Net Zero carbon economy and to Help Britain Prosper by being more sustainable and inclusive for business.
We are helping businesses reduce their overall costs and energy usage with new Clean Growth Financing as we move towards a carbon neutral economy. By transitioning to low carbon sustainable business models we can make a real difference to tackling climate change; improve the social impact on our towns, cities and communities and be inclusive for everyone.
Glenn joined Lloyds Banking Group in 2012 and prior to his current role he led the commercial and corporate banking team in the North of England, providing financing, liquidity, payments and risk management services. In addition to his ESG responsibilities, Glenn is a Lloyds Banking Group Ambassador for the North of England which engages with MP’s and policy influencers on a range of topics that are important to our clients and their communities.
He is a member of the North West Business Leadership team www.nwblt.com; a Multi-Academy Trust counsellor and a FA qualified football coach.
Alastair Loasby
Responsible Business & Strategy Campaign Director - Business In The Community
Alastair Loasby is the Responsible Business & Strategy Campaign Director at Business in the Community,
the world’s largest and longest-established responsible business network.
At Business in the Community, we know that being responsible, sustainable and inclusive is good for business, and so we work and campaign with more than 600 businesses to develop a skilled and inclusive workforce, ensure work is good for everyone, innovate to sustain and regenerate the planet, and build thriving communities. However, across every issue, we know that responsible businesses need to act faster, braver and bolder.
Alastair leads the campaign that accelerates that action by enabling and advocating businesses to overcome key barriers and harness the most powerful responsible business drivers. From purpose and strategy to ethical decision making and responsible innovation, Alastair’s work supports organisations across the ESG agenda to maximise both their impact and commercial value.
Previously, Alastair led Business in the Community’s Responsible Digital work, and has advised a range of organisations from multinational giants to agile SMEs on the ESG agenda. His background is in technology strategy consulting at KPMG, having graduated with a MEng in Aeronautical Engineering from Imperial College London.
Alastair.Loasby@bitc.org.uk | 07921 258551 | www.bitc.org.uk
Marc Lepere
ESG Researcher - Kings Business School
Marc is an ESG researcher at King’s College London. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and serves as a visiting lecturer at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is an Economics graduate of Trinity College, Dublin and holds a Master of Science degree from King’s College London. Marc has published in leading journals including Stanford Social Innovation Review, the Financial Times and Discovering Truth (series 1) which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Professionally, Marc has been an employee, entrepreneur and social entrepreneur.
In 2021, he founded ESGgen – a new online solution designed to give SMEs and Start-ups decision-useful ESG data that has been assured by professional accountants (just like financial accounts). Marc has served as Chief Marketing Officer for Havas Worldwide; Executive Vice President for McCann Erickson WorldGroup and Deputy Chairman of Dentsu in Europe, Middle East and Africa.
Katrina Sale
The Entrepreneurs Network - Digital Director for Invicta National Academy
Katrina is a social entrepreneur and consultant specialising in sustainability, education and technology. She is currently the Digital Director for Invicta National Academy, a C.I.C providing free online lessons to disadvantaged children, and the Business Ambassador for the Conservative Environment Network. Katrina is the Chair of the Green Entrepreneurship Forum and coordinates the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Entrepreneurship for The Entrepreneurs Network, a think tank for Britain’s most ambitious entrepreneurs.
Sarah Austin
Director & Founder - The Lloyds Bank British Business Excellence Awards
Sarah Austin is a leading voice of the awards & events industry. Sarah’s new venture includes the launch of The Lloyds Bank British Business Excellence Awards.
In partnership with Lloyds Bank, these awards are the UK’s most prestigious business awards ceremony with a rigorous judging programme and a series of networking opportunities across the year.
In addition to this, Sarah is a Non-Exec Director at the Tate Galleries and also sits on the Tate Modern Advisory Council, which allows her to advise their events team on sales, delivery and execution strategies whilst being surrounded by incredible priceless artwork.
