Thursday Oct 20, 2022

MYTH-BUSTING CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY - IOANNIS IOANNOU

Everyone is talking about sustainability in the last few years – and it feels like businesses have finally joined the discussion in earnest. But what does sustainability actually mean – and is the current conversation really up to scratch? Scrutiny around CSR is on the rise - the greenwashing debate, for example, has heated up in recent years – but we are only seeing the tip of the iceberg, according to our most recent guest. Its time for talk to meet scientific reality.

Get ready for one of the most fresh and fascinating Podcasts you’ll have come across this year.

Professor Ioannis Ioannou has been working on sustainability and CSR from the very beginning of his career, and it shows. He brings a profound depth of thought and experience to the table. However, he is not one to rest on a set of old ideas – this is a thinker on the leading edge of sustainability theory and practise. Just check out his record: a consistent top-100 figure in the prestigious Social Studies Research Network; an outspoken CSR influencer on social media; and the founding teacher of one of the powerful (and over-subscribed) executive sustainability courses in the world.

This episode takes in so many different facets of CSR and climate that it was a challenge to list them all! More importantly, Professor Ioannou had a new and piercing take for each and every topic we landed upon. You’ve got breadth, you’ve got depth, you’ve got expertise, novelty and passion.

How Ioannis came through the existential challenge of his MBA and found meaning in work
The six features of genuine sustainability that all businesses must meet
Greenwashing: what it is, how to spot it, and even a couple of silver linings!
What keeps him going in the face of a ‘depressing’ lack of progress on climate
His assessment of the latest cohorts of MBAs and executives – is this truly a new generation?
Understanding the ‘fictitious trade-off’ behind the profits vs purpose debate
Why he believes that firms will use ESG to ‘invest their way out’ of the coming economic crisis…
…even as we can’t rely on passive investment strategies to drive that change
Political cowardice is behind the total institutional failure on climate change – and why the culture wars are an asymmetric conflict
His views on Biden’s Build Back Better programme – ‘you can’t negotiate with science!’
‘No excuse’: personal responsibility as the ultimate way through the climate crisis

“…Think about Tesla, for example, and how it disrupted the automobile industry. Think about Beyond Food and Impossible Meats and how they disrupted their food industry…. Think about how Oatly came in and disrupted natural milk. So in other words, the new market entry signifies to me that sustainability as a trend has created new market opportunities, and therefore especially … a startup that is born sustainable doesn't have the organizational inertia and the challenge of transforming, you can take advantage of these opportunities and you can scale...”

“..So companies, in a sense, are now more legitimate to engage on this transformational journey that sustainability requires… However, this is the plague of our times, I think a lot of companies are trying to find the shortcuts… They're trying to cheat their way to responsibility...”

Professor Ioannis is a frequent contributor to Bloomberg, the FT, the Guardian, and of course the BBC.

REFERENCES: http://ioannou.us/about-us

https://www.ft.com/content/54f96d4e-82ec-11e9-9935-ad75bb96c849

https://hbr.org/2019/05/save-or-invest-how-companies-should-navigate-recessions

Conversations on Climate is a podcast produced by United Renewables in association with the London Business School Energy Alumni Club.

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Throughout season 1, we talk about how the scope of the challenge before us is beyond that of any one individual or any one solution. We talk to thinkers, researchers, policymakers, and business leaders. They discuss a diversity of ideas and solutions to global climate and environmental issues and why they matter.

Season 1 is presented by Chris Caldwell and produced by UNITED RENEWABLES in association with LONDON BUSINESS SCHOOL, ALUMNI ENERGY CLUB.

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MYTH-BUSTING CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY - IOANNIS IOANNOU

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