Event overview
Join us for our hybrid event with insightful talks combining tech and sustainability with two brilliant speakers – Aisha Stewart from Business West and Adam Turner from Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs).
Future proofing your business for net zero
More businesses are committing to take action to reduce their carbon emissions for all sorts of reasons. They may be feeling pressure from clients trying to understand and decarbonise their supply chain, from the public or simply understand that this is the right thing to do.
In this talk, Aisha will:
- Break down the three different scopes under the Greenhouse Gas Protocol;
- Explain where companies are starting to make progress on their decarbonisation journey;
- Discuss how increased GHG emission reporting for companies externally and as part of a supply chain, has made carbon emission reductions a key way to remain competitive in a net zero future.
About Aisha
Aisha is a self-proclaimed Bristolian originally from the city of Brampton in Canada. In 2022, she joined Business West as their Net Zero Business Advisor, supporting SMEs across the South West on their decarbonisation journey.
Outside of work, she sits on the Board of Directors for Bristol Energy Network, an umbrella organisation for community groups and individuals with an interest in energy. You may occasionally find her exploring all the bakeries and restaurants Bristol has to offer or endlessly scrolling looking at cat memes!
You can read our short interview with Aisha of her talk.
Aisha’s slides
Green-Tech-South-West-AStewart-minCan we sustain a digital world?
In this talk Adam will set out what digital sustainability is. He’ll cover what Defra and cross government UK departments have been doing in order to tackle the issue in terms of policy, strategy, internal collaboration and industry engagement. As well as international engagement activity through the COPs, UN and Digital Nations. He’ll finish up by touching on mythologies and data, and look at risks and future direction.
About Adam
Adam Turner is Head of Sustainable Digital and ICT for the UK Government and Public Sector at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). He’s also the author of the Greening Government: ICT and Digital Services Strategy 2020-2025 and chair of the Sustainable Technology Advice and Reporting (STAR) team that authors and delivers strategy, policy and reporting for all government digital operations.
Also a failed ecologist, part time musician, keen eco-therapist and father of two young boys, aged 5 and 8.
Adam’s slides
Sustainability-Update-from-Defra-UK-Gov-Apr-23-min-1Watch the event video
Timings in the video
📢 01:48 – Our famous 60 second intros – a chance for in-person and online attendees to introduce themselves, ask for help and tell us about something the group might find interesting
💚 14:46 – Aisha’s talk
💚 41:14 – Adam’s talk
❓ 01:03:47 – Questions
Resources and links
One of the perks of holding events online as well, and having such a wonderful and engaging community, is we share a huge amount of useful resources and information throughout the event. Here’s a summary of what we unearthed.
Links and resources
- AI for Decarbonisation online meetup
- Bristol’s City Leap: A new hope for city-scale decarbonisation
- Bristol City Leap
- Cambridge city centre heat network
- CollectEco
- Make your technology sustainable
- Sustainable Digital Technology and Services Strategic Approach 2021-2025
- How Bad Are Bananas? / How Bad Are Bananas?
- The Carbon Footprint of the Internet
Community 60 second intros
Chris Pointon – Co-organises the Working in Sustainable Technology Meetup in Cambridge. They run a (roughly) monthly online meetup where they pick a topic of sustainable tech and bring in some hugely interesting companies to talk about the tech and what it’s like working for them. Their next event is on the 4th of May and focusses on AI for Decarbonisation featuring with two brilliant speakers; Laura James from Overstory and Venessa Moffat from QiO Technologies.
Nigel Smith – Bristol based Animator and Director of Stop Mo Studios, creating films about health and sustainability. Currently working with graduates from UWE Bristol, Nigel is available for 121’s to help you arrange a story board and turn that into a stop-work animation.
Rob Knight – From Losingthewires who specialise in providing all sorts of technology around mobile devices. At the moment they’re looking to promote the use of smart phones as an alternative to desktop computers and laptops when these come up for renewal as a lot of smartphones can be plugged in monitors, keyboards and mice. They also focus on repurposing laptops and desktop PCs with different platforms and operating sytems to prolong their life. They’re looking for people interested in trialling these technologies, so if anyone is interested in seeing what a smartphone can do when configured in this way, they have some trial equipment they’d be happy to send out! Get in touch with Rob via his LinkedIn.
We had another 60 second intro which unfortunately, due to some internet issues, hasn’t made it on to the recording. We have their information below:
Laurent Perge – Part of the SET Squared Sustainable Business Support programme (our wonderful sponsors!) who offer government funded business support to any small and medium organisations in the South West of England. Most importantly, they provide access to the academics within the SET Squared partnerships (including Bristol, Cardiff, Southampton, Exeter and Surrey University) to create collaborative R&D.
Their programme is free to any organisation, so if you’re interested in joining get in touch with Laurent and he can help you start conversations with academics and help you unlock growth.
Our slides with upcoming events
Stay in touch
If you’d like to know when our next events are being held, join us on meetup.