Business resilience moves to the fore in sustainability

A dilution in regulatory policy commitments to sustainability has led to a separation of businesses committed to a climate transition from those acting solely due to regulatory requirements, says a leading industry consultant.

Abi Duff-Walker, head of sustainability at global law and consultancy firm DWF, told the Abta Sustainable Travel Conference in London in March: “The last 12-18 months have been dominated by a narrative of negativity in the press.”

Yet she argued: “The gulf continues to grow between that [negativity] and what I’m seeing. There is a disconnect between what businesses are saying and [what they are] doing.”

Duff-Walker suggested many businesses have begun questioning whether their supply chains are secure and deciding they “need to do something about it”. 

She told the conference: “As much as there is a re-focus and re-reframing [on sustainability], there is a heightened realisation that that this is about risk and resilience. 

“It [sustainability] is becoming more focused on business concerns and what it [the business environment] looks like in 10 years’ time if we don’t address sustainability.”

She noted: “We can see the business benefits in [addressing] risk and resilience, but there can be a reaction that when you talk about risk ‘It’s scaremongering’.”

Duff-Walker acknowledged: “There is roll-back – absolutely. There is a dilution of public policy and commitment, and of what good businesses are doing and what we perhaps hear [about]. 

“It has separated out the businesses committed to this and those just doing it because they were expected to.”