Responsible Business Summit in the UK (Part II)

While it's quite fascinating to observe the differences between US and UK/European sustainability, I don't really have anyone to talk to about them (except of course you, blog reader!).  In the US, I'd be catching up with old friends at any given sustainability conference, but here there's only one familiar face (and he's the Chairman and unlikely to remember me).  At the cocktail hour last night I just stood around awkwardly, feeling like I was at a middle-school dance.

Today, at last, I've met a couple of very interesting people.  One works for a company that produces a lifecycle management software, and apparently has not only clients but also competitors - imagine that!  In the US, the folks doing this tend to be early-phase start-ups

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Another person I met works for the Corporate Register, and we briefly debated the usefulness of the GRI reporting standard - something I've publicly supported in the past.  He made some good points that the GRI is not as relevant in Europe, where a substantial number of companies began sustainability reporting several years before the GRI existed, and many of them continue reporting without using GRI.  In the US, companies seem to find it quite reassuring to know that there is a standard as they embark on their reporting journey, but I suppose we are several years behind.

While of course it’s good to finally be meeting people, a new problem has cropped up: I’m not familiar with 90% of the organizations they mention. In the US, I believe I have a reasonably competent grasp of what’s going on in the sustainability field – but not here! And embarrassingly enough, several of these groups have opened offices right in Boston, where I live. Five Winds is one, though my conversation partner admitted that the organization has been embarrassed to realize that “wind” can have alternate meanings in the US. 

Good to know that I’m not the only one facing cultural adjustment challenges!