Page 12 from: Plastics Special 2020

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Plastics recyclers have the opportunity to reframe the entire industry as the

heroes not the villains, according to Gabrielle Walker who advises company

boards on sustainability issues. ‘Think big and then think bigger!’

HAS THE CORONAVIRUS CRISIS
MADE ‘GREEN’ LESS OF A
PRIORITY IN THE BOARDROOM?
‘I thought at first that the pandemic
would take attention and energy away
from the sustainability agenda but to
my surprise it has had the opposite
effect. If anything, the drive has accel-
erated, partly because many business-
es have taken the opportunity to reset
their strategies more forcefully or
sooner than they had planned. We
also understand better how the sort of
systemic risks that climate change
brings can have dramatic and far-
reaching impacts. But the main reason
that senior executives give when I ask
why they have accelerated their
actions is that pressure from investors
has not dropped during the pandemic
– it’s increased. This is the year that
sustainable finance went mainstream.’

PLASTICS RECYCLERS, OEMS,
THE PACKAGING INDUSTRY ALL
NEED TO WORK TOGETHER

With her team at UK-based Valence
Solutions, Gabrielle Walker helps busi-
ness leaders develop rapid collective
action on sustainability and climate
change. She also makes keynote
speeches, moderates events, writes
articles and books, and contributes to
radio and TV programmes.

WHAT DRIVES YOU?
‘Climate change is the defining chal-
lenge of our generation and perhaps
the biggest challenge humans have
ever faced. I am driven by the oppor-
tunity to contribute to the solutions
and to inspire and excite other influ-
encers into doing the same. The
changes we make today will have an
impact for many generations to come.
It’s a big responsibility but also a very
exciting time to be alive.’

WHAT DO YOU TEACH YOUR
CLIENTS?
‘First I make sure they know the scale
of the challenge. And I don’t just use
my own words. Earlier this year, Sarah
Breedon from the Bank of England
said: “Climate risks are uncertain but
predictable. They will affect every
consumer and every corporate in all
sectors and in all geographies”.
Investors are now very aware of this.
And I don’t teach. The best solutions
come from the people I work with.
Much of my work is listening, helping
people to make connections and
introducing them to new ideas and
different points of view. The biggest

message is that we all need to look
the risks in the face, not try to pretend
they aren’t there. Then we need to
work out how to mitigate them.
Finally we need to see the opportuni-
ties in this incredible transition – exist-
ing markets will disappear and new
ones will emerge.’

YOUR RECENT ARTICLE ON
MICHAEL MOORE’S RECENT
FILM ‘PLANET OF THE HUMANS’
WAS HEADED: ‘EVERYONE –
EVERYWHERE MISSION’. EXPLAIN.
‘Three damaging mindsets are hurting
the fight against climate change:
doomism, which says it’s already too
late to act (it’s not!); purism, that we
have to have solutions that are pure
and perfect – or we shouldn’t act; and
exclusivism, which says we should use
my solution or technology and not
yours. Instead, we need to realise that
we really are all in this together and
that joining forces opens up new
opportunities and new solutions. We
need every possible solution on the
table and every player sitting round
the table. That’s the “everyone –
everywhere mission”. There will be
winners and losers, of course, but if
we don’t do this – everybody loses.
Climate change is very bad for busi-
ness, for the economy and for the
world.’

BUSINESS HAS A LARGE PART
TO PLAY IN THE SOLUTIONS
TO THESE ENVIRONMENTAL

CHALLENGES. ARE MAJOR STEPS
BEING TAKEN?
‘Business has to be the delivery arm
for the solutions. Businesses are also
providing a lot of the leadership.
Unlike politicians, the purview of many
businesses crosses national boundar-
ies and, with command-and-control
management structures, they can
make things happen quickly. They
have, in some cases, literally billions of
customers, not to mention all their
suppliers. And many of them are
staffed with people at the top who are
ready to make decisions based on evi-
dence rather than popularity and who
genuinely want to do the right thing.
I am delighted to see how many busi-
nesses are stepping up to the plate.
It’s not just increasingly important to
convince investors and regulators that
your business model will be robust,
it’s also increasingly important to
show consumers interested in your
products that you are contributing to
the solutions. And, in the competition
for talent, the best people want to
work for the companies that are doing
just that.’

WHAT REMAINS TO BE DONE?
‘According to a letter put out jointly
by the governors of the Bank of
England and the Bank of France, with-
in the next decade the world needs to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions by
45%. They said this requires a “mas-
sive reallocation of capital”. That is an
understatement. And at the beginning
of this year Larry Fink, ceo of
Blackrock, said “Climate change has
become a defining factor in compa-
nies’ long-term prospects… I believe
we are on the edge of a fundamental
reshaping of finance.” This is going to
be a very busy ten years.’

a u T h o r Martijn Reintjes

‘Look the risks
in the face’

G a b r i e l l e Wa l k e r :

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