Dear Colleagues,

I’m sure it will come as no surprise to find the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report in my opening introduction to this month’s newsletter. I have yet to finish reading the report (it will take me some weeks) but I thought it might be useful to summarise the main points I have discerned thus far:

The report has called for immediate, rapid and large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions if we are to limit global warming to close to 1.5°C or even 2°C.

It found that global surface temperature will continue to increase until at least the mid-century under all emissions scenarios considered and that global warming of 1.5°C and 2°C will be exceeded during the 21st century unless deep reductions in CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions occur in the coming decades. It states that at 2°C of global warming, heat extremes would more often reach critical tolerance thresholds for agriculture and health and that extreme sea level events that previously occurred once in 100 years could happen every year by the end of this century.

The report stated that it is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land and that this influence has warmed the climate at a rate that is unprecedented in at least the last 2000 years. It found that many changes due to past and future greenhouse gas emissions are irreversible for centuries to millennia, especially changes in the ocean, ice sheets and global sea level.

It is truly a harrowing read which is why the activities of Future Leap and other organisations working towards sustainable practices, is now more important than ever. So… if you are not already a Future Leap Network member, please join! If you want to learn more about the actions you can take, come to our Festival of Sustainable Business or speak to our sustainability consultants! If you want to connect with other like-minded individuals and learn about environmental technologies, visit us at the Future Leap Hub! Although some changes are irreversible, there is A LOT that we, as a business community, can do to improve our futures. As the UN secretary general, António Guterres said, this is a “code red” for humanity. We are here to support you in taking meaningful action and we look forward to you getting in touch, regardless of where you are on your sustainability journey.

In other news, we said a fond farewell to Sasha this month who has completed her internship with us and is going on to complete her Geography final year at Bristol University. Huge thanks for all your hard work Sasha and we wish you all the best! Replacing some of Sasha’s activities will be Eve, who has joined us as a Financial Administrator and will be working closely with Fenna and I on Kickstart and B-Corp coordination, amongst other things! Which brings me on to our B Corp journey… Things are progressing well with different team members inputting into the process via dedicated working groups and we envisage having submitted our B Impact Assessment by the next Network Newsletter. More info on that next month!

And finally, this month saw us finally hosting our Future Leap launch event. The evening provided a long over-due opportunity to enjoy one another’s company, the success of the hub since opening during the pandemic and the chance to network in a safe environment. The Future Leap hub was created in order to provide a headquarters for the Future Economy Network, and a wider community of change-makers. Here, our dedicated team work to facilitate our weekly events programme, provide a carbon neutral co-working space, offer carbon consultancy, as well as our café and eco-lifestyle shop.

Future Leap now acts as an epicentre for sustainability within the region, bringing people and organisations together under one unifying goal, to progress sustainability. It is for this reason that the announcement was made at the launch, that we are now merging all areas of our network and services together under one unifying brand, Future Leap. We see this decision as a natural evolution of the Future Economy Network, a network that continues to thrive and now moves from strength to strength following the creation of our first hub.

So, from all of us within the Future Leap team, we wish you all the best and we look forward to supporting you, in the coming months, with your sustainability aspirations. It is only by us all working together, that we can achieve the large-scale changes required. Get in touch with us at Future Leap to ‘Discover, Collaborate and Innovate’. We look forward to hearing from you!

With very best wishes for a positive future,

Katherine