Dear Readers,

I hope you are all faring ok in the heat. It is feeling particularly relevant, given the dangerously high temperatures, for our community of change-makers to be pushing their sustainable business actions as fast as they possibly can and I just wanted to acknowledge and celebrate all of you who are doing “business unusual”, putting planet and people before profit and doing all you can to mitigate the devastating impacts of the climate and ecological emergencies. Thank you for your efforts at this very salient time. 

Given the heat wave and a growing understanding of how our planet is warming even more rapidly than was predicted, it feels only right for me to also highlight the brilliant work of our Future Leap Consultancy team, who are helping organisations understand their carbon footprints and develop their carbon action plans and/or supporting companies attain B Corp accreditation. If your company needs to do more to mitigate the impacts of the climate and ecological emergency (and let’s face it, we all do), please do get in touch. It has never been more urgent, it really is as UN Secretary General, António Guterres says “code red for humanity.”

So, what else can your organisation do? Well, there is an amazing community of thought-leaders based within the Future Leap Hubs who will be able to support you with your sustainability ambitions. Although most of our office space is now full, we still have hot-desking and fixed-desk availability. And by locating yourselves within our carbon neutral hubs, you not only get to meet some incredible sustainability-related organisations, but you’ll also reduce your carbon footprint, all the while enjoying the incredibly comfortable temperatures thanks to our low carbon Air Source Heat Pumps and Mechanical Ventilation and Heat Recovery system. 

Since the last time of writing, we have concluded the 2021/22 Festival of Sustainable Business programme and were delighted with its impact. We were absolutely overjoyed with the level of energy and enthusiasm for these activities so a huge thank you to all who attended, sponsored or participated. Plans for the Festival of Sustainable Business 2023 are already underway. If your organisation would like to sponsor an element of the Festival, we are offering a 10% discount if booked before the end of July. Please get in touch for further details if of interest.

The Festival was followed in quick succession by Future Leap’s Annual Celebration, where we had the opportunity to showcase achievements over the last year and share our plans for the future. Here is a quick overview of the year’s achievements:

• Over 1,300 event attendees
• Over 2,000 monthly visitors to the website
• 446 Network Member Organisations
• a 43% reduction on our carbon intensity
• Submission of our B Impact Assessment

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all members to the Future Leap Network. Together, we continue to grow, share critical knowledge and develop better business practices.

Given the temperatures outside, it can be hard to not feel overwhelmed by the climate and ecological emergency, but I hope the above activity gives you some hope that things are moving in the right direction, at least for some organisations. Future Leap’s growing community can help you transition to becoming a business for good so if you are not already engaging with our activities, please do. As Sir David Attenborough said, “If working apart we are a force powerful enough to destabilise our planet, surely working together we are powerful enough to save it.”

With relentless optimism,

Katherine Piper

Director of Partnerships and Sustainability at Future Leap