We live in a time of unprecedented change. The way we live our lives and do business is impacting the planet and driving environmental change on a scale unique in the Earth’s history. We are consuming our natural resources at unprecedented levels whilst polluting our environment, affecting our air, soils, water and biodiversity. This is increasing the challenges linked to extreme weather and a changing climate which can have devastating impacts on the environment and human life and hinder economic growth. To meet these challenges, and recognising our leadership potential, in 2019 the UK became the first major economy to commit to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.
The net zero series sheds light on the work already undertaken by UKRI’s flagship programme -the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund to address the key challenges that will help the UK build back greener. It will bring together world-renowned researchers and innovators across the breadth of our funding disciplines to discuss the need for innovative solutions to heat our homes, travel to work, develop and transform our industries, cater to our diet, enjoy our leisure time, and prosper from a cleaner, healthier environment in parallel with growing our economy.
We will run a monthly webinar from April to November featuring ISCF challenges, UKRI councils and project leads, as well as renowned external experts from academia, industry and technology fields.
In September we will be discussing Sustainable Supply Chains : To help reach net zero we need to look at our supply chains and explore ways to make them more efficient. By adopting digital technologies for faster and improved efficiency, the increased sustainability of UK manufacturing will result in reduced waste, reuse of resources and reduction of carbon emissions.
Chair: Amy Peace – Innovation Lead for Circular Economy -Manufacturing and Materials
Speakers:
- Judith Batchelor – Director at Sainsbury’s
- Kim Lloyd – Director at SupplyVue
- Professor Neil Burgess – Trade Hub Project Lead
- Mark Urbanowski – Innovation Lead for Driving the Electric Revolution
- Geoff Brighty – ReNew ELP (TBC – but ReNew has agreed to take part)
All topic and dates:
- 21 September – Sustainable Supply Chains
- 19 October – Sustainable Materials
- 16 November – Sustainable Energy
View recordings of previous topics on YouTube:
- Sustainable Food
- Sustainable Transport
- Sustainable Buildings
- Sustainable Industry
Amy Peace – Innovation Lead for Circular Economy -Manufacturing and Materials
Amy Peace is the Innovation Lead for Circular Economy at Innovate UK. With a background in Chemical Engineering, she has coordinated sustainability projects and programmes in industry (ICI, INEOS, Britest), industrial clusters (Chemicals Northwest) and pan-EU cross-sector initiatives (Horizon2020 SPIRE). Amy’s current work portfolio includes UKRI investments in interdisciplinary circular economy centres and the development of future programmes to aid the transition of manufacturing and materials sectors to get to Net Zero, highlighting the importance of embedded carbon in supply chains.
Judith Batchelar OBE – Special Advisor on Corporate Responsibility, Sustainability and Public Affairs
Judith joined Sainsbury’s seventeen years ago but started her life in manufacturing before moving into retail at Marks and Spencer. She is a Biochemist, nutritionist, has an Honorary Doctorate in Agriculture from Harper Adams University, and is a Fellow of the IFST, and the RSA. From 2013 to 2018 she was Chair of the Governments’ AgriTech Council, and now sits on both the Food and Drink Sector, and Natural Environment Research Councils. In addition to her work at Sainsbury’s Judith is a Non-Executive Director of both the Environment Agency and the Rugby Players Association and is a Trustee of The Royal Botanic Gardens Kew and Accounting for Sustainability.
She was awarded an OBE in 2015 for services to Farming and the Food Industry, and is a Commissioner on the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission.
Kim Lloyd – Director at SupplyVue