• Home
  • News
  • In-depth
  • Opinion
  • Energy
    • Wind
    • Marine
    • Solar
    • Biomass
    • Nuclear
    • CCS
    • Infrastructure
  • Policy
    • Politics
    • Legislation
    • Taxation
  • Management
    • Marketing
    • Risk
    • Skills
    • Incentives
    • Carbon Accounting
  • Technology
    • Waste
    • Recycling
    • R&D
    • Efficiency
    • IT
  • Investment
    • Carbon Trading
    • Offsets
    • Venture Capital
  • Net Zero Now
  • Events & Awards
  • Net Zero Festival
  • Industry Voice
  • Newsletters
  • Sign in
  •  
      • Newsletters
      • Account details
      • Contact support
      • Sign out
     
    • You are currently accessing BusinessGreen via your Enterprise account.

      If you already have an account please use the link below to sign in.

      If you have any problems with your access or would like to request an individual access account please contact our customer service team.

      Phone: +44 (0) 1858 438800

      Email: [email protected]

      • Sign in
  • Follow us
    • Twitter
    • LinkedIn
    • Newsletters
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
    • Instagram
  • Free Trial
  • Subscribe
  • Events & Awards
    • Upcoming events
      event logo
      NZF Pathway - Nature 2021

      Net Zero Nature brings together global experts, business leaders, NGO’s and innovators to explore why protecting and restoring nature is fundamental to global economic prosperity, investigate the transformative changes businesses must make now to avoid extinction, and consider best practices and latest developments. Register now to secure your place for a unique day of learning, leadership and practical insight.

      • Date: 27 May 2021
      • Online Event
      event logo
      Net Zero Festival 2021

      Net Zero Festival is the world's first business festival dedicated to exploring, advancing, and celebrating the global transition to a net zero emission economy. Join us at BusinessGreen's Net Zero Festival – for leaders who won't wait until 2050 to build a better business, and a better world.

      • Date: 29 Sep 2021
      • Worldwide
      View all events
  • Net Zero Festival
Business Green
Business Green
  • Home
  • News
  • In-depth
  • Opinion
  • Energy
  • Policy
  • Management
  • Technology
  • Investment
  • Net Zero Now
 
    • Newsletters
    • Account details
    • Contact support
    • Sign out
 
  • You are currently accessing BusinessGreen via your Enterprise account.

    If you already have an account please use the link below to sign in.

    If you have any problems with your access or would like to request an individual access account please contact our customer service team.

    Phone: +44 (0) 1858 438800

    Email: [email protected]

    • Sign in
  • Hot topics
  • North Sea transition
  • Hydrogen
  • Net zero targets
  • Net Zero Finance
  • Technology

Secrets of the Pioneers: Ian Cheshire on circular systems and hyper-transparency

Secrets of the Pioneers: Ian Cheshire on circular systems and hyper-transparency
  • Madeleine Cuff
  • Madeleine Cuff
  • 27 October 2017
  • Tweet  
  • Facebook  
  • LinkedIn  
  • Send to  
0 Comments

Debenhams chair Sir Ian Cheshire predicts a future where goods are shared not owned, and reams of digital data are used to drive corporate change

Sir Ian Cheshire is chair of the department store Debenhams and chair of Barclays UK, the retail arm of Barclays bank. He was previously chief executive of B&Q and then its parent company Kingfisher. He was knighted in the 2014 New Years' Honours list for services to business, sustainability and the environment.

Where were you in 2007?

Related articles

  • 'We want to make the bus cool': Inside Arrival, the $13bn British electric vehicle start-up
  • Net Zero Finance: Navigating the booming climate, green and transition bond market
  • Net Zero Finance: What role do investors have to play in the green transition?
  • Net Zero Finance: TCFD ASAP

I was running B&Q - it was the year before I took over as chief executive of Kingfisher.

We were getting into some of the circular economy work for the first time. There was a sense that summer that the storm clouds of the financial crisis were starting to gather, a feeling things were getting quite uncertain but we needed to move faster on the green agenda. I was encouraged a lot of our supply chain was working with us to make a difference, so it felt like an odd contrast between an increasingly uncertain and dangerous world, and lots of opportunities we were seeing to re-engineer products and rethink business models.

So what has changed in the last decade, and what have you learned?

I think what has changed most has been the degree of shift in technology in that period. If you think 2007 was the year the first iPhone was released it doesn't seem quite possible. On the back of that the mobile internet has completely transformed the world, and in relation to that (but not directly connected) we have seen an explosion in renewables, new materials and batteries.

I think it's the rate of change since 2007 which I have most noticed. It's the hyper transparency that we have now got, and that you can scale things in a way that wasn't possible 10 years. Change seems to happen at a network rate of change. So you get these huge shifts - Facebook suddenly connecting billions rather than just a few people. There's a sense that if you catch the tide on these things change is possible on a faster rate than ever before. Which is good and scary.

What is your vision for the green economy in 10 years' time?

I hope we will have done two big things. One of which is making a more substantial shift towards a circular economy model.

The second part is I think there are real opportunities to rethink how sustainable business can play a role. I think that's reinforced by this technological change of total transparency, and using that to build a different relationship with customers and citizens. I think that's a very different model we could be looking forward to.

What would that look like for the average consumer?

There's probably not one single mega-change. We are not all going to be running around in flying cars I don't think, which is a shame because the Jetsons were rather fun.

I think what you will see emerge is a digitally enabled consumer who is able to understand far more about the impacts of how they behave and what they do, and be able to use that consumer power to help businesses change more.

Fundamentally, the big shift from the consumer's point of view will be an increasing focus on the sharing or gig economy. We are already seeing it with car ownership in certain groups. I think you are going to see a much more digitally enabled, switched on, use-it-when-you-need-it, experience-driven consumer, rather than one who has just got loads of gear.

What top three sustainability challenges will top the agenda in 2027?

Personally, I still think we won't meet the challenge of climate change in the next 10 years. That will still be with us, which is an all-encompassing headline for quite a few other things.

Two is this model of the economy - can we really see a reinvention of the economy from that linear 'take, make, dispose' model to a more circular system?

And then I think you are going to see individual issues. It's interesting society seems to focus on things for five or 10 years, then declare victory and move on to the next thing. So if you think back to the ozone layer, everyone got focused, CFCs got banned and people actually did something about it. I think we are just at the beginning of a 10-year cycle on oceans - not just plastics in our oceans but generally the health of our oceans and the degrees to which that has been not understood.

What's your personal plan for the next 10 years?

One area which interests me is the whole connection between food, farming and the countryside - I'm going to get involved in a project starting later this year on that. It's a side effect of Brexit that the UK could have a rethink of how its economy and farming [interact], because it will be outside of the Common Agricultural Policy for the first time, which is interesting.

Then the other question, which I still think is not on the agenda enough, is the sustainability of cities. So much of the world's population is moving to cities and they can be great engines of sustainability if we build them and run them right.

Will the world be on course for two degrees in 2027?

I'm a little pessimistic. I think what we are seeing is the first really big shift in power generation that we have seen certainly in my lifetime. But I think it will require a lot more in the way of things like electric car growth to make it really happen.

But I think what's most important - and this is not being unfair on us in the UK - is the shift in the Chinese leadership, the realisation they simply can't have unsustainable growth, which makes me more optimistic about the future.

If you could invest in one clean technology through to 2027 which would it be and why?

I'm very interested in the whole area of materials sciences and the ability to make things which could, for example, replace aluminium, things which allow batteries to work on a completely different basis. I think you are going to see some very fundamental changes courtesy of materials science.

What advice would you give to a sustainability professional starting out today?

If you are starting out the two bits of advice I always give to people in an organisation is figure out the unique contribution that organisation can make. Don't try and do everything. If you are in the car industry reinvent that one, don't fret about the other ones.

The second one is unleash the power of the consumer and the transparent world that we have, and all the data that is out there to make change.

Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the future?

I'm optimistic, because I think we have got to the point where enough people are worried and we have seen some of the big players like China come to an understanding that things can't carry on in a straight line.

The main reason why I am optimistic though is because I am a profound believer in human creativity, and I think we will find solutions even if they are not easy or straightforward.

This interview is part of a series, entitled Secrets of the Pioneers, which is to be published in association with Greenhouse PR to mark BusinessGreen's 10th anniversary. The full series, including interviews with Jonathon Porritt, Lord Stuart Rose, and Lord Stern, will be published on the day of the BusinessGreen Leaders' Summit next month.

You can book your place for the summit here.

Further reading

Secrets of the Pioneers: Mike Barry on the tricks to delivering a transformative sustainabiility strategy
  • Management
  • 26 October 2017
Secrets of the Pioneers: Christiana Figueres on a vision of 'energy for everyone, and emissions from no one'
  • Policy
  • 23 October 2017
Secrets of the pioneers: Dr Emily Shuckburgh on the scale and urgency of the climate crisis
  • Climate change
  • 25 October 2017
Secrets of the Pioneers: Jonathon Porritt on sustainable development, agents of change, and 'species-wide insanity'
  • Policy
  • 24 October 2017
  • Tweet  
  • Facebook  
  • LinkedIn  
  • Send to  
  • Topics
  • Technology
  • Circular Economy
  • supply chains
  • Kingfisher
  • Sharing economy
  • In-depth

More on Technology

ZeroAvia claims its hydrogen-electric technology could be commercially available as soon as 2024 | Credit: British Airways / ZeroAvia
    • Aviation
British Airways leads $24.3m investment in hydrogen aircraft developer ZeroAvia
    • Aviation
    • 31 March 2021
Sustainable aviation fuels are helping cut the emissions of the aviation industry
    • Aviation
Aviation is plotting a sustainable course
    • Aviation
    • 26 March 2021
A tech cell at an Arrival microfactory | Credit: Arrival
    • Technology
'We want to make the bus cool': Inside Arrival, the $13bn British electric vehicle start-up
    • Technology
    • 26 March 2021
    • Buildings
Could the new National Infrastructure Bank help solve the home retrofit challenge?
    • Buildings
    • 22 March 2021
Credit: Advanced Propulsion Centre
    • Automotive
'Build back greener': Government announces £54m funding boost for electric trucks and hydrogen buses
    • Automotive
    • 22 March 2021
Credit: Heineken
    • Energy
Brewing biogas: Heineken turns beer wasted during lockdown into energy for Manchester brewery
    • Energy
    • 20 March 2021
Data centres accounted for around one per cent of global electricity use in 2019
    • IT
Google update details data centre decarbonisation progress
    • IT
    • 17 March 2021
Decarbonising manufacturing and industry is 'essential' to reaching net zero by 2050, the government has said
    • Technology
Industrial Decarbonisation Strategy: All the key policies at a glance
    • Technology
    • 17 March 2021

More news

Global Briefing: President Biden unveils $1tr green infrastructure blitz
  • Management
Global Briefing: President Biden unveils $1tr green infrastructure blitz

American Jobs Plan promises massive wave of new investment in clean energy generation, grids, electric vehicles, and green buildings

  • 01 April 2021
Institute for Government: Green Homes Grant Scheme 'badly undermined' by Whitehall
  • Buildings
Institute for Government: Green Homes Grant Scheme 'badly undermined' by Whitehall

Think tank argues green homes policy hampered by poor delivery, optimistic timetables, and lack of Whitehall coordination

  • 01 April 2021
Netflix's behind-the-scenes script for achieving net zero
  • Management
Netflix's behind-the-scenes script for achieving net zero

The streaming giant has a new sustainability strategy and the potential to reach new audiences with its net zero message

  • 01 April 2021
Climate crisis: Keeping hope of 1.5C limit alive is vital to spurring global action
  • Climate change
Climate crisis: Keeping hope of 1.5C limit alive is vital to spurring global action

  • 01 April 2021
blog comments powered by Disqus
Back to Top
  • Contact Us
  • Marketing solutions
  • About Incisive Media
  • Terms and conditions
  • Policies
  • Careers
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Newsletters
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • Instagram

Incisive Footer Logo

© Incisive Business Media (IP) Limited, Published by Incisive Business Media Limited, New London House, 172 Drury Lane, London WC2B 5QR, registered in England and Wales with company registration numbers 09177174 & 09178013

Digital publisher of the year
Digital publisher of the year 2010, 2013, 2016 & 2017
Loading