From invisible to visible
Our plan to enable our communities to thrive in the transition, not just survive it
Our approach signals the beginning of a programme of work in which we seek to address the mis-alignment between how the Social Value Act is deployed, and the needs of local communities, by considering how a businesses such as ourselves - together with our stakeholders and partners can establish a longer term legacy in specific geographic areas to enable local economies and people to thrive in the transition, rather than just to survive it.
Towns and cities with a strong industrial base, such as those involved in the manufacture of high carbon goods, material extraction, and heavy industry, are at risk due to the shift towards cleaner technologies.
Rural communities, especially those dependent on traditional agriculture and fossil fuel usage in businesses or homes.
Areas of deprivation where communities may lack the resources and infrastructure to quickly adapt to new economic realities.
Local government and policy-making roles are instrumental in implementing the strategies for these communities and will require expertise and solutions from all industries to identify and consult with the groups at risk, helping them to plan at scale for a fair and inclusive transition.
Example: There are lessons to be learnt from the long-term impacts of the closure of the steel industries in Corby, Northamptonshire, and coal in Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales. Around 2,500 people were impacted by the closure of Port Talbot blast furnaces and work is underway to consider how these communities could be re-skilled and provided opportunities in the construction supply chain to support green building technologies, low carbon manufacturing or retrofitting for energy efficiency.
How this work can be achieved is by fostering an inclusive and meaningful dialogue in the chosen place. This is because we make two crucial assumptions about the community: 1) The answer to the question ‘what should we do’ is already there and 2) All the required components to take action are also already there.
Our role is therefore to organise stakeholders so that networks or panels can be formed which include the voice of the affected community. This group of stakeholders will also include local and regional government and policy-makers, local businesses from our own supply chain and social enterprises or charitable organisations that support local economic resilience or wellbeing.
This systems thinking approach enables important questions to be answered, such as ‘How should we harness our collective resources to support our community to transition?’ It also enables new interrelationships to form to overcome certain challenges – such as barriers between people and technology or economical barriers for local SMEs.
The end goal is to reach a consensus that has the affected community at the heart of it and ensuring that they have played a significant part in the decisions.
This is the final stage where the activities to support a just transition are reviewed against the initial criteria and social risks and opportunities are assessed, to determine if activities align with community needs – such as creating opportunities for decent jobs and long-term enhancements to livelihoods.
A large part of what can be done is the financial contribution to support it. We have created a dedicated just transition fund which correlates to our own business’ operational carbon performance in order to seed-fund initiatives. The better we perform on carbon reduction, the more money is available in our just transition fund to re-invest in our communities.
Our ambition over the next few years is for every one of our operational businesses to establish a just transition legacy in a local community.
