BSI Consumer Forum Conference 2021

This November, Prime Ministers, Presidents, world-leading climate experts and campaigners will gather in Glasgow for the 26^th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26). This powerful gathering is under enormous pressure to agree coordinated action to mitigate the risks of climate change.

As organizations join the #RaceToZero, what role can businesses and civil society play to ensure ‘consumers’ are able to make sustainable choices. How can we all contribute towards a greener, fairer and more resilient future?

Speakers include Safia Minney, People Tree; Rocio Concha, Which? Martin Baxter, IEMA; Richard Chataway,BVA Nudge Unit, UK; Josie Wexler, Ethical Consumer;

Please see speakers' presentations below.

• Fashion in the Planetary Climate and Social Crisis - Safia Minney MBE, Founder of the sustainable fashion label People Tree, REAL Sustainability, Fashion Declares and Advisor, Business Declares
• Changing Behaviour Toward Sustainable Living - Richard Chataway, CEO, BVA Nudge Unit UK
• Consumers and Sustainaiblilty - Rocio Concha, Director of Policy & Advocacy and Chief Economist, Which?
• Helping Consumers Tackle Climate Change - Josie Wexler, Editor, writer, researcher, Ethical Consumer
• Consumers and Nature - Nigel Symes, Head of Sector Advice, RSPB
• Standards Food Politics - Vicki Hird MSc FRES, Head of Sustainable Farming Campaign, Sustain
• How Standards Deliver Sustainability - Martin Baxter, Director of policy and external affairs, IEMA

Peter is the Director of Consumer Rights, Innovation & Impact at Consumers International, the membership organisation for consumer groups around the world. As part of the Leadership Team he is responsible for developing and delivering innovative and impactful programmes through the organisation's Change Agenda, bringing together consumer rights and system insight.

Prior to this he was Head of Sustainability Policy at the British Retail Consortium (BRC), and was responsible for the development and delivery of the industry's sustainable and ethical trade policies.

He is a Trustee of charity Focus on Labour Exploitation (FLEX), and has had additional external roles including Co-Chair of the UK Home Office's Modern Slavery Strategy and Implementation Group on Transparency in Supply Chains.

Safia Minney, MBE, is an award-winning social entrepreneur & internationally recognised for the company she founded, People Tree, a pioneer of sustainable fashion. She led the business as Global CEO for 20+ years in Japan & Europe. Safia is recognised by the World Economic Forum as an Outstanding Social Entrepreneur and is a leading influencer and international speaker on sustainable business and supply chains, climate action and Fair Trade. Safia is an advisor, executive coach and author of 9 books including; ‘Slave to Fashion’, campaigning to eradicate modern day slavery in the fashion industry and ‘Slow Fashion - Aesthetics meets Ethics’.

Safia recently launched www.realsustainability.org to promote sustainable living and leadership and joined other business leaders inspired by XR to establish www.businessdeclares.org.

Julie has worked exclusively in the field of consumer research, advocacy and protection for more than 20 years. She is an independent consultant, writer and researcher specialising in consumer issues. In this role she has delivered successful projects for consumer organisations such as Which, BEUC, ANEC and Consumers International on topics including e-commerce fraud, insurance, inclusive service, complaints and redress. Julie spent six years as a researcher and writer at Which, and a member of the CPIN Steering Group since 2009. As Non-Executive Consumer Director at TrustMark, she created and chaired its Consumer Protection Council.

Richard is CEO at the BVA Nudge Unit UK, and has over 15 years of success in applied behavioural science. He has led communications strategy for both local and central government in the UK and Australia, and worked with commercial clients including IKEA, Pfizer, HSBC, ITV, Kimberly-Clark, UBS, InterContinental Hotels Group, Campari, Channel 4, Southeastern Railways and Natwest Group.

He is a former board member of The Association for Business Psychology and his book ‘The Behaviour Business’ was published in February 2020 by Harriman House.

Rocio is Director of Policy and Advocacy and Chief Economist at Which? where she leads the policy, external affairs, campaign and policy analytical teams. She has over 20 years’ experience in public policy and strategic roles spanning the public, charity and private sectors. Before joining Which?, she was Royal Mail’s Head of Regulatory Reform and Competition, previously, she was a UK Senior Civil Servant and member of the Government Economic Service.  Earlier in her career she was a senior consultant working on regulation in European and Asian markets at NERA Economic Consulting. Rocio is a Board member of Consumer International and the BEUC executive. She is also a Non-Executive board member at the Ada Lovelace Institute.

Josie is a researcher, writer and editor for Ethical Consumer magazine.

Prior to that she worked for a Norwegian environmental consultancy advising companies on decarbonisation, and was the joint author of the Zero Carbon Britain 2030 report at the Centre for Alternative Technology, which looked at how fast we could decarbonise the UK, modelling the energy, transport, land, industry and building sectors.

She has a masters in Environmental Technology from Imperial College.

Tim Webb is an award winning journalist and conservationist specialising in urban sustainability and bringing people closer to nature. Tim has worked for ITN, the BBC, Wildlife Trusts and the RSPB in various front line and management roles. He is a founder Trustee of the National Park City Foundation, the charity behind the movement declaring London the world’s first National Park City. He was one of a small party of people from the UK attending and presenting at the UN Habitat’s World Urban Forum in Abu Dhabi in 2020, and is now the BSI’s Sustainable Standards Network Manager.

Nigel Symes is the Head of Sector Advice at the RSPB. Sector Advice works to advance biodiversity conservation through supporting and partnering businesses to influence land management. These include greenspace management, non-energy minerals extraction, housing development, renewable energy generation, as well as food and farming. Nigel oversees the RSPB’s Hope Farm project in Cambridgeshire, demonstrating low carbon regenerative farming methods and showcasing how biodiversity can thrive on productive farmland. Fair to Nature is an assurance scheme for nature friendly farming and food that helps provide a market connection between food people buy and where it is grown.

Vicki Hird is Head of the Sustainable Farming Campaign for Sustain: The Alliance for Better Food and Farming (over 100 non-profit organisations), and she also runs an independent consultancy. An experienced and award-winning environmental campaigner, researcher, writer and strategist working mainly in the food, farming and environmental policy arena, Vicki has worked on government policy for many years and is also the author of  Perfectly Safe to Eat? The facts on food. Vicki’s passion is insects and other invertebrates. The first pets she gave her children were a family of stick insects and she had a giraffe-necked weevil tattoo for her fiftieth birthday. Vicki also has a Masters in Pest Management and she is a Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society (FRES).

Twitter and Instagram: @vickihird

Emilie has wide experience of the sustainable energy industry in the UK and Internationally, having worked on designing and influencing energy efficiency and renewables policy here and abroad. Her work has grown consumer awareness and uptake of both energy efficient and low-carbon technologies. She oversees Energy Saving Trust’s role as co-secretariat for the Efficiency for Access Coalition - a global movement promoting high performing appliances enabling the world’s poorest people to access clean energy. Emilie is President of the Executive Committee of ECOS, and represents Energy Saving Trust within the European Energy Network - a voluntary group of 24 European energy agencies. She is a member of BSI Consumer Forum.

Martin leads on IEMA's policy and external engagement activity and is a member of the IEMA Board.

He works in the UK, and internationally, to support the transition to a low carbon, resource efficient, and sustainable economy. Martin is a regular media spokesperson on a range of business sustainability topic areas. He has extensive experience of networking and communicating at all levels, including with senior parliamentarians, Government officials, business leaders, and academia.

Martin is a Board member of the Society for the Environment and chairs the Audit and Risk committee.  He is a Fellow of IEMA and the RSA, and a Chartered Environmentalist (CEnv).