Our thinking

On the ground at Innovation Zero

3 May, 2024

This week, the Good Business climate team joined more than 10,000 innovators, policymakers, and other stakeholders at Innovation Zero, the UK’s largest sustainability conference. The event aims to shine a light on innovative solutions for climate change across different sectors, and there was no shortage of exciting climate action on display.  

There was plenty of representation from climate data collection, calculation, and reporting platforms, teasing a future where companies focus their time (and money) on actual emissions reductions rather than costly data collection. Some companies are doing this already: we enjoyed hearing how SailGP are decarbonising their own racing events while also developing innovations to decarbonise the wider maritime industry. Other companies like Volta Greentech, manufacturers of a methane-reducing feed additive for livestock, are already decarbonising clients’ value chains, and, interestingly, pricing their product per ton of emissions reduced (rather than ton of product) to show where the real value lies.  

We enjoyed listening to Ed Miliband talk about the likely energy policy landscape ahead (it was particularly nice to hear him give our friends at Aviva a shout out for their best-practice transition plan). Climate nerds that we are, we’re also excited by the UK Business Climate Hub’s announcement about their upcoming nationwide census on the state of corporate net-zero commitments, which will provide much-needed insights on progress towards emissions reductions.  

The event wasn’t without controversy. From climate protestors heckling the UK government for its environmental commitments to activist Clover Hogan pointing out the incongruity of a major climate event being sponsored by BP, there was no shortage of voices criticising the integrity of stakeholders involved in the conference.  

Ultimately, we came away buzzing from the things we learned and voices we heard, critical or otherwise. There’s plenty to despair of in the world of climate action, but events like these remind us that there is much to be excited about too. 

By Louise Podmore