The majority of a product's negative impact occurs at the consumer use stage of its lifecycle and companies are increasingly looking at how to change the behaviour of their consumers to limit this impact. But where does a company's responsibility begin and end?
In recent years, the bulk of progress made by businesses towards sustainability has been in tackling their direct impact. Although this is by no means simple, it is considerably more straight forward than tackling indirect impacts throughout the entire lifecycle of a product. However, as Oliver Balch outlined in his recent article, for most companies the bulk of the sustainability challenge lies beyond the low hanging fruit of reducing direct impacts.
Thinking seriously about tackling indirect impacts involves working with stakeholders right along the supply chain, with communities touched by a company's operations and with consumers. It involves bringing together distinct, and traditionally separate, business functions to enable collaborative and strategic approaches. It could also involve bringing about significant changes to consumer behaviour and developing new ways of doing business to make this happen.
The second in our let's talk sustainable living series of discussions will ask at what point a company's responsibility begins and ends. To unpick some of the ethical dilemmas involved and highlight leading edge ideas and examples, we will be joined by a panel of experts from the world of business, academia and the third sector.
Join us on Wednesday 11 July from 2-4pm (BST) to take part. To register for a reminder, or submit a question in advance, please complete the form below.
The panel
Dr Iain Black, lecturer in marketing at Edinburgh Business School
Karen Hamilton, vice-president, sustainability, Unilever
Amanda Long, chief executive, Corporate Culture
Dax Lovegrove, head of business and industry relations, WWF-UK
Michael Maniates, professor of environmental science and political science, Allegheny College
Carmel Mcquaid, climate change manager, M&S
This content is brought to you by Guardian Sustainable Business in association with Unilever. Produced by Guardian Business and Professional to a brief agreed with Unilever. Paid for by Unilever. All editorial controlled and overseen by the Guardian.
