Fairtrade bananas, Ebola vaccines and reducing carbon emissions. What do they have in common? They are all examples of areas where businesses have acted in a way that benefits society as a whole. To act to cut out non-Fairtrade bananas from the supermarket shelves, to accelerate the development of a vaccine, or cut GHG emissions from the supply chain.
What are the reasons behind these decisions and how can businesses be encouraged to do more?
These questions and more will be discussed at a public seminar - organised by Guardian Sustainable Business in partnership with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) - and bringing together a panel of experts from across business and society.
The panel will include; Daniel Becerra, founder of BuffaloGrid; Stephen Howard, chief executive at Business in the Community; Patrick Vallance, head of research and development at GSK; Frances Way, chief operating officer at CDP; and a representative of Nesta.
The panel will debate business responsibility to society and what it can or should be doing. Questions will include:
- What responsibility does business have to society?
- What are the limits to that responsibility? And how, if at all, have these changed in the past two decades?
- What are the motivations for businesses doing social good?
- And what are the risks/benefits to companies?
- What factors can push or encourage companies to do more?
- How can businesses be encouraged to work together or with other actors?
If you would like to join the audience for this debate then please fill in the form below.
Date: 24 September, 2015
Time: 6-9pm
Location: The Guardian, Kings Place, London
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Registration for this event has now closed. If you are unable to attend, we will be reporting on the event afterwards on Guardian Sustainable Business. Please sign up for our updates.
