People’s Plan for Nature & Business within the UK
14th March 2023
DAVID ATTENBOROUGH’S WILD ISLES IS A COMPELLING CASE FOR UPDATING THE UK COMPANIES ACT TO ENSURE SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS PRACTICES
Attenborough has returned to our screens with the UK based BBC Series, in which he explores Britain’s extraordinary biodiversity and nature. While the species and scenes captured serve as a celebration of the wonders of the British Isles, in true Attenborough style it rings as a plea to halt further environmental decay.
Providing a testament to the species which exist on Earth, it champions the growing initiatives that are occurring to sustain and protect our planet. One specific UK initiative is The People’s Plan for Nature. Better Business Act’s coalition supporters RSPB, have partnered with WWF and the National Trust, to bring about an assembly of people across the UK to develop a democratic plan for nature within the UK.
The participatory assembly will take place this month, and lead to The People’s Plan for Nature recommendations being published in Spring 2023. It will propose recommendations for governments, non-governmental organisations, businesses and individuals to begin action towards protecting Britain’s incredible biodiversity.
While it is exciting to witness the strengthening of initiatives aimed at protecting the planet and nature, these cannot happen alone. In a recent Civil Service Environmental Network conference attended by BBA campaign director Chris Turner, the theme of collaboration between civil society, policymakers, businesses and MPs was stressed. For real change, an institutional wide shift in fundamentally valuing the environment and society is necessary.
In order to protect the rich biodiversity across the UK, and the planet, businesses can no longer be thinking about only profit. We need to ensure businesses take a responsible approach – and believe the best way to do this is through the Better Business Act, a legal change to company law that commits businesses to align the interests of their stakeholders.
The Better Business Act is a coalition of over 2,000 organisations who are committed to asking the Government to change Section 172 of the Companies Act in order to reform directors’ duties and enable businesses to align the interests of profit, with the interests of people and the planet. The coalition includes Patagonia, The Body Shop, ShareAction and a wide range of organisations who agree that we need to change the law urgently to get businesses to think differently about how they value the environment as a stakeholder. The RSPB is one of these coalition members, who, when joining the coalition, wrote…
“We need to see greater action by business for a nature positive world”
We reiterate RSPBs call to action, and ask businesses across the country to begin aligning the interests of profits with the interests of the planet and people. Currently, a majority of businesses are utilising a top down race to harness the short term gains of vast profits. Programmes like Attenborough’s ‘Wild Isles’, are an urgent reminder of what is at stake if we stick to the status quo.
Mia Stumper, Campaign Intern
Better Business Act