Sustainability LIVE - Exclusive Interview With Kier Group

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Sustainability LIVE: Net Zero will take place on 5-6 March 2025
We caught up with Ben Stone, Group Head of Environmental Sustainability at Kier Group, ahead of Sustainability LIVE: Net Zero 2025

Sustainability LIVE: Net Zero will arrive at the QEII Centre on 5 and 6 March 2025 for a two-day hybrid conference that will explore how we can embark on the route to a carbon-neutral world.

Across the two days, attendees will have the opportunity to interact with a range of keynote presentations and panel discussions that will dissect our industry’s most pressing issues, such as ESG integration, AI and the future of the energy transition.

The event will be co-located with Procurement & Supply Chain LIVE: Sustainability, allowing attendees to delve into the evolving intersection of sustainability and supply chain management.

Join us this year and discover how you can harness the latest innovations in AI and sustainable finance to enhance your sustainability strategy.

To get your exclusive ticket, click here

Ben Stone, Group Head of Environmental Sustainability at Kier Group

Ben Stone, Group Head of Environmental Sustainability at Kier Group plc

Ben Stone is the Group Head of Environmental Sustainability at Kier Group.

With more than 20 years of experience in the sustainability industry, he is influential in enhancing strategy evolution and ESG disclosure and has continued to prove his ability to integrate sustainability into business strategies.

Ben advocates for construction sector supply chains to tackle the climate crisis. He is a Board Member of the Supply Chain Sustainability School and is the Chair of the Board of Trustees at Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust. 

At Sustainability LIVE: Net Zero, Ben will feature on our Finance & Stakeholder Engagement panel alongside Jane Thostrup Jagd, Director of Net Zero Finance at We Mean Business Coalition, Saffron Gilbert-Kaluba, UN Net Zero Capital Fund Ambassador at UN and Toby May, Head of Sustainability Integration at Zurich. 

This panel discussion will highlight the importance finance and stakeholder engagement have in enabling the deployment of circular economy models and clean technology and securing innovation adoption and policy alignment to drive the transition to a more sustainable future.

Audience at Sustainability LIVE: Net Zero 2024

What inspired you to get involved in Sustainability LIVE: Net Zero?

Kier is committed to embedding sustainability into our works and playing our part to address the climate and nature emergencies; this can be seen with 69% of our revenue coming from projects with a net environmental benefit last year

But to go further and accelerate we need to collaborate with our suppliers, clients and investors. 

Sustainability LIVE: Net Zero offers us the opportunity to speak about our priorities and engage with our stakeholders to do more

Provide an overview of your Finance & Stakeholder Engagement panel's focus.

This panel will provide an overview of Kier's double materiality assessment and how this helped us shape our sustainability strategy: Building for a Sustainable World. 

I will also explore how we’ve evolved our sustainability governance and decision-making to drive sustainability across Kier and deliver value for stakeholders.

Finally, I will focus on Kier’s contribution to the nature and climate emergencies with a couple of examples:

  • Our operations – reducing fossil fuel use to tackle our carbon footprint
  • Our projects – how embedding nature into our projects helps tackle the climate crisis
Kier Group's sustainability strategy is built on three pillars - 'Our People, Our Places and Our Planet' (Credit: Kier Group)

What do you hope to achieve through Sustainability LIVE: Net Zero?

I hope to share learning, build collaboration and highlight the progress Kier is making, as well as exploring the lessons we learned.

I am also excited to hear what others are doing, learn from it, and understand how we can collaborate and accelerate action.

What emerging trends do you believe will shape the future of sustainability over the next decade?

I believe there will be more focus on data and transparency, but also a more consistent approach to reporting and disclosure.

All companies, investors, clients, regulators, etc are becoming more focused on ESG data and increasingly using the insights it provides to make better decisions.

Climate change is accelerating and I believe we’ll see a pivot to not just low carbon but also adapted to our changing climate and a deeper understanding of how nature can help us adapt.

Ethical labour and social mobility are also becoming essential topics.

The construction sector has an aging workforce, so we need to bring in more diverse people from different backgrounds, but also make sure we and our supply chains protect those people and set them up for success.

To get your exclusive ticket, click here

‘Future of Electric Cars in a Net Zero World’ panel discussion at Sustainability LIVE: Net Zero 2024

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