Sustainability LIVE London 2024: Insights from Sellafield

November 25, 2024

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Eirini Etoimou, Head of Corporate Sustainability & Supply Chain Development and Sourcing at Sellafield, explored sustainability’s role in business strategy

After delivering an engaging keynote presentation at Sustainability LIVE London last year, Eirini Etoimou, Head of Corporate Sustainability & Supply Chain Development and Sourcing at Sellafield, returned to Sustainability LIVE London 2024 to explore innovation, corporate responsibility and the vital role of businesses in global challenges.

Shaping a holistic sustainability approach

Opening her session, Eirini expresses her gratitude for the warm reception and highlights her strengthened team’s role in advancing sustainability initiatives.

She describes Sellafield’s journey as indicative of broader trends, emphasising the critical importance of integrating sustainability into organisational missions.

“Innovation is not just a technology,” she states. “We can use innovation in order to create skill sets, support the social impact agenda and secure a business continuity.”

Eirini explores the interplay between sustainable innovation and efficiency, including strategies like circular design, reducing waste and adopting lifecycle approaches to product management.

These strategies aim to embed sustainability at every stage, from design through reuse and repair.

While she acknowledges barriers such as knowledge gaps and the complexity of adopting circular practices, she urges businesses to prioritise these approaches as they shape their long-term strategies.

Eirini Etoimou, Head of Corporate Sustainability & Supply Chain Development and Sourcing at Sellafield at Sustainability LIVE London 2024

Tackling global challenges head-on

Eirini provides stark reminders of climate change’s devastating impacts, noting that “140,000 people have lost their lives during the last 40 years,” and “only in Europe, 85% were just from heat waves.”

The economic toll has been similarly severe, amounting to “about half a trillion euros.”

She calls for robust adaptation measures, blending infrastructure projects with nature-based solutions to enhance resilience.

Discussing corporate responsibility, she underscores the need for organisations to move from a mindset of “doing responsible things” to truly embodying responsibility.

She emphasises the importance of “all the hierarchy levels taking the responsibility” and how organisations need to “integrate sustainability within them as a culture and within the business ecosystem, in part of the corporate DNA.”

Eirini advocates for embedding sustainability education from early childhood to higher education, cultivating a generation that values sustainability as second nature.

She highlights the need for businesses to communicate their priorities, ensuring alignment with employees and the wider community.

Eirini Etoimou explored sustainability's role in business strategy and culture at Sustainability LIVE London 2024

Driving impact through collaboration

Eirini stresses the interconnectedness of sustainability and social justice, citing her team’s recent experience supporting children in care.

“The things we consider the most basic [...] these things are not there for the children in care and the young people in care.”

“Social justice is about access to income, equal, basic and fundamental things that will give everyone the opportunity to thrive and live the life they need within a community,” she says, linking these principles to inclusive, community-focused business practices.

Turning to the financial sector, she emphasises the potential of sustainable finance to fund socio-economic and environmental initiatives.

However, she warns against “greenwashing or purpose washing” and advocates for accountability among investors managing trillions of dollars globally.

By setting clear expectations and fostering transparency, organisations can ensure meaningful progress.

Eirini also highlights the supply chain as a vital extension of any organisation’s sustainability goals.

She calls for greater alignment with ethical and environmental standards, stressing that an inefficient or opaque supply chain undermines corporate integrity.

“We cannot say that we are role models if we don’t have other role models around us. We cannot seek for efficiencies if we don’t have an efficient supply chain.”

Eirini Etoimou's keynote presentation at Sustainability LIVE London Global Summit 2024

A collaborative journey ahead

As her session drew to a close, Eirini reflects on the importance of global cooperation and knowledge sharing.

She acknowledges the challenges posed by inconsistent legislation but urges businesses to stay committed to sustainable practices.

“We need to move a little bit more and take some action. Check for support and be open to other organisations,” she concludes, “we are in this journey and is is very important that we are all together.”

Eirini’s insights at Sustainability LIVE London Global Summit 2024 underscores the transformative potential of sustainability when embedded in corporate strategy, culture and global collaboration.

Her passionate call for action will undoubtedly resonate with businesses striving to make a lasting impact.