'We are dealing with fastest coastal erosion in Europe': Humber Business Week focuses on sustainability
Business leaders operating in the UK’s biggest carbon-producing industrial cluster are being urged to help lead the country’s economic recovery.
Dr Alan Raw, whose various roles include author, musician, broadcaster, entrepreneur, and sustainability practitioner, invited his audience at the Humber Business Week north bank programme launch to embrace the themes of sustainability, collaboration and culture. He told delegates at the event in the University of Hull’s Business School how the Creative and Cultural Organisation, which he founded in 1993, had turned 34 disused shops in Hull into arts centres, music and recording studios and festival space.
Dr Raw said: “A lot of these shops were in a terrible state but we did them up and got them full of people and full of life.”
Of the wider Humber region, he said: “We are responsible and vulnerable. Our perspectives have always been tied to the natural world and, like every industrial region, we have taken a lot more out of nature than we have put back in.
“We produce more carbon than any other industrial cluster in the UK. We need to innovate to manage with less and still be efficient with less. We are dealing with the fastest coastal erosion in Europe. We are the UK’s second-highest flood risk area, with 90 per cent of the region below the high tide line.
“We are dealing with risks that the rest of the UK is going to have to deal with, but we are dealing with it first, so we are also the best hope for showing the rest of the UK how to do sustainable business and what that looks like.
“We have the world’s largest offshore wind farm, award-winning community sustainability project and some of the best minds and innovators on the planet. We have a great deal of knowledge when it comes to sustainability and resilience.
“You can become national role models, so during business week ask each other what future they want to see for the Humber region, and what role they and their organisations are going to play.”
Emma Calverley, who hosted the programme launch event as Director of Knowledge Exchange at the University of Hull, said sustainability is just one element of Humber Business Week.
She said: “It’s a defining moment in our region’s calendar, and a celebration of everything that makes the Humber such a dynamic, ambitious and collaborative place to live, work and do business.
To find out more visit https://humberbusinessweek.co.uk/