Targeting Net Zero: The Role of UK-China Business Report Launch
Can Climate Change be the broker of improving UK-China Relations?
Join a senior line-up of UK and Chinese policy-makers, businesses and academics for the launch of CBBC’s Targeting Net Zero: The Role of UK-China Business. Compiled by CBBC members, the report looks into the opportunities and examples of where Chinese and British businesses have a role to play in reaching net zero and carbon neutrality targets by 2050 and 2060 respectively.
Structured along 5 key themes relating to COP26 it offers a snapshot of what companies have to offer in achieving the ambitious targets that are vital to addressing climate change.
Following a keynote address by CBBC Chair and a presentation of the report by KPMG, there will be a panel discussion around the topic: Can Climate Change be the broker of improving UK-China Relations? Featuring senior representatives from key contributors to the report including Oxford Instruments, Wood, HSBC, bp and University of Glasgow’s Adam Smith Business School.
The event will close with an opportunity to network with other guests over lunch. The event will take place at The University of Strathclyde's Technology & Innovation Centre.
The event will be followed in the evening with a special Banquet. Learn more and register for the Banquet here.
Attendance of this event will be limited.
Registration
Attendance at this event will be limited and interest should be made through the following channel.
Please note that this event is now fully booked.
Register your interest in attending the event here
Event Agenda
- 10:30: Arrival, teas & coffees served
- 11:00: Welcome addresses
- Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, CBBC Chair
- Zheng Zeguang, Chinese Ambassador to the UK (video address)
- Fang Wenjian, CCCUK Chairman (video address)
- Simon Virley, Vice Chair and Head of Energy & Natural Resources at KPMG
- 11:30: Panel discussion: Can Climate Change be the broker of improving UK-China Relations?
- Moderator: Katie Lee, HSBC Senior Adviser – China Affairs
- Nick Bridge, Foreign Secretary’s Special Representative for Climate Change
- Ann Rosenberg, Senior Vice President for Sustainability Solutions, Wood plc
- Jinny Yan, Chief China Economist and Managing Director of ICBC Standard Bank Plc. (tbc)
- John Crawford, Professor in Strategy and Technology Management (Management), Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow
- Stuart Woods, Managing Director of Oxford Instruments Nanoscience
- 12:30: Networking lunch
- 13:15: Close
Speaker Details
Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles KCMG LVO
CBBC Chair and Group Head of Public Affairs at HSBC Holdings Plc
Sherard has been at HSBC since 2013, working as Senior Adviser to the Group Chairman and Group Chief Executive, and more recently heading the Group’s global government and public affairs functions. He also chairs HSBC Bank Oman. Earlier he spent over 30 years in the British Diplomatic Service, including spending working on Hong Kong in the three and a half years up to the handover to China in 1997, and finishing his career as Ambassador to Israel, Saudi Arabia and then Afghanistan.
Sherard is Chair of the China-Britain Business Council; Chairman of the Omani British Business Council; honorary Vice President and immediate past Chairman of the UK Financial Inclusion Commission; an Ambassador for the Money Advice Trust, and for the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust; a Committee Member of The Hong Kong Association; a Board Member of Asia House and the Saudi British Business Council. He is Chair of Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery Trust, and sat on the International Engagement Committee of the British Academy for six years from 2014. He is the author of two books: Cables from Kabul and Ever the Diplomat.
Simon Virley CB FEI
Vice Chair and Head of Energy and Natural Resources, KPMG in the UK
Simon is a Partner and UK Head of Energy and Natural Resources at KPMG. He advises clients on strategy, regulation and deals in the UK energy market.
Previously, he was the Director-General for Energy Markets and Infrastructure at the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change between 2009-15. In that role, he had responsibility for advice to the Government on: oil and gas, renewables (including solar), nuclear, Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), retail markets, decentralised energy, and energy security issues.
He led the work on the Electricity Market Reform (EMR) Programme under the Coalition Government (2010-15) and was the Government expert witness to the CMA inquiry at the end of 2014.
Simon was awarded a Companion of the Bath (CB) in the 2014 Queen’s Birthday Honours list for his work on UK energy supply and energy security issues. He is also a Fellow of the Energy Institute (FEI), on the Executive Council of the Parliamentary Group on Energy Studies (PGES), and on the Board of the University of Sheffield Energy 2050 Programme.
Ann Rosenberg
Senior Vice President for Sustainability Solutions at Wood plc
A Denmark native, but a global citizen based in Los Angeles, Ann has 25 years of experience in the corporate world working with sustainability and purpose. She was part of founding SDG Ambition with UN Global Compact and has dedicated her life to serving as a trailblazer for the UN SDGs.
She launched SDG Ambition at the WEF in Davos, which challenges ands supports companies in being more strategic, and transformative in how they run their businesses to deliver on the 2030 Agenda and build on the ESG framework. SDG Ambition will challenge companies to set bolder goals aligned with their purpose, governance and strategy - and address barriers to speed and scale - with enterprise-wide integration that hardwires the SDGs into business management, business processes, and information technology landscapes. The first ambition launched was Business Ambition for 1.5 C. This ambition challenges companies to take bold action to redefine business models to limit the global temperature and mitigate climate change, which will require integration of new functionalities and datasets within the existing enterprise software for businesses to become sustainable enterprises. This includes carbon accounting across the value chain, carbon ledger approach, calculation of high-level carbon footprint, and more.
She also recently launched SAP Purpose Network Live to connect a community of changemakers committed to addressing the complexity caused by COVID-19. Attend upcoming virtual conversations to connect with likeminded individuals, exchange ideas and support the incredible initiatives presented by various organizations. Let's lay the foundation for a more sustainable future.
John Crawford
Professor in Strategy and Technology Management (Management), Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow
John Crawford is Professor in Strategy and Technology Management and a theoretical biologist with a research focus on systems approaches. He has active programmes of research on the integrated behaviour of the soil-plant-microbe system, food system optimisation; and in the application of AI in systems biology including tissue- and organ-level modelling of Alzheimer’s Disease.
Professor Crawford was previously Science Director at Rothamsted Research in the UK and Complex Systems programme lead in the executive team for the University of Sydney’s $0.5B Charles Perkins Centre, linking sustainable agriculture, food, diet and health. He was the Academic Champion for the UKRI’s successful bid to the UK Government for the £90M Industry Strategy Challenge “Transforming Food Production” programme and remains on the Steering Board. He is also current Chair of BBSRC’s Committee B.
In addition to academic work, Professor Crawford has undertaken consultancies with major multinational companies at the strategic level including supporting one of the largest acquisitions and mergers in history.
Stuart Woods
Managing Director, Oxford Instruments Nanoscience
At Oxford Instruments NanoScience, Stuart Woods leads an incredibly talented team creating high-performance cryogenic and cryogen-free environments for ultra-low temperature and high magnetic field applications in physics, chemistry, and materials science research down to the quanta scale. Building on a 60-year heritage, Oxford Instruments NanoScience is at the forefront of the development and commercialisation of quantum computing around the world.
As an Oxford Instruments executive board member, Stuart leads the company's environmental committee, focused on minimising the environmental footprint of Oxford Instruments' operations, products, and services, alongside having a personal passion for sustainability and mindfulness about the impact we have on our planet.
Stuart has a track record for delivering substantive business impact to companies across the global tech sector by focusing on products both strategically and tactically. His approach takes the whole company into consideration, finding a company’s strength to then develop sales, manage to financials, and grow capable teams – around these strengths.
Throughout his career, Stuart has led a diverse mix of technology businesses - including high volume, high growth in-vitro medical devices; dense telecom multiplexing; optical cables; lasers for mobile phone display manufacturing; medical-grade fluorescent lighting; high-end consumer audio; and mobile mapping systems for reality capture and digital twin creation.