Striving to avoid causing harm to society

Tell us about your upbringing in Australia and what made you move to the UK and pursue a career in ESG? 

I grew up by the sea in Sydney. My parents always taught us to be grateful and did a lot of charity work. I have always been fascinated by current affairs and politics.  

I got into a philosophy, economics and politics degree, then I did a gap year and travelled around Europe. After finishing my degree, I did some charity work with Mission Australia and I worked as a University tutor - one of the most rewarding things I have done.  

I really wanted to work in London, so I applied for every job I could find. I ended up at Merril Lynch in Asset Management (a very lucky break) and then at UBS. I absolutely loved London and my job, but I knew I wanted to do something that was meaningful, but in a corporate environment.  

A friend suggested Corporate Social Responsibility. I had no idea what that was so I looked it up and it sounded great. I did a course at the UN and then eventually found a job in it. I hopped around a lot, working in Singapore, Doha, Dubai, Hong Kong, Sydney and London. 

Why has environment, sustainability and social responsibility been particularly important to you? 

I think it was the charity and philanthropy work my parents did, and encouraged us to do, as well as my obsession with news and current affairs. When you watch a lot of news you see a lot of injustice in the world, and - however idealistic this sounds - perhaps you want to play your own small part in providing some kind of remedy.  

I am certainly not perfect and there is a lot of cognitive dissonance in my life – while I work in the ESG industry, I am not a vegetarian, I fly a lot as I travel for work and for holiday. I could be doing a lot more. But we all do our own bit in our own way, and that is the most important thing.  

In terms of why it appealed to me to help businesses to operate in a more socially responsible and sustainable way – it was really a pragmatic decision. For me and my skillset, I felt like business is where I could add the most value. ESG touches all parts of a business, so you get to meet so many bright people across interesting teams, and you get a great insight into how business works.  

What made you choose to study the MSc in Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability at Birkbeck?  

This course had a great reputation amongst colleagues. Certainly, it was the location of the University and also the flexibility. Mostly, it was the subject matter that appealed to me. I take a very business-centred approach to sustainability. Things like International Business Strategy, Business Ethics, Corporate Responsibility, Legal Perspectives on Corporate Governance and Research Methodology form the foundations for the degree, and these are really core parts of good ESG practice. 

I found the degree to be really useful, and I met a lot of great people in my industry. I did my research thesis on the top ten FTSE Companies and their ESG programmes prior to and during COVID-19 and I think that was beneficial to understanding corporate dynamics. I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Birkbeck and feel very grateful for the time I spent there. 

Tell us more about your current role at S-RM. 

In Corporate Intelligence we do a lot of due diligence on behalf of Private Equity (PE) firms and banks, including ESG due diligence – this might be looking at a company’s environmental and social footprint, including vetting their supply chains. We do ESG strategy and programme building for both PE and corporates, and help with their reporting and communications to ensure they are compliant with global legislation.  

We focus a lot on social sustainability, including community programmes, data privacy and cyber security, diversity, equity and inclusion, supply chains and social impact. We are very big on technology and AI, so we do some really interesting things there – for example, on a recent human rights project we used heat mapping and satellite imagery to track the movements of people to determine whether there were human rights abuses occurring on particular sites. Every day is really interesting!  

What would you say both businesses and individuals could do to champion ESG every day?  

I think it is important for us to do our own bit in our own way. It is impossible to do it all – if we did, we would all be living off-grid eating the food we sustainably grew. It is best to do what you can, where you can. 

I do think firms need to be accountable for their behaviour, and the only way to do this is for us to truly understand supply chain dynamics - this is a really important part of ESG.  

Many companies will only put real effort into programmes that can provide a return on investment, and will maximise or value shareholder return – and so when I am designing ESG programmes I will always ensure that they have a sound business case, and provide some kind of material impact.  

What advice would you give to those considering working in the field of ESG? 

I think it is a great career and I am always happy to talk to people about the best way to go into it. If you can get some kind of formal education in ESG then that is great, however I don’t think it is explicitly necessary. What I do believe quite strongly is that it is important to be practical and pragmatic about the way you approach ESG, and understand the commerciality and sometimes harsh realities of ESG application. I know a lot of  people who are so passionate about it, but they find themselves disheartened by what they perceive to be a lack of progress or success.  

I think, especially in our current geopolitical context, with much unrest, with so much populism in politics and with big pushbacks on ESG agendas, whether it be from governments like the Trump administration or lobbyist groups or groups of investors, it is very important to be sensible in the way we approach ESG. 

Programmes will generally not get off the ground unless you can show a return on investment or a commercial return, or unless you are mitigating a risk to revenue, operations or reputation. And there are some wonderful ways we can do that now, especially with all of the data and technology available to us, so rather than being disheartened by the state of the world, embrace it.