#15 Peter Smith: How Bristol’s Ashton Gate Became a Force for Change

#15 Peter Smith: How Bristol’s Ashton Gate Became a Force for Change

In this episode, Philippa talks to Peter Smith about how a football club becomes a force for environmental change, why operations and sustainability are inseparable, and why honesty matters more than perfection on the road to net zero. Peter Smith is Head of Change and Sustainability at Bristol Sport, the organisation behind Bristol City Football Club, the Bristol Bears Rugby Club and Ashton Gate Stadium. He has spent 17 years with the club, moving from match-day work into stadium development and ultimately  leading its sustainability initiative, Project Whitebeam. Under his leadership, Ashton Gate has signed the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework and won multiple awards for environmental innovation. In this conversation, you'll hear about: * How a single "sustainable" coffee cup that nobody knew how to dispose of revealed that the club's good intentions weren't joined up, and how that moment gave birth to Project Whitebeam. * Why Peter believes there may be no such thing as a single "sustainability expert", and how he broke the topic into five key impact areas: climate change, waste, water, biodiversity and air quality. * What sustainability looked like during the £45 million redevelopment of Ashton Gate, from a large rooftop solar array and a building management system to sensor lighting and low-flow taps. * Why the club set bold targets, 50 percent emissions reduction by 2030 and net zero by 2040, before it even knew what its carbon footprint was, and why setting the destination came before knowing the route. * The "road to hell is paved with good intentions" trap of performative sustainability, and why Peter insists on genuine-impact actions over low-value gestures. * How fan travel became the club's biggest single impact area, with shuttle buses, free cycle repair workshops, additional train services and cycle usage reportedly quadrupling in recent years. * The co-benefits of action: unsold pies and pasties going to a homeless shelter, warm clothing collected for people sleeping rough, and a food charity diverting meals from landfill over a five-year period. * Why Peter manages this as a change-management challenge, devolving responsibility through task forces at each club and asking every department to wear its "green goggles". * What the EFL Green Club accreditation involves, why Bristol Sport was the first non-Forest Green Rovers club to achieve it, and how the tiered bronze-silver-gold system now helps every club climb the ladder. * Why Peter argues sports organisations have both a responsibility and an opportunity to lead on climate, given the unique passion and community they bring together. * His advice to smaller clubs with fewer resources: just get started, find your own thing, and remember that perfection is the enemy of the good. Key takeaway: Peter's argument is that sustainability and operations cannot be separated: operations cause the impact, so they must also deliver the solution. Bristol Sport's progress came not from waiting for a perfect plan but from a bias towards action, supported by leadership willing to be bold and a culture of devolved ownership. Honesty is the throughline, refusing to claim the club is "saving the planet" while acknowledging its impact is still too high. The practical message for any organisation is simple: get one building block in place, find the wins that also save money, and never let sustainability take away from what people love. The following podcast is intended to be of a general nature, will not be suitable for everyone, and should not be treated as a specific recommendation. We recommend taking professional advice before entering into any obligation or transaction. Paradigm Norton Financial Planning Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Our FCA Register number is 455083.  Registered in England. Reg No 4220937, VAT Reg. No 918550904.

#14 Anne Johnstone: Why Heat Is the Invisible Giant of Net Zero

In this episode, Philippa talks to Anne Johnstone about why heat has been overlooked for decades, what it actually takes to move buildings off gas, and why energy security is as much about storage and infrastructure as it is about generation. Anne Johnstone is ESG Director at Vital Energi, a company delivering low-carbon heat at scale through heat networks, large heat pumps and long-term energy infrastructure. She has spent more than two decades working across sustainability, the built environment and energy. Anne grew up in a former coal mining community in North Lanarkshire, and that experience shapes her conviction that the move to net zero must also be a just transition: one that creates opportunity rather than resentment. In this conversation, you'll hear about: * Why heat accounts for almost half of the UK's carbon emissions, and why a 50-year-old habit of burning gas through 85 percent of buildings has made it almost invisible until energy bills tripled. * What decarbonising heat actually looks like on the ground: individual heat pumps, district heat networks pulling warmth from rivers, sewers, data centres and waste heat, and why hydrogen has no realistic role in domestic heating. * Why heat networks have stalled in the UK despite being mature, proven technology, from regulatory blockers and the missing utility status only granted this year, to the four-to-one price gap between electricity and gas that the wholesale market still ties together. * The Queens Quay project in Scotland, where two river source heat pumps draw enough warmth from the Clyde even at three degrees in winter to heat an entire connected community. * Why "the pipes don't care where the heat comes from": once district heat infrastructure is in the ground, the heat source can be swapped and upgraded over a 60-year lifespan, which is why the priority is getting pipes in now. * Why energy security is not the same as drilling more North Sea oil and gas: the basin is in decline, gas is sold on a global market regardless of where it is extracted, our offshore storage at Rough has been run down, and the UK is already a net importer. * The 1.5 billion pounds paid last year in curtailment payments to wind farms told to switch off because the grid cannot move their electricity, and how thermal stores can absorb that wasted renewable energy as heat for days or weeks. * Why a just transition matters: growing up watching the miners' strikes hollow out her village taught Anne that promises of "new jobs will replace these" are not enough, and that skilled pathways and apprenticeships are the only honest answer. * What Vital Energi is doing about the skills gap, with 30 apprentices in its largest intake yet and 15 percent of the workforce on a learn-and-earn pathway, plus the Powering Futures schools programme now in 125 Scottish schools. * The one thing Anne wants every business leader setting net zero targets to understand: you cannot reach them without thinking about heat, and the closer you get to your target year, the more expensive it becomes to leave it in the too-difficult box. Key takeaway Anne's argument is that the UK has spent years debating generation while ignoring the half of emissions that come from heating buildings. The technology to decarbonise heat already exists, is proven across Denmark and the Netherlands, and is delivering 70 to 80 percent emissions reductions in working UK projects. The blockers are regulatory, financial and behavioural, not technical. The risk now is not that we fail to decarbonise heat, but that we rush it, scale it badly, and create a new wave of fuel poverty in the process. The practical action for every listener is small but real: find out whether you are in a heat network zone, and start asking the questions that make local projects viable. The following podcast is intended to be of a general nature, will not be suitable for everyone, and should not be treated as a specific recommendation. We recommend taking professional advice before entering into any obligation or transaction. Paradigm Norton Financial Planning Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Our FCA Register number is 455083.  Registered in England. Reg No 4220937, VAT Reg. No 918550904.

#13 Eileen Akbaraly: Why Fashion's Future Is a Living System, Not a Brand

In this episode, Philippa Hann talks to Eileen about what it takes to build a luxury fashion business where dignity, sustainability and profitability reinforce one another, why the concept of a brand is too limiting for what she is creating, and what other industries can learn from rebuilding a supply chain around the people inside it. Eileen Akbaraly is the founder and CEO of Made for a Woman, a luxury fashion social enterprise based in Madagascar working with handwoven raffia. Half Italian, half Indian and raised in Madagascar, she trained in fashion only to find an industry obsessed with making more money rather than making better lives. After graduating she went to work in the slums of Phnom Penh, then returned home to build something different. Six years on, Made for a Woman works with over 1,000 artisans, predominantly single mothers, gender-based violence survivors, disabled individuals and women from disadvantaged backgrounds. The company collaborates with major luxury houses, runs childcare facilities and is building a primary school, mental health centre and shelter on site. Eileen was awarded Gold for Individual Changemaker of the Year at the Global Good Awards. In this conversation, you'll hear about: * Why CSR cannot be bolted on later: how Eileen built her supplier relationships, certifications and company culture around impact from the foundation, so doing the right thing is structural rather than heroic * The SHAPE model and how Made for a Woman measures social stability, health, autonomy, professional development and economic empowerment as core KPIs alongside production * Why happier artisans produce better work, why the company is hiring a "happy manager", and how investing in wellbeing pays back in product quality and delivery * The tension between handmade luxury and a fast-paced industry, and why even certified, B Corp, Fair Trade companies are still operating inside a system Eileen believes is fundamentally unsustainable * Why she rejects the idea of being just a brand and is building a "living system" instead, with traceable supply chains, blockchain digital product passports, and a replication model now launching in Brazil * How values get tested in practice: turning down well-connected collaborators and lower pricing that would have unlocked faster growth, because they did not fit the long-term vision * Why the antidote to consumerism is community, why consumers need a real relationship with the people behind the products they buy, and what changes when that separation disappears Key takeaway Made for a Woman is a working argument that luxury and human flourishing are not opposites. The fashion industry has spent decades treating the people in the supply chain as invisible, then spending millions on marketing to sell the resulting products as dreams. Eileen's case, built from inside one of the world's biggest manufacturing hubs rather than from a boardroom in Europe, is that the dream is fake and the real value lives upstream, in the artisans, raw materials and communities that make the work possible. The shift is not just a better factory. It is a different definition of what luxury means and who it is for. The following podcast is intended to be of a general nature, will not be suitable for everyone, and should not be treated as a specific recommendation. We recommend taking professional advice before entering into any obligation or transaction. Paradigm Norton Financial Planning Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Our FCA Register number is 455083.  Registered in England. Reg No 4220937, VAT Reg. No 918550904.

#12 Kate Allan & Emma Chaplin: Why TV's Waste Problem Is Really a Community Opportunity

In this episode, Philippa Hann talks to Kate and Emma about what it takes to spot something that feels wrong inside your own industry and actually do something about it, why a clearance solution turned out to be a community story, and what other sectors can learn from how PropUp Project has reframed waste as a resource. Kate Allan and Emma Chaplin are TV producers turned co-founders of PropUp Project, a non-profit social enterprise that rehomes, resells and recycles leftover sets, props and costumes from the TV and film industry. After years of watching the same waste cycle on every job, they used the pause of COVID to test an idea, and PropUp Project has been running ever since. In just over four years, PropUp has redistributed more than 31,000 items to over 200 schools, charities, community groups and reuse projects nationwide, works with major broadcasters including ITV, and was recently recognised with Gold for Start-up Enterprise of the Year at the Global Good Awards. In this conversation, you'll hear about: * Why the freelance structure of TV and film, where one person is left to handle clearance with little time or budget, has made waste the default for decades, and how the streaming explosion has made the volume dramatically worse * What it takes to make the right thing also the easy thing for producers: a one-stop service that handles the recce, inventory, redistribution, logistics and impact report so teams do not have to think about it * Why local-first redistribution works: the proof-of-concept storage unit in Somers Town that was full of items needed by community groups within a one-mile radius, and why this shaped the whole model * The stories that come out of clearance jobs, from prison-set mattresses going to early years nursery soft play, to branded hi-vis jackets becoming upcycled laptop bags, to a giant Last Supper painting taking pride of place in a local church at Easter * Why behavioural change in any industry needs three things together: people who care setting an example, top-down policies that make the wrong thing more expensive, and awards that celebrate the good stories * How running PropUp has changed the way Kate and Emma shop, parent and see the people around them, and why the team's deepest message is that this work is not about stuff, it is about community * The two-step advice they give anyone who keeps having the same conversation about something wrong in their industry: trust that if you have seen it, others have too, and find one person to start with before doubt sets in * Why the impact reports matter as much as the clearance itself, and what it means when items become a lifeline rather than a donation for families in furniture poverty Key takeaway PropUp Project shows how the right business model can turn a structural waste problem into a community one. The challenge was that the freelance pace, shrinking budgets and habit of putting a line in the budget for a skip made the right thing harder than the easy thing. Kate and Emma's argument, shaped by years inside the industry rather than outside it, is that change happens when you take the friction away, redistribute locally, and show people where their stuff ended up. The schools, theatres, refugee charities and community groups receiving these items are not waiting for the industry to be perfect.  The following podcast is intended to be of a general nature, will not be suitable for everyone, and should not be treated as a specific recommendation. We recommend taking professional advice before entering into any obligation or transaction. Paradigm Norton Financial Planning Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Our FCA Register number is 455083.  Registered in England. Reg No 4220937, VAT Reg. No 918550904.

#11 Adam Flint & Louise Robson-Turner: What Schools Can Teach Businesses About Sustainability and Behaviour Change

In this special episode, our Head of Impact, Steve Watters, talks to Adam and Louise to explore what it actually takes to shift behaviour inside complex, time-poor institutions, what businesses can learn from schools, and why better design is usually more powerful than louder messaging. Adam Flint is Education Manager at Keep Britain Tidy, overseeing the delivery of EcoSchools in England. He spent 14 years at the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester designing learning experiences and then led MADE, Manchester's cultural education partnership.  Louise Robson-Turner is a Project Manager in Keep Britain Tidy's EcoSchools team, joining the Count Your Carbon project shortly after launch.  Together, they were central to developing Count Your Carbon, the first free full-scope carbon calculator built specifically for schools, aligned to the global greenhouse gas protocol and designed to support action, not just reporting. The tool recently won gold for Game-Changing Innovation of the Year at the Global Good Awards. In this conversation, you'll hear about: * What 14 years of designing learning at the Science Museum Group taught Adam about how behaviour actually changes, and why incremental, relatable encounters with ideas matter more than big announcements * Why the Department for Education's 2022 requirement for schools to have climate action plans and sustainability leads created a gap that no existing tool was filling, and how Count Your Carbon was built to fill it * Finding a proportionate effective approach - why Count Your Carbon asks for enough data to produce a confident footprint estimate but not so much that it becomes an unreasonable burden, and what 18 months of development with dozens of school collaborators revealed about that balance * What the national benchmarking data across the English schools estate actually showed: student and staff commuting combined as one of the biggest emission areas, food as a major factor in primary schools, and energy as the third most significant category * Why many schools focus heavily on waste and recycling but those actions have a relatively small impact on their carbon footprint compared to food choices and travel, and what full-scope measurement makes visible * How the tool was designed to feel like an empowerment tool rather than a compliance exercise, and why the framing centres on tracking progress rather than measuring how well or badly a school is doing * Why over 5,000 schools have registered since launch, what is driving that uptake, and what the data from two full academic years will start to reveal about long-term impact Key takeaway Count Your Carbon is an example of how to solve using a suitable approach and tool to estimate carbon emissions.  The challenge was never whether schools cared. It was that the tools available were either too simple, too expensive, or built for businesses.  Adam and Louise's argument, shaped by backgrounds in arts and cultural education rather than sustainability consultancy, is that behaviour change starts with removing friction and building confidence, not simply raising awareness. The schools using the tool are not waiting for permission or perfection. They are starting where they can, measuring what they can see, and building from there. That is the only sequence that works. The following podcast is intended to be of a general nature, will not be suitable for everyone, and should not be treated as a specific recommendation. We recommend taking professional advice before entering into any obligation or transaction. Paradigm Norton Financial Planning Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Our FCA Register number is 455083.  Registered in England. Reg No 4220937, VAT Reg. No 918550904.