Ms Bernadette Phelan:

On how we get engagement, for sustainability, it is all shoulders to the wheel. A top-down response is needed in terms of political leadership, business leadership and very visible leadership. It is also that grassroots piece. We need all actors on the stage, like any change management process, with a common vision and a common hymn sheet. We have said for many years that it has to be an emergency-type response over the next ten or 15 years because that is the window we have. The leadership piece is important, as well as grassroots and bringing people with us. The consumer has a role, the employee has a role and the SME has a role, so that is important.

Regarding the sectoral approach, absolutely sectors matter. Nine of our members are involved in setting up a sustainable supply chain school for the construction sector. Again, it is that model of the larger construction businesses engaging with their subcontractors essentially to try to upskill them. Important initiatives are happening. It is about looking at whether we can take a model of engagement and collaboration from one sector and apply it to another.

While sectors need to come together, sustainability is a systemic issue and everyone sits in each other's supply chain. To get systemic change, you need to move sectors in unison and they need to talk to each other. That is why, for us in Business in the Community, having that multisectoral view is important. We work with retailers, agriculture and the companies which build the units for the retailers. That cross-sectoral work is important.

Regulation is absolutely a burden. We are dealing with overwhelmed sustainability professionals at the moment. It is a tough lift. Their training needs, upskilling and support are important. The likes of the chartered accountants are doing huge work to upskill their profession. They have a huge role to play. I hope for a longer view gain. We look at where our environmental, health and safety practice was 30 years ago. It is to be hoped we will look back and say it was a tough lift at the time but the benefits have outlived the costs. Much of what we are dealing with is the cost of inaction. In terms of what we lose in our competitive advantage, the cost is too high. There will be a burden over the next three or four years, but if we push through using collaboration and upskilling, it is to be hoped the benefits will outweigh that and we get a fair and just transition.