Liverymen / Freemen/ Associates / Guests

Presented by Allan Barton, Global Business Leader of Arup’s resource and waste business

About this Webinar

Changing society’s behaviour is difficult, but it starts with individuals taking action to change themselves. The first step in this process is to build a firm determination to change. The webinar will help you develop this firm determination by highlighting the impact we are having on our home, planet Earth and then highlights areas when you can contribute to saving the natural world in your private and working lives.

It will start by explaining how we got to today, the issues we face, and then highlight six key topics that must be addressed:

1. The impact of climate change, where significant positive global action is immediately required and deliver on the COP27 Climate Change promises.
2. The urgent need to start protecting and rewilding our natural world including land and oceans and deliver on the COP15 Global Biodiversity Framework promises.
3. The environmental concerns highlighted by the concept of planetary boundaries.
4. The need to deliver on the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
5. The need to deliver on the concept of the Circular Economy.
6. It is also now imperative we start treasuring our planet’s resources in every facet of human activity. Including every stage of their use, starting at the point of taking them from the natural world to ultimately leaving them so they can be accessed by future generations.

Allan will also share some of the areas that mankind has impacted the natural world he saw on a recent visit to Antarctic.

This webinar will hopefully nudge you and society towards realising the need to urgently start “Treasuring the planet’s resources for the future”.

About the Speaker

Allan’s career has led him towards being passionate about this wonderful planet we live upon. His particular focus is on the resources we use to sustain our way of life and treasuring them for future generations. For the past 15 years he has worked for Arup, a global engineering consultancy, as their Global Business Leader for Resources and Waste. This has allowed him to travel the world, helping people understand how they can better handle the planet’s resources.

Prior to this he worked for 20 years at Shanks, which at the time, was one of the leading Waste Management Contractors. He held various positions concluding with being Managing Director of Shanks East London, a company building and running a large a waste PFI business. He has worked at Director level for the past 27 years and has considerable experience of the global resource and waste sector, and the technologies and processes employed to handle and treat all categories of waste.

Allan now has a portfolio of activities in addition to Arup. These include being a member of the I Mech E process industries Board leading their working group on Sustainable Resources, and a Court Assistant of the Company of Water Conservators, who focus on promoting a diverse and sustainable environment. He is also passionate about promoting personal development, leadership, encouraging society to be more thoughtful about the way we live on our planet.

Previously he has been:
Non-Exec Chair of SEaB Power Limited.
Chair of the Advisory Board to the Sustainability and Resource Efficiency Knowledge Transfer Network (Part of Innovate UK).
Member of the Agri Food Technology Council (A UK ministerial chaired leadership council) supporting them on sustainability.
Director of Ecology of Care Network CIC.
Non-Executive Director London Remade Ltd and member of its Audit Committee.
Non-Executive Director Chemical Industries Association and member of its sustainability panel.