Porritt and Smit To Lead Sustainability Debate at Eden

15.02.2007

Jonathon Porritt and Tim Smit are expected to sound a clarion call to South West businesses at a social responsibility conference, 'Sowing the Seeds of Change', to be held at the Eden Project next month (March).

Porritt, who is chairman of the Sustainable Development Commission, and Eden's co-founder Smit, are expected to call on the region's entrepreneurs to lead the way on responsible trading.
Joining them on the rostrum for the one-day event, which is sponsored by the South West of England Regional Development Agency, will be leading figures from the region's economic development agencies, from consumer and financial bodies and from iconic South West businesses.

The conference is being organised by the South West region of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales (ICAEW) in partnership with Business in the Community. Aimed at South West business people and their financial advisers, it will focus on the economic benefits of operating in a socially responsible way.
"Businesses will prosper when they embrace an ethos of corporate responsibility, and those that do not will falter," warns ICAEW's South West regional manager Jeremy Stewart. "Those that adopt sustainable methods will maximise shareholder value, and those that don't will be held to account."

The conference will examine corporate responsibility from three perspectives: policy, business and accounting.
Jonathon Porritt will chair the session on policy making in the South West, looking at the infrastructure needs of the region and how these can be met in a sustainable way. The audience will have the chance to question and put their views to Phil Smith, managing director of Business West; Simon Hooton, director of policy & strategy at the South West of England Regional Development Agency and Paul Whiteway, director of international sales at UK Trade & Industry.

One of the country's leading chartered accountants, Quantocks resident Peter Wyman, who is head of professional affairs at PricewaterhouseCoopers and a past ICAEW president,  will chair the session on what it means to be a responsible business. Panellists for this session will be Philip Cullum, deputy chief executive of the National Consumer Council; Mark Duddridge, managing director of Ginsters and Leigh Chadwick, director of Cornish clothing company Seasalt.

The final session of the day, on the role of the accountant, will be led by Robert Hodgkinson, executive director, technical at the ICAEW. The panel will consist of  Gaynor Coley, managing director of the Eden Project; Alan McGill, project director, Accounting for Sustainability and Dr. Aris Solomon of the School of Business & Economics, Exeter University.

In his closing speech, Tim Smit is expected to challenge South West businesses "to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."

Following the conference, the South Western Society of Chartered Accountants (SWSCA) will hold its annual dinner at the Eden Project with guest speakers Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones, better known as the South West's 'Black Farmer', and ICAEW president Richard Dyson. The dinner will be hosted by SWSCA president Simon Deane, managing director of Accountancy Plus Training based in Plymouth and Exeter.

For more information about either of these events, which will be held on Friday 9 March, please contact ICAEW South West on 0117 344 5045 or go to www.icaew.com/southwest

Notes to editors:
1.As a world leading professional accountancy body, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales (ICAEW) provides leadership and practical support to over 128,000 members in more than 140 countries, working with Government, regulators and industry in order to ensure the highest standards are maintained. Our members provide financial knowledge and guidance based on the highest technical and ethical standards.  They are trained to challenge people and organisations to think and act differently, to provide clarity and rigour, and so help create and sustain prosperity.  The ICAEW ensures these skills are constantly developed, recognised and valued.

Because of us, people can do business with confidence.

2.The ICAEW is a founding member of the Global Accounting Alliance with over 700,000 members worldwide.

3.The South West of England Regional Development Agency was established by government in  1999 to promote the long-term economic success of the region. It does this by working with  others to give people the skills they need, encouraging enterprise, improving infrastructure,  helping communities with regeneration and promoting the strengths of the region.