2021 Responsible Business Awards from Reuters Events

Ceres boss Mindy Lubber and Cranfield University’s David Grayson are also honoured in virtual version of the prestigious annual awards from Reuters Events Sustainable Business

 

On Thursday, 14th October, over 1,000 business executives tuned in to the 2021 Reuters Events Responsible Business Awards virtual ceremony.

A great variety of different sectors and industries from all over the world were represented. The diversity on display – both in terms of geography and working sphere – demonstrated how delivering a clean, more responsible business future is now an international mainstream effort – and opportunity.

Liam Dowd, managing director for sustainable business at Reuters Events, said: “Whilst we’ve been unable to host a night of celebrations, learning and networking, we took the opportunity to do things slightly differently in this year’s virtual event. We put learning at the heart of this year’s awards, with more information about the finalists, and interviews with the shortlisted and winners during the ceremony.”

He said there were more than 600 entries this year, a 20% increase on 2020. “If that didn’t make the judges work a little harder, then the increased standard of entries certainly did. I was lucky to be dialled into all judging calls and there were lengthy discussions as to who should be recognised as one of our 2021 winners. After the judging process, several judges remarked to me about how impressed they were with the entries and the ambition and impact that they’re achieving. Another remark was how global our cohort of finalists were; we could see innovative and leading programmes from across the globe.”

Dowd added: “Whilst this year we’ve experienced a continuing global pandemic that has crippled the global economy, as well as extreme weather events, with their devastating impacts, I look towards 2022 with hope and optimism. Looking at this year’s entries and the impacts that they’re having, I genuinely believe we can transform the business world. The finalists in this year’s awards represent some of the best examples of what companies can do to help solve the issues impacting them, their employees, customers, suppliers and local communities.”

Below find a couple of the categories and their winners. Find the full list categories and all the award winners here.

Sustainability Trailblazer Award nominees:

Audrey Choi – Chief Sustainability Officer, Morgan Stanley

Peter Simpson – CEO, Anglian Water and co-Chair, Corporate Leaders Group UK

Lucie Basch – Co-founder and Chief Expansion Officer, Too Good to Go

Ezgi Barcenas – Chief Sustainability Officer, AB InBev

Ivan Frishberg – Director of Impact Policy, Amalgamated Bank

Jose Villalon – Corporate Sustainability Director, Nutreco

Richard Ellis – Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility, Walgreens Boots Alliance

Saker Nusseibeh, CBE – CEO, International at Federated Hermes

Sumant Sinha – Chairman and Managing Director, ReNew Power

Martha Patricia Herrera – Global Director of Social Impact and Director, CEMEX

“This was a tough category with a huge array of submissions that were uniquely inspiring. This category is really about individuals driving true change. We felt it only right to recognise two stand-out individuals as winners of this year’s award. Congratulations to all those whose names were listed!”

Winners: Audrey Choi (Morgan Stanley) and Richard Ellis (Walgreens)

Audrey Choi: “She is a real disruptor in her field who will catalyse change in multiple sectors. She’s swimming with sharks and succeeding!”

Richard Ellis: “The judges wanted to award this for a lifetime of dedication and change with Boots and Walgreens on sustainability. There was huge admiration from the jury for his many achievements. They only hope that the next generation can be inspired by Richard and follow in his footsteps.”

Responsible Business Honouree Award 2021

The Responsible Business Honouree Award recognises an individual, or individuals, that have dedicated their career to delivering change and have a track record of success. The Responsible Business Honouree has been and continues to be a catalyst for change within the industry. Recent recipients of the Responsible Business Honouree Award include: John Elkington, Christiana Figueres, Paul Polman, Lise Kingo and Mark Carney, to name but a few.

Responsible Business Honouree Award Winner: Mindy Lubber

Mindy Lubber is the CEO and president of the sustainability nonprofit organization Ceres. She leads an all-women executive leadership team and 125 employees working to mobilise the most influential investors and companies to tackle the world’s biggest sustainability challenges: climate change, water scarcity and pollution, and inequitable workplaces. She has been at the helm since 2003, and under her leadership, the organisation and its powerful networks have grown significantly in size and influence.

Under her leadership, Ceres co-founded Climate Action 100+, an initiative that has more than 500 investors with $47 trillion in assets under management.

Mindy has received numerous awards for her leadership. In 2020, she received the United Nations ’Champions of the Earth’ Entrepreneurial Vision award. In the same year, Mindy made Barron’s Magazine’s list of the 100 most influential women in U.S. finance, and then again in 2021. She has also received the Climate Visionary Award from the Earth Day Network; William K. Reilly Award for Environmental Leadership from American University; and the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship from the Skoll Foundation. She has been recognised by the United Nations and the Foundation for Social Change as one of the World’s Top Leaders of Change. In 2019 and 2020, Ceres was named a top 100 women-led businesses in Massachusetts by the Globe Magazine and Commonwealth Institute.

The judges were keen to give her this accolade for many reasons, but notably for her hard work around climate policy and constructive lobbying during the Trump era when it was especially hard to do so. A deep and leading thinker in the space, she articulates a compelling case for why it’s simply good business to address the needs of stakeholders and create value for them.

Mindy is a pioneer, working tirelessly to advocate for collective action on climate change and always reminding business of its responsibility.

Find the full list award categories and winners here.

 

Reuters Events’ Sustainable Business mission is to help businesses around the globe do the right thing by their customers and the world. We believe this is not only how to guarantee a future for all, but makes good business sense. We serve sustainability, communications, supply chain and ESG with topical and insightful business intelligence and meeting places.

We provide business intelligence to more than 3,000 multinational companies every year. Our customers are also NGOs, thinktanks, academia, governments and consultancies. We publish the leading responsible business magazine, website and research reports. Our conferences are widely recognized as the best in the field bringing together CEOs, heads of business, ESG investors and public bodies to shape the future of responsible business. We’re a part of Reuters Events and based in London.