Knitted Birkenstocks

Hello and welcome to knittedbirkenstocks.com!

If you don’t get the reference of ‘Knitted Birkenstocks’, it’s from when Katie Hopkins appeared on This Morning over ten years ago and had a heated debate with Peaches Geldof on attachment parenting, criticising it as ‘it’s all a bit knit-your-own birkenstocks… a little bit natural yogurt’.

I find the dichotomy between them quite amusing, but a similar comparison can be drawn to those who throw soup on paintings on one side and those who say climate change is a hoax on the other side.

I think the Greta Thunbergs’ of this world come from a place of deep compassion and genuine concern for the state of the world, but sadly their sanctimonious and puritanical approach inevitably tarnishes the reputation of sustainability to the wider public, which has led to the politicisation and backlash of ESG/sustainability that we see today – sustainability is on the brink of becoming all a bit too ‘knitted birkenstocks’ for corporates.

I want to prevent this from happening, by taking a more moderate approach. Even if we agree that climate change is a hoax, there are financially material risks from the environment that simply haven’t been considered by companies. To make them aware of these issues will make them resilient in future which is healthy for the wider economy. Equally, we need to be realistic and acknowledge that certain sustainability strategies taken by governments simply aren’t effective and can often just be an additional tax wrapped in a blanket of moral authority.

I’ve worked in sustainability for 5+ years, advising many FTSE500 and large listed companies. I also regularly attend conferences in London, Oxford and further afield, meeting a wide range of sustainability professionals in different sectors and stages of their careers. I’ve seen all sides of the sustainability debate – from my late beloved grandfather in law who was a staunch climate-change denier to vegans shouting at me to castrate myself with a megaphone as I merely stood in the queue to Dishoom.

Public speaking isn’t my forte and I am certainly not a particularly talented writer, but I genuinely enjoy the process of writing and researching, and find it much more meaningful to gather your thoughts slowly with consideration than waffle on at conference where often so much, but also so little is said. So the purpose of this blog is threefold:

1. To make sustainability issues simple and accessible

ESG/Sustainability is such a convoluted topic and is constantly evolving. For those who don’t work in the sector it can be a very intimidating subject full of strange acronyms and terms, made all the more difficult to understand by the corporate lingo that shrouds it. I want to make these issues as accessible to people new to the sector and simple as possible to understand.

2. To give my two cents on controversial topics

Sometimes the cause of sustainability can take such a moral hold on people that they fear to challenge when things don’t make sense. I am critical of certain elements of sustainability that you won’t hear at conferences because it’s not great PR. For example, I am skeptical of the Sustainable Development Goals and think there are some big flaws with Science Based Targets, but many people simply don’t talk about it out of fear that it will discourage action. My take is that if we want true and meaningful change we need to be clear about shortcomings and flaws, discuss them openly and work together to solve them – not hide them under the rug!

3. To inspire the next generation of sustainability professionals and those changing their careers

Often I get approached on LinkedIn by many young people and those wanting to change sectors seeking advice on how to get into sustainability. I didn’t have a sustainability background, but was able to leverage transferable skills from my legal background to pivot into the sector and I am confident that whichever your profession you can do the same. Also unlike some people in the sector who gatekeep their learnings, I am more than happy to share advice on courses, training, recruiters and career progression. I’m a firm believer that if we want to encourage progress on sustainability we need to empower more people in their ESG careers – teach one to fish and all that.

So thank you for reading and make sure to subscribe to stay updated!