April 2022 - Lord Chris Smith

Continuing our emphasis on the theme of environmental engagement and leadership in 2022, the Master, Lord Chris Smith reflects on how Pembroke, especially through the Corporate Partnership Programme, brings together business and academia to take leadership over addressing the climate crisis

In my blog last year, kicking off the Corporate Partnership Programme’s 25th Anniversary Climate Rescue blog series, I talked about how excited I was that we would be using the anniversary year to set our sights on the climate emergency. This year’s theme in many ways builds on the excellent work we did under this umbrella in 2021, shifting our emphasis ever so slightly onto environmental engagement and leadership.

Over the course of 2021, the theme of climate rescue was developed by the Corporate Partnership Programme in a number of innovative ways, including the launch of this monthly blog. A Virtual Round Table in July brought together our William Pitt Fellows for the first time around the topic of ‘’What can the government, science, and business do for the environment?”, while our October William Pitt Seminar asked the important question: “What should come of COP26?”

The success of last year’s Virtual Round Table has led directly to plans for another in July 2022, which will look at “Power and trends in environmental leadership”, and once again bring together a number of our William Pitt Fellows, as well as other colleagues and academics who bring this focus into their work. Meanwhile, October’s William Pitt Seminar is likely to focus on the question of “Who’s in Charge?”, thinking about what it means when we talk about environmental leadership in today’s world.

Last year’s theme was also reflected in how we worked with our Partners on an individual basis – for example, Open Society Foundations, with whom we ran a sustainability workshop in April 2021, looking at how they could minimise natural resource impact and move towards a carbon/GHG neutral operation in their offices.

Sustainability in buildings is something Pembroke is also pursuing closer to home, over the road on our Mill Lane site – a number of different sustainability strategies are front and centre to our plans for this development. In this year’s January blog, Joel Gustafsson discussed Pembroke’s decision to use an 100% heat pump scheme for the site, as one example of how Pembroke is aiming to take leadership over climate-related issues, not just in thought but in practice, addressing the urgency of the climate agenda on the ground.

I would also like to take the opportunity to highlight some of the incredible work being done by Pembroke’s own Fellows. Professor Mike Hulme has a decades-long career in Climate Research and frequently lends his expertise to the Corporate Partnership Programme, including chairing last year’s William Pitt Seminar. Professor Clare Grey’s work improving rechargeable batteries has been highlighted by the BBC. Dr Anil Madhavapeddy co-founded the Cambridge Centre for Carbon Credits (4C) last year, which hopes to improve nature-based solutions to the climate crisis, particularly via deforestation prevention. Dr Mark Wormald, perhaps inspired by his love of Ted Hughes, has played a key role in organising various conferences and discussions on salmon conservation in collaboration with the Cambridge Conservation Initiative. These are only a handful of examples of the wonderful research which goes on within the college’s walls.

Addressing the climate crisis is undoubtedly a team effort, and Pembroke, particularly through the Corporate Partnership Programme, has long recognised the importance of collaboration between business and academia in creating innovative solutions to pressing problems. The role the Programme plays in bringing business and academia together, enabling the very best in research and thinking to inform the day-to-day decisions of individual companies, can be transformative. Nowhere is this going to be more important than in helping environmental engagement and leadership to be recognised, enhanced, and sustained as we meet the climate challenges of the years ahead.