Building sustainable business from the inside out

Chaired by Kirsty Maxey, the session brought together a distinguished panel:

• Lauren Branston, CEO of the Institute of Business Ethics, with 25 years’ experience in governance, culture and sustainability at global brands such as Starbucks and Coca-Cola.
• Professor Simon Sneddon, University of Northampton, specialist in environmental law and social justice.
• Julieda Puig, former Group Head of ESG Compliance at HSBC, with over three decades in audit, governance and sustainable finance.
• Sabrina Shadie, multi-award-winning ethics and equity consultant, and SME owner working to empower enterprises through values-led practice.

The conversation centred on a deceptively simple but vital question: what have ethics to do with sustainability?

Ethics as the Foundation of Sustainability

Lauren Branston opened with a clear definition: ethics is about the values we hold, the choices we make, and the principles we are prepared to stand by — even when it’s costly or difficult. “Ethics asks not just what is legal or profitable, but what is fair, sustainable and human,” she argued.

For Branston, business ethics is “values in action.” Organisations that embed ethics in their leadership and culture create spaces where people know what is expected of them, feel able to speak up, and trust that concerns will be heard without fear of retaliation. This, she stressed, is not an optional extra but a strategic advantage. Ethical organisations are more resilient, innovative, and trusted by stakeholders — from employees and customers to future generations.

Branston also noted the overlap between ethics and sustainability: both are about long-term value creation, stakeholder engagement, and impact. “Sustainability is ethics through time,” she suggested — a commitment to future generations built on values today.

Moving Beyond Tick-Box Compliance

Professor Simon Sneddon provided a lawyer’s perspective, warning against reducing ethics to mere compliance. Drawing on historic legal commentary, he explained that too many companies operate on a “CATNIP” basis — the “cheapest available technique not involving prosecution.”

Tick-box ethics, Sneddon argued, will never embed sustainability. Instead, businesses must embrace ethics as part of their identity, a “state of being.” His analogy was musical: great guitarists don’t consciously think of each note; it is embedded in who they are. Ethics, too, must become second nature.

Sneddon highlighted the importance of widening our definition of stakeholders — not only employees, shareholders, and communities, but also nature itself. He cited the cosmetics company Faith in Nature, which in 2022 appointed a “Nature Guardian” to its board, tasked with representing the interests of the natural world in decision-making. It’s an approach, he argued, that could help businesses move beyond superficial ESG strategies and take responsibility for the ecosystems on which we all depend.

Finance, Risk and Opportunity

From compliance to capital markets, Julieda Puig shifted the discussion to the financial drivers of sustainability. She reminded directors that we are living through megatrends as transformative as electrification a century ago. Whether businesses like it or not, climate change, demographic shifts and social inequality are reshaping the business landscape — and boards must decide whether to resist or embrace these forces.

Her central point: doing sustainability because “the rules say so” is unlikely to last. True resilience comes when companies choose the ethical route because they believe it is right and because it creates value.

Puig identified three main value streams from sustainability:

1. Risk mitigation – from supply chain vulnerabilities to reputational risks.
2. Business model opportunities – new products, services and markets aligned with sustainability.
3. Capital raising – accessing the fast-growing pool of sustainable finance.

On the latter, her message was clear: sustainable finance is no longer niche. In Europe, over 60% of assets under management are already classified under sustainability categories. UK banks, including Barclays, are embedding nature-based targets into loan portfolios. Companies such as Natura,Natura, “former” owner of Body Shop owner of The Body Shop, have committed to issuing only sustainable debt.

“CFOs must be in the room,” Puig urged. Sustainable finance is mainstream, and directors who ignore it risk missing significant opportunities.

Practical Steps for SMEs

While much of the conversation focused on large corporates and governance structures, Sabrina Shadie brought the discussion back to the engine of the UK economy: small and medium-sized enterprises.

Running two businesses herself, she stressed that ethics is not an abstract concept but a practical toolkit. SMEs can start by adopting a code of ethics, using free resources from the IBE or IoD. They should make their values explicit, engage employees, and communicate openly with stakeholders.

Shadie encouraged businesses to join initiatives such as the Good Business Charter, which provides a low-cost framework covering living wage, prompt payment, stakeholder engagement, and tax fairness. “I’d be surprised if any business owner disagreed with those principles,” she said.

Communication is crucial. Too many SMEs undertake ethical practices quietly, missing the chance to differentiate themselves in the market. Research shows that values-led businesses grow faster — sometimes up to three times faster — and enjoy stronger staff retention, because people want to work for organisations that contribute positively to society.

Her final recommendation: embed impact assessment into everyday decision-making. Whether recruiting, launching a new product, or redesigning a website, businesses should ask how decisions align with their values and impact both equality and the environment.

Key Takeaways

The webinar left the audience with several clear insights:

• Ethics underpins sustainability. It’s about values in action, guiding decision-making beyond profit and legality to fairness, humanity and future generations.
• Tick-box compliance is not enough. Ethics must be embedded as a way of being, not a set of minimum standards.
• Stakeholders include nature. Businesses should explore innovative governance models to give the natural world a voice in boardrooms.
• Sustainability creates value. Risk management, new opportunities, and access to sustainable finance all flow from an ethical approach.
• SMEs can start small but act fast. Codes of ethics, charters, communication strategies, and impact assessments are practical, accessible tools.

A Call to Directors

The Institute of Directors champions the principle that better directors make better businesses. This webinar showed that better businesses are also more ethical businesses.

For directors, the challenge is not simply to “comply” but to lead — to ask the harder questions, to build cultures where speaking up is safe, and to champion ethics as a strategic advantage.

In uncertain times, ethics is not a cost centre but a compass. It points organisations away from risk, towards opportunity, and towards the trust and resilience that underpin long-term sustainability.

As the panel made clear, embedding ethics is neither easy nor optional. But for directors and businesses ready to step up, it is the surest route to building enterprises that are fairer, stronger, and more sustainable — inside and out.