Risk – it’s a word that has increasingly preoccupied professionals in the last few years, and encapsulates business concerns in 2022.

And it was the topic at a conference this week London Excel center, where thousands of guests gathered to hear 200 speakers talk on ESG, cybersecurity, compliance ethics, data protection, crypto regulation, and more.

Consumers first and foremost

Despite ethical practices being a major theme, many speakers on the various panels deduced that businesses have a long way to go in terms of falling in line with both regulation and consumer demands.

“70% of consumers think that businesses should be taking note of the planet,” said Rebecca Burgess, UK CEO, Hunger Project UK. “Mass systemic change is needed.”

Nearly one in two consumers either do not know what commitments businesses have made that they can trust or simply do not trust businesses on climate change and sustainability issues, a consumer behaviour and sustainability report by Deloitte found in 2022.

From Risk to Opportunity

This has provoked a wakeup call in the form of a renewed interest in and focus on ESG, combined with the realization that many businesses are more likely to get VC backing by fulfilling ESG criteria.

It has also been a major factor contributing to the growth of the B Corp movement. Around 5000 companies in 86 countries are currently B Corps. The UK is home to 1000 of these businesses, despite the movement only having arrived on British shores in 2015. “For a business, being a B Corp is a public statement of intent,” said Burgess.

B Corp membership makes a company more likely to be compliant and resilient in the face of a recession. It also provides a framework for businesses to network with each other. The movement was spurred on by the realization that shareholder primacy is no longer working as a business model, since other stakeholders suffer as a result.

Ethical concerns

While ethical and compliance departments can raise awareness among and train employees, “an anonymous majority say their manager has made them act in an unethical way,” sais Cornelia Baciu-Fiorenzano, Ethics and Compliance Manager, Johnson Matthey.

Much of the blame for this lies with middle management, who have to strike a balance between managing people and reaching commercial objectives. Compliance simply gets lost in the process.