Greenwashing, where companies make themselves appear more environmentally friendly than they really are, has become a multi-headed hydra.
Greenwashing strategies are becoming increasingly sophisticated, ranging from emphasising a particular green activity, without betraying that the rest of the company’s business is environmentally damaging, to using regulatory loopholes to avoid punishment.
Whilst this sounds like criminal behaviour, some companies are innocently unaware that their activity can be classed as greenwashing and can face unexpected legal challenges.
This seminar seeks to look into these topics and the steps that companies can take to avoid unintentional greenwashing.
Venue: Freeths, 1 Vine St, London W1J 0AH
Chair
Alex Dunn, Research Manager, Cromwell Property Group
Panellists
Jessica Pilz, Global Head of ESG, Fiera Real Estate
Katie Whipp, Head of Deepki UK and Ireland
Alex Dunn, Research Manager, Cromwell Property Group
Alex began working in the property industry in 2009 as an Analyst for MSCI, working closely with institutional investors. In 2015 he joined Cushman & Wakefield where he became Head of UK Business Space Research and then in 2017 joined Gerald Eve as Head of London Office Research.
Alex joined Cromwell Property Group in 2020 and is a Manager within the Research & Investment Strategy team, analysing markets and thematic megatrends across all real estate sectors in Europe. At Cromwell Alex specialises on the environmental impact of the build environment and leads the research on the company’s timber buildings fund.
Jessica Pilz, Global Head of ESG, Fiera Real Estate
Jessica joined Fiera Real Estate in 2020 and is responsible for the firm’s ESG strategies and initiatives across its investments, developments and operations. Prior to Fiera Real Estate, Jessica worked in the Commercial Real Estate Credit Team at RBS (now NatWest) where she was responsible for environmental and sustainability risk processes. Previously, Jessica was at MSCI Real Estate, where she led their global sustainability benchmarking initiatives, and at the Public Investment Corporation Real Estate Asset Managers (PICREAM) in South Africa, where she managed a portfolio or retail assets in underserviced townships. Jessica currently sits on AREF’s ESG and Impact Investment Committee.
Dr Sophie Taysom, Founder, Keyah Consulting
Sophie is Founder of Keyah Consulting, working across the built environment to develop approaches to ESG. She is a speaker on national and international platforms. Sophie’s career spans central government, business and academia. She brings this range of expertise to her roles as a member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology’s Healthcare Sector Executive, as a Trustee for Groundwork London, and as a NED with Trustek. She founded the ESG in real estate group on LinkedIn which now has over 2,000 members. She uses her background to set businesses’ ESG strategy apart from the competition.
Katie Whipp, Head of Deepki UK and Ireland
Katie is Head of Deepki’s UK business. At Deepki, Katie is responsible for the entire UK business; her current focus is on establishing and scaling the growth of the company’s UK footprint, having launched operations in London earlier last year. She is also an active member of Deepki’s Leadership Team, holding a variety of global responsibilities, which stem from her proven track record in strategic operational excellence and the delivery of exceptional customer solutions. Katie’s career has spanned the international real estate space for over 12 years, most recently at CBRE and Cluttons, where she was head of their pioneering CRM programmes. She is an advocate for women and other underrepresented groups in real estate and tech.
This event is in collaboration with RE Women
Thank you to Freeths for hosting this event
