Mainstream’s Chairman Urges Companies to Shift to Clean Energy

Sir Roy Gardner, Chairman of the Mainstream Renewable Power’s Board of Directors, last night addressed delegates at the Sustainable Brands Conference in London.

In his address he told delegates:

“It’s a smart move to replace expensive dirty fuels with cheap clean energy. It’s good for business and good for the environment.

It is rightly claimed that the leading brands of the future will be renewable brands and that we are in the middle of what has been described by the conference organisers as ‘a sustainable brand revolution’.

Looking at the list of the corporate members that make up the Sustainable Brands organisation one realises that a profound and exciting change is underway in the business community and I congratulate you on your corporate leadership in pioneering that change.

I’m particularly struck, Ladies and Gentlemen, by the idea that brands should be the chosen instruments of change. I say this because all of us in business recognise that a brand is our most precious asset. It encapsulates everything we do. It sums up our reputation. It sends out a message about who we are, what we do and where we stand.

Ultimately, a brand defines the values on which a company is based and which guides its strategic choices about the future.

All of us here this evening have made a conscious choice to do business in a sustainable manner and to build sustainability into the core of our brands. For me, it’s an invigorating experience to be part of this elite community which believes that innovation can change the shape of business, and with it, the world.

I believe so strongly in innovation that I agreed to become Chairman of a start-up company in renewable energy. The technologies, wind and solar power, were in their infancy when we established Mainstream Renewable Power but they have now matured to the point that they are competitive with fossil fuels and will become even more competitive with each new technological advance.

This is good news, for if the future is to be sustainable then the energy we use to power our businesses must be clean as well as competitive.

Now it is said by the organisers of Sustainable Brands that the purpose of organisation is to educate business leaders to make smarter strategic moves. It’s a smart move to replace expensive dirty fuels with cheap clean energy. It’s good for business and good for the environment.

The conference programme describes Mainstream as ‘a global developer of wind and solar projects’. That’s what we are and if a company wants to deepen its branding as a sustainable business then we will deliver the projects you need from concept to construction, and, if you wish, to operation and maintenance.

This is the new way of thinking, as advocated by Sustainable Brands. This is one of the new sets of tools they are creating. This is the sort of collaboration they envisage for the future.

So, the reason we are happy to sponsor this reception is because we share that vision of the future. It underpins our brand as a renewable energy company that partners with business to provide energy solutions that are cheap, competitive and sustainable.

We are currently developing renewable projects from Canada to the United States, through Mexico and Central America down to Chile, across to South Africa, the Sub-Sahara and into the Middle East, to Europe and right here in the United Kingdom and our near neighbours in Ireland.

We partner with governments and municipalities to make the transition from fossil fuels to renewables. And increasingly we work with those businesses which have chosen to opt for sustainability as a core value, such as Ikea with whom we partner in North America and here in Europe as their provider of renewable energy.

They are quite clear about the value and power of their brand, and want to enhance it, as we do too.

As a businessman engaged in many different sectors, I believe that brands can play a major role in shaping a flourishing future, as the conference organisers desire. When I look at the three-day programme which has been arranged for you I become even more convinced that sustainability is not only desirable as a social objective but is eminently achievable as a business goal.

I congratulate the organisers on the excellence of the conference programme and I reaffirm our pleasure at being associated with this most admirable venture.

I particularly commend you, the corporate members of sustainable Brands, for your individual and collective commitment to a new, and better, way of doing business.

And with those few words, I now invite you to enjoy the evening and trust you will derive great benefit from the two days ahead.

I thank you for your attention.”

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Press release; Image: Mainstream Renewable Power