The Institute of Directors’ Sustainability Special Interest Group recently hosted a webinar in partnership with the Institute of Business Ethics (IBE), exploring the question: what has ethics to do with sustainability?
Chaired by the Institute of Directors Sustainability Group committee member Kirsty Maxey, the panel featured Lauren Branston, CEO of the IBE; Julieda Puig, former Group Head of ESG Compliance at HSBC; Sabrina Shadie, ethics and equity consultant and SME owner and Professor Simon Sneddon, University of Northampton.
Together they offered complementary perspectives on why ethics matter, how they can be embedded, and what directors can do to lead.
Lauren Branston defined ethics as ‘values in action’ – not just what is legal or profitable, but what is fair, sustainable and human. For the IBE, ethics underpins sustainability: ‘sustainability is ethics through time’.
Lauren highlighted the importance of ethical culture: clear expectations, safe channels for speaking up, and leaders who model values. Ethical businesses are not only fairer, she argued, but more resilient, innovative and trusted.
Professor Simon Sneddon warned against reducing ethics to compliance. Too many companies, he said, still operate on a ‘CATNIP’ basis – the cheapest available technique not involving prosecution.
Real progress comes when ethics becomes a state of being, embedded into what organisations are. He called for businesses to widen their view of stakeholders to include nature itself, citing cosmetics brand Faith in Nature, which appointed a Nature Guardian to its board.
Finance, risk and opportunity
Julieda Puig shifted the focus to capital markets. She argued that we are living through megatrends as transformative as electrification a century ago, and businesses must choose whether to resist or embrace them.
For Julieda, the value of sustainability comes in three forms:
- Mitigating risks such as supply chain disruption and reputational damage
- Unlocking new business opportunities
- Accessing the fast-growing pool of sustainable finance
In Europe, more than 60% of assets under management are already sustainability-linked, and UK banks are embedding nature-based targets. CFOs, she stressed, must be engaged in these conversations: sustainable finance is mainstream.
Sabrina Shadie brought the discussion down to earth for small businesses, which make up the majority of the UK economy. SMEs, she argued, can start simply by adopting a code of ethics, joining initiatives like the Good Business Charter, and making their values explicit to staff and customers. The IoD’s Code of Conduct for directors is also an excellent reference in this regard.
Research shows that ethical businesses grow faster and retain staff more effectively. “No one wants to work for the villain,” said Sabrina. Communication is key: too many SMEs keep their ethical practices hidden. She also recommended simple tools such as decision-making trees and equality and environmental impact assessments to embed ethics into daily operations.
Key takeaways for directors
- The session left the audience with five clear insights:
- Ethics underpins sustainability – it guides decisions beyond legality and profit to fairness and humanity
- Tick-box compliance won’t do – ethics must be embedded as a way of being
- Stakeholders include nature – innovative governance can give the natural world a voice
- Sustainability creates value – through risk management, opportunities and access to finance
- SMEs can act now – with codes of ethics, charters, and transparent communication
The IoD believes better directors make better businesses. As this webinar made clear, they also make more ethical businesses. In uncertain times, ethics is not a burden but a compass. It steers organisations away from risk, towards opportunity, and towards the trust that underpins long-term sustainability.
For directors, the challenge is not simply to comply, but to lead – embedding ethics as strategy and building businesses that are sustainable inside and out.
By Adrian Pryce DL, Associate Professor of Strategy and Society at the University of Northampton and Chair of IoD National Sustainability Group.
Find out more about the IoD code of conduct here. For more information, contact Adrian Pryce on 07720 297402, email adrian.pryce@northampton.ac.uk or visit their website.
