SMEs Targeted at Sustainability Conference

LONDON, April 9, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

Even in tough economic times small businesses can increase their profits from engaging in sustainable practices and can make a huge impact on overall sustainability efforts, says Ethical Corporation.

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For the first time Ethical Corporation's Responsible Business Summit, Europe's largest CSR and sustainability event, will be engaging SMEs directly by offering special rate tickets to businesses with fewer than 250 employees.

Steven Wilding, Conference Director at Ethical Corporation, says: "We want to make the summit accessible to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, which are the engine of the global economy and a major source of entrepreneurial skills, innovation and employment. In the EU alone around 23 million SMEs provide around 75 million jobs and represent 99% of all enterprises. It is vital that they are part of the sustainability debate."

There are a total of 50 discounted SME tickets available for the summit, which takes place at Novotel London West Hotel, on 7th to 8th May 2013. The price will be reduced to £350 +VAT for a one-day ticket or £750 +VAT for both days - a fifth of the normal price.

According to a US study from the Boston Consulting Group^[1], companies that embrace sustainability see an increase in profits as a result.

The global survey of executives and managers showed that more than a third (37%) of the 2,600 responding from commercial organisations say that sustainability-related actions have added to their company's profit in the past 12 months.

Mr Wilding says: "We hear from many SMEs that their current priority is to concentrate on riding out the storm of the recession and that having a sustainable focus is too costly. We hope that this summit will help to change that opinion and also give SMEs the chance to share best practice, discuss the latest sustainability challenges and build key relationships."

The summit will address many issues surrounding sustainable business, such as meeting key social responsibility demands and easing environmental strain on the planet and will include more than 20 breakout sessions focusing on CSR topics.

Rt Hon Gregory Barker, Minister of State for Climate Change, will deliver the introductory keynote address on Public Private Partnerships: how to mobilise investment in green technology.

The summit will be the meeting place for 500+ senior attendees and 50+ expert speakers from across the world.

Speakers from corporations such as M&S, Microsoft, Unilever, BASF, Dow, Dupont, Rio Tinto, ASDA, Patagonia and Hyundai, will join NGOs like Oxfam, Ethical Trading Initiative, EABIS, Cranfield School of Management, European Commission and Institute of Human Rights and Business.

For more details about the event, visit http://events.ethicalcorp.com/rbs/index.php.

Note to editors

^[1]The Innovation Bottom Line, a joint research report by The Boston Consulting Group and MIT Sloan Management Review is available online here https://www.bcgperspectives.com/Images/MITSMR-BCG-Sustainability-Report-2013_tcm80-126806.pdf

About Ethical Corporation

Ethical Corporation has provided business intelligence for sustainability since 2001 and its conferences are widely recognised as the best in the field. It provides objective analysis for big businesses, NGOs, think-tanks, academia, governments and service providers to the corporate sustainability industry. Ethical Corporation is 100% focused on global ethical business and how large companies are responding to the sustainable business agenda.

Its flagship conference is the Responsible Business Summit, which takes place during the first week of May each year in London. In the past three years the summit has expanded to New York, and will take place in Asia for the first time this year.

For further information and to attend the event contact Nicola Collenette: nicola.collenette@consciouscomms.com or Zoe Scorer: zoe.scorer@consciouscomms.com both on +44(0)1223-393-812.

SOURCE Ethical Corporation