Aldersgate Group reshuffle: New members and new leaders

Five new members have joined the group which already represents businesses with a global turnover of more than £300bn including Asda and Sky.

Strong Platform

DONG Energy (UK), Siemens UK, Vattenfall UK, Interserve and BuroHappold will ‘considerably enhance the Group’s profile in the energy, manufacturing, construction, engineering and consultancy sectors’, Aldersgate said.

Juergen Maier, chief executive of Siemens, one of the largest wind turbine manufacturers in the world, said: “Sustainability and the efficient use of energy is at the heart of everything that we do, from our transport solutions to our building technologies.” 

“Addressing environmental issues can only be achieved in partnership with others. In this respect the Aldersgate Group is a strong platform for bringing together like-minded businesses in order to develop policy solutions and undertake advocacy to tackle climate change and other key environmental challenges.”

UK Environmental Debate

The Group has also appointed Joan Walley as its new chair. Currently the Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent North, Walley will be stepping down in 2015 and is known for her cross-party work on environmental issues.

“I have had considerable exposure to the Aldersgate Group’s work in my capacity as Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee,” said Walley.

“The quality of their work and their effort in building cross-party consensus on environmental issues has helped to inform the UK environmental debate over the past five years. I very much look forward to taking a hands-on role in that debate in the years ahead.”

Dame Fiona Woolf has also been appointed as honorary president, bringing global business experience to the Group. Woolf and Walley will assume their roles from 1st May 2015, when Peter Young takes a planned step down from Chair of the Aldersgate Group after eight years. He will remain a Director.

Earlier this month the Aldersgate Group released a report saying the next UK Government will need to make a number of significant fiscal and regulatory reforms in order to accelerate the UK’s transition to a circular – and therefore more prosperous – economy.

Lucinda Dann