Intelligence Squared: Business

In the final episode of Intelligence Squared's series Tides of Transformation, James Marriott of Platform London and the co-author of Crude Britannia: How Big Oil Shaped a Nation and Connor Watt, an anthropologist from the London School of Economics, are joined by the Executive Director of Uplift Tessa Khan for a conversation about what ending our relationship with oil could look like in the different areas that comprise the United Kingdom’s oil sector, including the offshore, finance, retail, and refining. Our panelists also explore the impact of decisions by the regulator to issue further licenses for drilling for oil, like the one recently granted at Rosebank, on the energy transition.

Other contributors include former Chair of the Climate Change Committee Lord Deben and Labour MP for Sheffield Hallam Olivia Blake.

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For more information about Tides of Transformation: An Oil Story, please visit: https://www.intelligencesquared.com/tides-of-transformation/. This series was produced in partnership with the Fraying Ties? project.

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Solar panel installers, architects, environmental scientists, recycling coordinators, wind turbine engineers, geologists, project managers, electric vehicle manufacturers – these are just a small subset of the countless jobs connected to the green revolution. For renewable energy to be a sustainable part of our lives, we need to ensure it offers both economic growth and climate security. How do we ensure the social and economic benefits of clean energy are available to all, and not just those at the top of the food chain? How can the public and private sector work together to encourage people to work in the green energy sector? What are the best ways to increase investment in green jobs? And is it possible for us to create an economy in which the health of the planet and the wellbeing of its inhabitants is a priority and profit isn’t the only goal?

To answer all these questions and more, Intelligence Squared brought together a panel of expert speakers to discuss their plans for creating economic growth and job opportunities within the green economy. ScottishPower Strategic Resourcing Manager Madeline McCreanor will be joined by Sam Alvis, Director of Energy at policy and insights firm Public First, and Shaun Spiers, Executive Director at the environmental think tank Green Alliance in a live panel discussion, hosted by journalist and broadcaster Kamal Ahmed. This podcast was produced in partnership with Iberdrola.

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Not many of us can claim to have hunted with the Bushmen of the Kalahari; been detained for spying by the KGB; or smuggled ourselves over a border into an active war zone under the floorboards of an ambulance. Yet, for our latest guests on the Futureverse, this is all in a day’s work.

The Sunday Times’ Chief Foreign Correspondent Christina Lamb, who has been covering conflict around the globe for over three decades, does not regard herself as a risk taker, though. It was not an attraction to danger that led her to war reporting, but a surprise wedding invitation that landed on her desk in 1987. Similarly, as a teenager, the adventurer and broadcaster Simon Reeve, enjoyed the thrill of cycling down Acton High Street on his BMX, but did not imagine that he would spend his early professional life on the tail of neo-Nazi terrorists in Boston Spa.

In this special episode of the Futureverse, Christina and Simon join Kamal Ahmed for a conversation about their attitudes to risk: what motivates them to take the risks that they do and how they calculate risk on the ground. It is a fascinating insight into what it means to put your life on the line in order to shine light on the darkest corners of the world. It also is a prescient reminder of Y TREE’s core principles: mitigate unnecessary risk – even Simon Reeve will not get in a car without a seat belt – and always set a personal risk level that feels right for you.

The Futureverse is brought to you by Intelligence Squared in partnership with Y TREE. The past is in your head. The future is in your hands. For more information visit y-tree.com/futureverse

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How do we define value? How has this changed over time? And who decides what is deemed valuable? For centuries, society has seen value mainly through an economic lens: one takes a job because of its monetary benefits; marriage is a financially beneficial relationship that enables stability; and the true test of a business is its profit at the end of the year. But is this changing? In recent years, factors such as climate change, social justice and the pandemic have forced us to reconsider how we define value. We are in the era of the Value Revolution.

In this episode, recorded on July 5 at Y TREE's second live event in the Futureverse series, three experts discuss and debate some of the most pressing issues that have arisen as a result of this critical turning point: Will private equity transform the financial industry? Can capitalism really adapt so that things other than monetary value are considered important in business, including fairness and environmental impact? And are we finally seeing a growing awareness that value is not always quantified by a price tag? Some things, such as time, health, job satisfaction and the survival of our planet are surely worth more than a number in a bank account.

Simon Brewer, host of the award-winning Money Maze Podcast, gives us his thoughts on the dramatic shifts in the economy over the last few decades. Political economist and author Adrienne Buller argues that businesses that engage in sustainability initiatives and ‘green capitalism’ are harming rather than helping the planet. And Lucy Kellaway, former FT columnist, now charity founder, author and maths and economics teacher, offers a fresh way to decide what to prioritise in our personal and professional lives. Expertly hosted by broadcaster Jon Sopel, this is a conversation that is guaranteed to change the way you think about value and worth.

To find out more visit https://www.y-tree.com/futureverse

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My goal was never to just create a company. I wanted to build something that actually makes a really big change in the world.” – Mark Zuckerberg How did it all go wrong for Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of Facebook? How did a company that says it wants to bring people together become one of the most potent tools for polarisation in the world? According to The New York Times reporters Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang, the missteps we’ve seen in the last five years are not an anomaly but an inevitability: this is how the platform was built to perform. In a period of great upheaval, growth has remained the single focus of Zuckerberg and his COO Sheryl Sandberg. In this week's episode, Frenkel and Kang speak to Josh Glancy of The Sunday Times to share the revelations of their new book An Ugly Truth. Drawing on unrivalled sources, Frenkel and Kang give us an unprecedented view inside the politics, alliances and rivalries within one of the most powerful companies in the world. To get the Intelligence Squared discount on the book click here: https://www.primrosehillbooks.com/product/an-ugly-truth-inside-facebooks-battle-for-domination-sheera-frenkel-cecilia-kang/

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