"The world is moving faster on sustainability than anyone thought would be possible years ago. However, it needs to move much faster and further over the coming years."

A key point made by John Gummer, Rt Hon The Lord Deben at the dinner and one of the many pertinent points mentioned by speakers throughout our day event held last week in London.

There were many key themes throughout, including the use of language and how this needs to be more joined up; investors vs developers and the built environment.

That we have made progress; sustainability is no longer on the streets. It's in the business psyche, and there is huge pressure now on businesses Richard Threlfall claims, citing a recent KPMG report.

Ashley Dunseath MCMI ChMC and Catherine Westoby discussed clean growth. Ashley talked about; leaders, followers and the confused when it comes to Clean Growth. Catherine had a challenge from the floor and discussed with the audience the government's position on Net Zero in the context of UK business.

Our fascinating investment panel surfaced some interesting points around what makes a sustainable investable project.

Lauren Burnhill said gender and social inclusion are two biggest areas for (private) investors.

Alice Gaskell challenged the room to think wider, and the SDG s are helpful in thinking holistically as focussing on one thing like technology or net zero is too narrow for a plc investor, for example.

Sally Ronald from DIT adds that often there are often financial incentives for sustainable attributes.

Following a short keynote from Metro Dynamics from Ilina Sen on the economics of place; Transition or Transformation and explaining their work following the devolution of Manchester;

Our final keynote of the day was on the Big Energy Debate and Georgina 'G' Penfold covered; The intricacies of the energy challenge; access to consumer technology; and solutions, such as renewables.

She said that the language we are using across sectors is inconsistent and we need to align the language across investment and design/build/construction to enable success.

You can find photos of the event here.

Thanks to our sponsors WSP in the UK and Inspired PLC