Chair: Martin Gill

Panellists:
Michael Brooke, Head of Operational Services at Police Crime Prevention Initiatives (UK)
Mark Hobden, Business Continuity Manager at Bidvest Noonan (UK)
Amy Musanti, Business Development Director, Sustainability at ASSA ABLOY Group (US)
Dr Helen Skudder, Sustainability Manager at the Ministry of Justice, Former Researcher at University of Surrey

Key points

Dr. Helen Skudder, who has conducted one of the few studies linking the carbon footprint and crime, highlights the lack of synergy between research on climate change, crime prevention and for that matter Covid-19. With all of these she notes, we run the risk of running out of time; the consequences of inaction are serious. That said Helen underlines the enormous significance of a more informed understanding. With reference to her own work on security devices for tackling burglary she highlights that some have a lower carbon footprint, some are more effective, but to maximise benefits there may be a need to pay more, people need to understand that. She makes a call for more research to guide policy.

Amy Musanti works for a manufacturer with a global footprint and also, she recognises, with a global responsibility to align a secure and safe approach with a  sustainable and progressive one. You will hear Amy make a call for a holistic approach which includes understanding industry’s multi-purpose infrastructure and specifically  promoting practices in a building that are a mixture of safety and sustainability. She highlights the value of technology which to be leading edge needs to pay heed to research science. She highlights the role of modern manufacturers is to be leading the charge by looking beyond the impact of products at the point of use stage, to the impacts upstream and downstream say in the extraction of material and in the transportation of them. Moreover, sustainability encompass a commercial opportunity; there is value in being green. To move forward we need to know more and you will hear her advocate case studies; most researchers would agree with that.

Michael Brooke emphasises the importance of being good at preventing crime and the collective responsibility everyone has for creating safer environments. Although the links between the carbon footprint and crime are rarely made it was his organisation, Police Crime Prevention Initiatives that sponsored Professor Ken Pease’s work in this area. As he notes there is a need to highlight this work and conduct more albeit that appeal has largely fallen on deaf ears. You will hear him make some interesting points about energy efficient products and security ones.

Mark Hobden highlights a specific area of security as his focus, namely manned guarding, which he recognises has often not performed well.  As he says there are various frameworks and guides that require a focus on impacts, and points to various ISO standards as examples, but that they often amount to little more than a tick in the box. You will hear him discussing sustainable forms of security as being tricky and points to the trade-off between thinking local and cost. In a discussion about collaboration – which almost all seem to think is necessary for all sorts of positive outcomes and including tackling climate change – Mark notes that most often this is less then optimal and sometimes there is little evidence of it. Getting buy-in has to come from leadership and it is often lacking.

The links between climate change and security has largely operated under the radar. Yet the implications are serious. This webinar gives an insight into what the carbon footprint in the security sector looks like and raises important opportunities including commercial ones for getting it right and potentially serious implications for getting it wrong. The weight of evidence suggests we are closer to the latter at the moment. We have been warned.