Sustainability and net zero

In this episode, Professor Kerrie Unsworth (Leeds University Business School) and John Steel (Cafédirect) discuss the tensions and potential trade-offs between social, environmental, and financial goals. Kerrie asks John about Cafédirect’s take on sustainability and social justice. 
 
This podcast episode was recorded remotely in December 2021. If you would like to get in touch regarding this podcast, please contact research.lubs@leeds.ac.uk. A transcript of this episode is available. 

Kerrie Unsworth is a Professor of Organisational Behaviour at Leeds University Business School. Her research focuses on how people juggle goals, tasks and identities and the effect this has on motivation and particular behaviours such as leadership, collaboration and pro-environmental behaviour. 
 
John Steel is CEO of Cafédirect. He is a business leader and social entrepreneur with a passion for making business a force for good. Under John’s leadership Cafédirect has returned to growth, become profitable and yet maintained its sustainability commitments to its producers. John is determined that Cafédirect, as one of the UK’s pre-eminent Social Enterprises, plays a pivotal role in leading the change agenda. John is a passionate and genuine believer in the need for real change in the way business contributes to society and the wider world.

A balancing act between sustainability and profitability

Professor Vera Trappmann and Dr Dennis Eversberg launch their new podcast series – “Just Transitions – a global exploration”. Throughout the series, the research team will be discussing the findings of their country-specific case studies. In this introductory episode, Professor Trappmann and Dr Eversberg explain what is meant by Just Transitions, how the team came about selecting the 12 countries, and how they’ll be researching debates and practices surrounding Just Transitions throughout the project. 

This project is funded by the Hans Böckler Foundation – Just Transition: Aktivitäten im internationalen Vergleich 2021-582-2. 

Visit the project webpage: https://business.leeds.ac.uk/dir-record/research-projects/1990/just-transition-action-concepts-debates-and-strategies-an-international-comparison-across-11-countries

This podcast episode was recorded remotely in February 2023. If you would like to get in touch regarding this podcast, please contact research.lubs@leeds.ac.uk. A transcript of this episode is available.

About the speakers: 

Vera Trappmann is Professor of Comparative Employment Relations at Leeds University Business School. Her research engages with the comparison of labour relations across Europe, focusing on the dynamics of economic and organisational restructuring and its impact on working biographies, and organized labour.  Digitalisation, precarity and climate change are areas of study. 

Dr Dennis Eversberg is a Junior Research Group leader at the University of Vienna, Germany. His research interests include socio-ecological mentalities and modes of living and their role within social-ecological transformations and conflicts, particularly those surrounding the so-called ‘bioeconomy’, the sociology of social-ecological movements, degrowth, and trade unions.

Introducing the “Just Transitions – a global exploration” project

In this episode of the “Just Transitions - a Global Exploration” podcast, Ursula Balderson and Aleksander Szpor – members of the project team – discuss the role of the European Union in Just Transition policymaking and action in Poland. 

This project is funded by the Hans Böckler Foundation – Just Transition: Aktivitäten im internationalen Vergleich 2021-582-2. 

Visit the project webpage. https://business.leeds.ac.uk/dir-record/research-projects/1990/just-transition-action-concepts-debates-and-strategies-an-international-comparison-across-11-countries

This podcast episode was recorded remotely in May 2023. If you would like to get in touch regarding this podcast, please contact research.lubs@leeds.ac.uk. A transcript of this episode is available. 

 
About the speakers: Ursula Balderson is a postdoctoral research associate on a project on Work, Labour and Climate Change. She is an interdisciplinary social scientist interested in how the transition to a greener economy can improve worker well-being and quality of life. 

Olek (Aleksander) Szpor is a Lead Consultant in Climate and Energy at Ecorys Research Consultancy Poland.

Just Transitions – a global exploration: Poland

In this episode of the “Just Transitions - a Global Exploration” series, Professor Vera Trappmann speaks to Dr Ursula Balderson about the Foundation Industries: how they can transition to Net Zero, how the energy crisis has affected the industry, and what the government is (or isn’t) doing to support the transition.

This project is funded by the Hans Böckler Foundation – Just Transition: Aktivitäten im internationalen Vergleich 2021-582-2. 

Visit the project webpage. https://business.leeds.ac.uk/dir-record/research-projects/1990/just-transition-action-concepts-debates-and-strategies-an-international-comparison-across-11-countries

The research on the foundation industry is also available as a report with the European Trade Union Institute, funded by the European Climate Foundation. 

This podcast episode was recorded remotely in July and October 2023. If you would like to get in touch regarding this podcast, please contact research.lubs@leeds.ac.uk. A transcript of this episode is available. https://business.leeds.ac.uk/downloads/download/294/podcast-just-transitions---a-global-exploration 

About the speakers:

Vera Trappmann is Professor of Comparative Employment Relations at Leeds University Business School. Her research engages with the comparison of labour relations across Europe, focusing on the dynamics of economic and organisational restructuring and its impact on working biographies, and organized labour.  Currently, climate crisis and just transition are her main focus.  

Dr Ursula Balderson is a postdoctoral research associate on a project on Work, Labour and Climate Change. She is an interdisciplinary social scientist interested in how the transition to a greener economy can improve worker well-being and quality of life.

How can the Foundation Industries reach Net Zero?

In this latest episode of the “Just Transitions - a Global Exploration” series, Professor Vera Trappmann and Dr Felix Schulz discuss German workers’ perception of the climate crisis, and the role of policy in transitioning to a greener economy. 

This project is funded by the Hans Böckler Foundation – Just Transition: Aktivitäten im internationalen Vergleich 2021-582-2. The Competence Centre mentioned in this episode is also funded by the Hans Böckler Foundation. 

Visit the project webpage. https://business.leeds.ac.uk/dir-record/research-projects/1990/just-transition-action-concepts-debates-and-strategies-an-international-comparison-across-11-countries

This podcast episode was recorded remotely in November 2023. If you would like to get in touch regarding this podcast, please contact research.lubs@leeds.ac.uk. A transcript of this episode is available. https://business.leeds.ac.uk/downloads/download/294/podcast-just-transitions---a-global-exploration

About the speakers:  

Vera Trappmann is Professor of Comparative Employment Relations at Leeds University Business School. Her research engages with the comparison of labour relations across Europe, focussing on the dynamics of economic and organisational restructuring and its impact on working biographies, and organized labour. Currently, climate crisis and just transition are her main focus.  

https://business.leeds.ac.uk/divisions-work-employment-relations/staff/544/dr-vera-trappmann%22%3EProfessor%20Vera%20Trappmann 

Felix Schulz is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Digital Futures at Work (digit) Research centre and on an international Hans-Böckler-Stiftung funded project on the role of labour in the “Just Transition”. His research is interdisciplinary, drawing on labour economics, industrial relations, environmental labour studies and social psychology, with justice and inequality as the overarching focus. 

https://business.leeds.ac.uk/faculty/staff/594/dr-felix-schulz

Just Transitions - a global exploration: Germany

Mattia Dessì speaks to Dr Alexander Beresford about their South African research as part of the project looking at just transitions across the globe. They discuss factors affecting just transition in South Africa, including how international partners fit into the domestic debates, the political sphere, and the role of the ruling elite. 

This project is funded by the Hans Böckler Foundation – Just Transition: Aktivitäten im internationalen Vergleich 2021-582-2. 

Visit the project webpage. https://business.leeds.ac.uk/dir-record/research-projects/1990/just-transition-action-concepts-debates-and-strategies-an-international-comparison-across-11-countries

This podcast episode was recorded remotely in October 2023. If you would like to get in touch regarding this podcast, please contact research.lubs@leeds.ac.uk. A transcript of this episode is available. https://business.leeds.ac.uk/downloads/download/294/podcast-just-transitions---a-global-exploration

About the speakers: Mattia Dessì is a Postgraduate Researcher at Leeds University Business School. His PhD research focuses on new technologies and the future of work in the South African mining industry. 

Dr Alexander Beresford is an Associate Professor in African Politics, and Director of Research and Innovation for the School of Politics and International Studies at the University of Leeds. His research provides a multi-layered insight into how global normative order is mediated and contested within and between two interwoven spaces - political struggles over inequality, power and corruption from everyday sites of politics through to the highest tables of power in South Africa; and the global diplomatic contestation of vaccine access, conflict resolution and climate change led by South Africa as an emerging power.

Just Transitions – a global exploration: South Africa

Dr Jo Cutter is joined by Sam Perry, Green Bargaining Officer for Yorkshire and the Humber Trades Union Congress (TUC), to discuss the work the TUC is doing in the region to support a Just Transition for workers. 

This project is funded by the Hans Böckler Foundation – Just Transition: Aktivitäten im internationalen Vergleich 2021-582-2.  

Visit the project webpage. https://business.leeds.ac.uk/dir-record/research-projects/1990/just-transition-action-concepts-debates-and-strategies-an-international-comparison-across-11-countries

This podcast episode was recorded remotely in November 2023. If you would like to get in touch regarding this podcast, please contact research.lubs@leeds.ac.uk. To find out more about the TUC’s Just Transition work, or to join the Yorkshire and Humber Just Transition Network, email Sam Perry sperry@tuc.org.uk.  

A transcript of this episode is available. https://business.leeds.ac.uk/downloads/download/294/podcast-just-transitions---a-global-exploration

About the speakers: 

Dr Jo Cutter is a lecturer in Work and Employment Relations at Leeds University Business School. Her research focuses on employment relations, social dialogue and the regulation of work with a core focus on skills, education and training. She is currently researching these themes concerning two contexts: workers and the just transition and labour mobility. 

Sam Perry is the Green Bargaining Officer for Yorkshire and the Humber TUC. He is focused on raising the profile of environmental action within the labour movement and building capacity in trade unions to bargain for justice as organisations adapt to the need to decarbonise. His special interest is in making the case for a massive growth of energy efficiency retrofits to homes across Yorkshire and the Humber, where he brings together a background in social housing and political and union activism.

The Trades Union Congress on climate change and workers’ voices

Dr Olga Ustyuzhantseva speaks to Mattia Dessì about Russia’s energy situation and the state's views on it; the ecological impact of coal in Russia; and the role of the labour movement in Russia's coal industry. 

This project is funded by the Hans Böckler Foundation – Just Transition: Aktivitäten im internationalen Vergleich 2021-582-2. 

Visit the project webpage. https://business.leeds.ac.uk/faculty/dir-record/research-projects/1990/just-transition-action-concepts-debates-and-strategies-an-international-comparison-across-11-countries

This podcast episode was recorded remotely in May 2023. If you would like to get in touch regarding this podcast, please contact research.lubs@leeds.ac.uk. A transcript of this episode is available. https://business.leeds.ac.uk/downloads/download/294/podcast-just-transitions---a-global-exploration
 
About the speakers: Mattia Dessì is a Postgraduate Researcher at Leeds University Business School. His PhD research focuses on new technologies and the future of work in the South African mining industry. 

Dr Olga Ustyuzhantseva is a Senior Research Associate at the University of Johannesburg (South Africa). Her recent research focus is on the sociotechnical transition to the sustainable development of coal-mining countries (South Africa and Russia), particularly climate, energy, and just transition policies and their impact on the coal phase-out trajectory.

Just Transitions – a global exploration: Russia

Dr Jo Cutter speaks to Hunter Moskowitz and Dr Mijin Cha from UC Santa Cruz about their case study, exploring the key themes in just transition in the US. The team discuss the roles of unions, coalitions, and policy priorities. 

This project is funded by the Hans Böckler Foundation – Just Transition: Aktivitäten im internationalen Vergleich 2021-582-2. Visit the project webpage. https://business.leeds.ac.uk/dir-record/research-projects/1990/just-transition-action-concepts-debates-and-strategies-an-international-comparison-across-11-countries

This podcast episode was recorded remotely in May 2024. If you would like to get in touch regarding this podcast, please contact research.lubs@leeds.ac.uk.  https://soundcloud.com/leedsunibschool/sets/just-transitions-a-global

A transcript of this episode is available. https://business.leeds.ac.uk/downloads/download/294/podcast-just-transitions---a-global-exploration

You can listen to the rest of the episodes in this series.

About the speakers:  

Dr Jo Cutter is a lecturer in Work and Employment Relations at Leeds University Business School. Her research focuses on employment relations, social dialogue and the regulation of work with a core focus on skills, education and training. She is currently researching these themes in relation to two contexts: workers and the just transition and labour mobility. 

Hunter Moskowitz is a doctoral candidate in World History at Northeastern with a BS in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University.  He also works as a research specialist, examining climate and labor policy and just transitions at the University of California Santa Cruz. 

Dr Mijin Cha is an assistant professor of environmental studies at the University of California at Santa Cruz and a fellow at the Climate Jobs Institute, Cornell University. Dr Cha’s research focuses on labour/climate coalitions and how to actualize just transitions.

Just Transitions - a Global Exploration: the US

Dr Ziko Konwar is joined by Dr Christopher Hassall and Professor Ulf Andersson to discuss the intricate linkages between biodiversity and business strategies, with an emphasis on operations of multinational enterprises. As part of the conversation, they explore questions such as how can businesses co-create value when it comes to preserving biological resources and mitigating the pace of biodiversity loss. And what are some of the major challenges for multinational companies integrating nature-based solutions into their business models? 

This episode was recorded on 3rd October 2024. If you would like to get in touch regarding this episode, please contact research.lubs@leeds.ac.uk. A transcript of this episode is available. 

About the speakers: 

Dr Ziko Konwar is an Assistant Professor of International Business at Leeds University Business School, and is the Director of Internationalization for the International Business Department. His research interests are in global strategy of multinational enterprises, with an emphasis on cross-national institutional and systemic challenges. He is the Leeds University Business School Research Lead for the 24-26 Cheney Fellowship project (see below), University of Leeds.   

Dr Christopher Hassall is an Associate Professor of Animal Biology in the School of Biology at the University of Leeds. He co-directs the Leverhulme Extinction Studies Doctoral Training Programme and co-leads the Aeroecology Research Group, which focuses on using radar for biodiversity monitoring. His research interests span fundamental ecology and biodiversity conservation, with a particular emphasis on interdisciplinary solutions to biodiversity challenges. 

Professor Ulf Andersson is a Professor of Business Studies in Mälardalen University, Sweden. Ulf is a research leader and expert on subsidiary management strategy of multinational enterprises, and is a Fellow of the Academy of International Business and European International Business Academy. Ulf is the first Cheney Fellow to be hosted at Leeds University Business School, University of Leeds. 

About the project:

The Cheney fellowship project will utilize inter-disciplinary research expertise to address the role of global strategy of multinational enterprises (MNEs) in biodiversity loss (e.g. species/habitat extinction and MNE global innovation). The research team comprises Professor Ulf Andersson (incoming Cheney Fellow), Dr Ziko Konwar, Professor Yingqi (Annie) Wei and Professor Frank McDonald (Leeds University Business School), Dr Christopher Hassall (Faculty of Biological Sciences,) and Professor George Holmes (School of Earth and Environment). Over the past ten years, the Cheney Fellowship programme has established fruitful and high-impact research partnerships in areas such as water security, molecular biology, medicine and materials science. This programme has been made possible through a $4 million gift from Bacteriology and Biochemistry graduate Peter Cheney and his wife Susan.   

All quiet on the biodiversity strategy front: multinational enterprises, value creation and sustainable ecosystems

Dr Felix Schulz speaks to Professor Melanie Laroche and Jonathan Michaud from the University of Montreal about how the concept of just transitions is understood and implemented in Quebec, Canada. In the episode, they cover the province's unique industrial relations system, proactive and reactive union strategies for addressing the climate crisis, and challenges in equipping union representatives with climate expertise. 

This project is funded by the Hans Böckler Foundation – Just Transition: Aktivitäten im internationalen Vergleich 2021-582-2. Visit the project webpage. https://business.leeds.ac.uk/dir-record/research-projects/1990/just-transition-action-concepts-debates-and-strategies-an-international-comparison-across-13-countries

This podcast episode was recorded remotely in December 2024. If you would like to get in touch regarding this podcast episode or the project, please contact research.lubs@leeds.ac.uk.  

A transcript of this episode is available. 

About the speakers:  

Felix Schulz is an interdisciplinary researcher at Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies (LUCSUS). Prior to joining LUCSUS, he worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for Employment Relations, Innovation and Change (CERIC), the Digital Futures at Work (digit) Research Centre and the Hans-Böckler-Foundation funded Competence Centre on social-ecological transformations at the University of Leeds, where he remains as Visiting Research Fellow 

Melanie Laroche is a professor at the Université de Montréal's School of Industrial Relations, where she teaches labour relations strategies and collective bargaining.

Jonathan Michaud is a doctoral candidate and lecturer in industrial relations at the Université de Montréal. He works on a partnership agreement with the United Steelworkers on three cases of just transition in local unions, at plant level, in different regions of Quebec under the supervision of Professor Mélanie Laroche. 

 

Just Transitions - a Global Exploration: Quebec

Dr Alexander Beresford speaks to Dr Temitayo Odeyemi about Temitayo’s research, exploring the key complexities and challenges of just transition in Nigeria. They discuss the involvement of Nigeria’s labour unions and sector-specific unions in shaping government policies around just transitions, and the different conversations that are happening at a national and subnational level when it comes to just transitions and the concept of decent work. 

This project is funded by the Hans Böckler Foundation – Just Transition: Aktivitäten im internationalen Vergleich 2021-582-2. 

Visit the project webpage. https://business.leeds.ac.uk/dir-record/research-projects/1990/just-transition-action-concepts-debates-and-strategies-an-international-comparison-across-11-countries

This podcast episode was recorded remotely in May 2025. If you would like to get in touch regarding this podcast, please contact research.lubs@leeds.ac.uk. A transcript of this episode is available. 

About the speakers:  

Dr Alexander Beresford is an Associate Professor in African Politics, and Director of Research and Innovation for the School of Politics and International Studies at the University of Leeds. His research provides a multi-layered insight into how global normative order is mediated and contested within and between two interwoven spaces - political struggles over inequality, power and corruption from everyday sites of politics through to the highest tables of power in South Africa; and the global diplomatic contestation of vaccine access, conflict resolution and climate change led by South Africa as an emerging power.   

Dr Temitayo Odeyemi is a Visiting Research Fellow at the School of Politics and International Studies, University of Leeds, and Visiting Fellow at the Institute for Parliamentary Research, Berlin, Germany. His PhD research at the University of Leeds (2024) explored the public engagement repertoires of the Nigerian national and subnational Lagos State legislatures. This built on his wider interest in how key democratic institutions drive resilience and sustainability through connections with non-state actors and everyday citizens, particularly in Sub-Saharan African contexts. 

Just Transitions – a global exploration: Nigeria

Addi Manolopoulou speaks to Professors Shima Amini and Abdul Mohamed about their recent research on how climate change risk affects the performance of newly listed firms in the US. The discussion highlights how drought exposure, investor sentiment, and mandatory climate disclosures influence Initial Public Offerings (IPO) outcomes. With implications for investors, policy makers, and company leaders, the findings position climate risk as a financial concern, not just an environmental one. 

This episode was recorded in July 2025. If you would like to get in touch regarding this episode, please contact research.lubs@leeds.ac.uk. A transcript of this episode is available.  

Read the journal article: “Climate change risk, investor sentiment, and the performance of new entrant firms”, Small Business Economics. 

About the speakers: 

Addi Manolopoulou is the Departmental Manager for the Accounting and Finance Department at Leeds University Business School. She is committed to translating complex research into real-world impact.   

Professor Shima Amini is Chair in Entrepreneurial Finance. Her research is focused on entrepreneurial finance, initial public offering, venture capital, private equity, corporate finance, behavioural finance, and market microstructure.   

Professor Abdul Mohamed is Chair in Accounting and Finance. His research interests are in the area of corporate finance, venture capital, bankruptcy, and market-based accounting research. 

Climate change as a financial risk: what new firms and investors need to know

What food choices should we be making to try and reduce our carbon footprint? In this episode, Dr Astrid Kause and Professor Wändi Bruine de Bruin discuss their recent study which found that even consumers who are engaged with environmental issues are often ill-informed and don’t make the most effective choices when it comes to reducing the climate impact of our food.

This podcast episode was recorded in January 2020. If you would like to get in touch regarding this podcast, please contact research.lubs@leeds.ac.uk.

About the speakers: Dr Astrid Kause is a Post-doctoral Researcher in the Centre for Decision Research at Leeds University Business School. Her current focus is on human judgements and decisions in the environmental and climate domain. Professor Wändi Bruine de Bruin is Provost Professor of Public Policy, Psychology, and Behavioral Science at the University of Southern California and also a Visiting Professor at Leeds University Business School. Her research aims to understand and inform how, across the life span, people make decisions about their health, their well-being, and their environmental impacts. 

A transcript of this episode is available at: https://business.leeds.ac.uk/downloads/download/177/podcast_episode_5_-_transcript

You can read the journal article this episode is based on here: http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/151209/8/VOR%20Kause_2019_Environ._Res._Lett._14_114005.pdf

Communicating how to reduce carbon footprints through consumer food choices

There is a consensus that companies need to adopt a low-carbon economy. Manufacturing Small to Medium Enterprises (mSMEs) are pulled by pressure for productivity growth whilst also being high carbon emitters. In this episode of the Research and Innovation Podcast, Dr Matthew Davis and Naomi Booth Wade discuss the tensions and challenges of productivity and environmental sustainability. 

This podcast episode was recorded remotely in September 2020. If you would like to get in touch regarding the project discussed in this podcast, visit bit.ly/productivesustainable or email n.s.boothwade@leeds.ac.uk. A transcript of this episode is available at: https://business.leeds.ac.uk/downloads/download/196/podcast_episode_13_-_transcript

About the speakers:  

Matthew Davis is an Associate Professor at Leeds University Business School, a Chartered Psychologist and an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society. His research centres on how people interact with their environments, the impact of different office designs and how businesses engage in CSR, particularly to address sustainability and modern slavery. 

Naomi Booth Wade is a Research Assistant on the project “Sustainable and productive?! Helping manufacturing SMEs to manage multiple goals”. Naomi has an educational background in Psychology and Organisational Psychology. She is a budding business psychologist with a demonstrated history of working in the research and consultancy fields.

The project discussed in this episode is funded by the ESRC Productivity Insights Network. Grant number 154166.

Can manufacturing SMEs be both productive and environmentally sustainable?

Professor Kerrie Unsworth and Mark Goldstone discuss the benefits of manufacturing SMEs becoming more environmentally sustainable and what Yorkshire businesses are doing to achieve their sustainability goals. 

This podcast episode was recorded remotely in December 2020. If you would like to get in touch regarding this podcast, please contact research.lubs@leeds.ac.uk. A transcript of this episode is available at:  https://business.leeds.ac.uk/downloads/download/204/podcast_episode_15_-_transcript. 
This project - “Sustainable and productive?! Helping manufacturing SMEs to manage multiple goals” - is funded by the ESRC Productivity Insights Network. Grant number 154166.

Kerrie Unsworth is a Professor of Organisational Behaviour at Leeds University Business School. Her research focuses on how people juggle goals, tasks and identities and the effect this has on motivation and particular behaviours such as leadership, collaboration and pro-environmental behaviour. 

Mark Goldstone is Head of Business Representation & Policy at the West and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber of Commerce helps businesses grow by sharing opportunities, knowledge and expertise, with a strong business voice influencing decision-makers at all levels.

How manufacturing SMEs are becoming more environmentally sustainable in the Yorkshire region

Leeds University Business School’s Research and Innovation podcast brings you insights from our expert researchers. From the future of work, to disruptive technologies; green behaviours to emerging markets, we’ll be covering a wide-range of topical issues and novel ideas. 

Listen to the podcast to find out more about our research and how it’s inspiring business managers, informing policymakers and influencing society.

If you have any comments regarding any of these episodes, please contact research.lubs@leeds.ac.uk.