An interview with Alastair Loasby

I’m a new Director in the Sustainability and ESG team, helping clients to grow their businesses by being more sustainable. I joined the firm at the start of the year, and am based mainly in London but live in the North West so I’m looking forward to spending plenty of time in Manchester too.

At university, I joined the Officer Training Corps and Army Reserves. I joined because I was told I could get paid to go skiing, but ended up loving it! I spent seven years in the Reserves, including gaining my commission and joining the Parachute Regiment, but unfortunately a broken leg put an end to that part of my career.

Professionally, I previously worked at Business in the Community, which is one of the King’s charities and is dedicated to growing the responsible business movement. I was fortunate to have many great roles there, from advising multinational companies on how they could increase their impact in the world, to creating and leading a campaign that accelerated responsible business and reached the employers of over a million people across the country.

My highlight was creating a new directorate that aimed to accelerate and scale all we did as a charity. With a great team, we had amazing impact in just over a year, including building and deploying our first bespoke AI tool, developing a world-first responsible AI framework, publishing flagship sustainability research based on interviews with the CEOs of some of the country’s biggest companies, and leading our impact work, which showed that as an organisation we’d helped over eight million people in the previous year.

Personally, I have a habit of signing up for some pretty silly challenges, but I think I’m most proud of my first ultra marathon – a 52-mile run across the Cotswolds in 2019. It was a tough day, but I think the bigger accomplishment was raising money for Childline along the way because I was also training to join them as a voluntary counsellor. If you’re looking for a new regular volunteering opportunity, I’d recommend Childline. It’s heartbreaking to talk to so many young people whose lives are falling apart, but so rewarding when you can really help them.

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. I normally prefer reading non-fiction but a friend was so strong in her recommendation that I gave it a go and couldn’t put it down. It’s the story of a few friends from college and how their lives pan out over the next few decades. It’s harrowing at times, but so moving and beautiful. And that final twist…! If you want a book that makes you cry or feel strongly, this is it.

1. Ernest Shackleton: he led a failed expedition over 100 years ago to the Antarctic, and it’s the greatest example of leadership (and crazy British eccentricity!) I’ve come across. How did he manage to lead that group through two gruelling Antarctic winters that they weren’t prepared for, row 800 miles across one of the fiercest oceans in search of rescue in a tiny boat, and find a new way across an uncharted mountain range, all without losing a single colleague?
2. Dr Martin Luther King: how do people create change in the world? I can’t think of anyone better than the figurehead of the Civil Rights Movement, who helped bring about great change in the face of unimaginable adversity, to answer that question.
3. Alexander Hamilton: I reckon the 18th century must have been one of the most exciting times to be alive, with the enlightenment and revolutions around the world, and this man lived through all that while also founding the USA. I’m not throwing away my shot to meet someone who was in the room where that happened!

A few years ago, I climbed a mountain in Nepal called Ama Dablam. It’s 6,812m tall and is one of the more technical commercial climbs available. In particular, camping at 6,000m in a frozen sleeping bag overlooking a drop of around a kilometre is pretty unforgettable. It’s also coincidentally where I got a text from my solicitor saying that I’d completed on my first house purchase!

1. I’m about six months away from finishing my MBA so can’t wait to get that finally crossed off my list!
2. I’d love to live abroad at some point.
3. I’ve got two young sons so above all, I want to create a great future and loving family for them and my wife.

I listen to all sorts, but when I was nine, my Dad took me on my first road trip to Scotland, and I completely fell in love with the country. A couple of months before, I’d bought him Glenn Miller’s compilation album, which became the trip’s soundtrack and was played pretty much on repeat. Any big band or jazz from that album will instantly take me back to that trip, spending quality time with my Dad, and driving around the beautiful glens in my favourite country.

We’re a national team of specialists and we exist to help our clients to become more sustainable.

Sustainability is a broad agenda, but we define it as helping companies to reduce their negative consequences and grow their positive impact on their people, communities and the planet.

We’re a relatively new addition to the firm, and have three focus areas: embedding sustainability into Saffery’s existing service lines, supporting clients with sustainability reporting, and business advisory – where we help companies to find the opportunities for growth in sustainability.