gyro Hires Former Climate Minister Gregory Barker as its Sustainability Chief

gyro, the global ideas shop, has appointed Gregory Barker to lead the agency’s new global focus on sustainability in business-to-business.

The former UK Minister of State for Energy & Climate Change, Lord Barker’s extensive experience at the forefront of the UK's response to climate change will help gyro build and grow its sustainability efforts.

gyro’s focus on sustainability will encompass its 14 offices worldwide and will draw upon its humanly relevant mission and well-established B2B capabilities.

Kate Howe, Managing Director of gyro London, said: “We’re observing a surge of shareholder activism focused on sustainability, with even the Governor of Bank of England, Mark Carney talking about climate change as the ‘tragedy of the horizon.’ I know from my conversations with business leaders that genuine engagement at every level of an organisation – from the boardroom to the supply chain and from staff to customers – can be one of the biggest hurdles a company can face in meeting its sustainability goals. gyro focuses on how organisations can translate sustainability into stories that mean something to customers and other stakeholders - stories that can stir up passion and translate into an enhanced reputation and positive behaviours.

“I am deeply honoured that Lord Barker has joined our efforts to help businesses that are looking to shift the world to a sustainable economy.”

Gregory Barker added: “gyro is an impressive group of entrepreneurial talent and I’m genuinely excited to be working with Kate and her team. We are living through a period of extraordinary change, and gyro has a set of unique skills which can add real value to senior decision makers as they respond to business risks and opportunities that sustainability and climate change present.”

Lord Barker was previously the Prime Minister’s Climate Envoy and was appointed Chair of the London Sustainable Development Commission in 2015. In 2010, he held the role of Minister of State at the Department of Energy & Climate Change and was elected into Parliament serving on the Environment Audit Select Committee in 2001.

He oversaw the launch of the world’s first Renewable Heat Incentive as well as delivered the comprehensive reform of the UK electricity sector, which has created the largest offshore wind programme in the world.