64 www.bfpa.co.uk strategies and ensure their action does not stall. This process is a cascading effect, or we liken it to peeling an onion. While there are layers of engagement, and impact, once the ball starts rolling, is significant. For instance, small actions taken by a trade association to support its membership can lead to industry wide impact. CAFA has its own members too. Membership organisations can join CAFA’s powerful collective of organisations. The BFPA is a member of CAFA, and therefore can access CAFA’s resources and support. It has also commissioned CAFA to prepare more bespoke guidance for the fluid power sector, so that it can roll out to its members. This is something we will be discussing during the BFPA’s AGM in May. Some of CAFA’s members are associations comprising of other associations and alliances as well. For example, EAMA, an alliance of trade associations working with government and others to strengthen the machinery and component supply chain in the UK, is a member of CAFA. EAMA’s Alliance Secretary, Jack Semple, is a champion of CAFA and a number of EAMA’s own members are also members of CAFA. Significant progress It’s quite remarkable that there is a professional or trade body for just about every industry, sector and systems area. So, if every single one of those membership bodies did more, implemented more, supported their members more, had stronger internal and external policies and advocated in a stronger way, delivered support and training to their members, then we would be accelerating climate action across business and industry a lot quicker. This is why we (CAFA) are committed to our mission as we know and have already witnessed significant progress. One of the challenges CAFA faces is that some trade bodies say they’re not responsible for their members’ sustainability strategies and argue that they can’t force their members to set net zero targets and reduce their emissions. Others think very differently. For example, a relatively new member of CAFA recently explained that it was putting rigid codes of practice in place, and by 2030, if its members aren’t making science-based, target-related commitments and can’t provide evidence that they are reducing their emissions in line with the Paris Agreement, it won’t permit them to continue their membership. Confidence and clarity Requesting this level of commitment and implementation of policy requires confidence and clarity regarding roles and responsibilities. It also requires the conviction that these bodies will be able to offer a clear programme of support to help their members to become sustainable. We are trying to avoid a disconnect between what membership bodies say they’re doing and want to do in terms of providing the right level of support to their members, and what they’re actually able to do, which may be based on them not having the right back-up, support and guidance from organisations such as CAFA. Incentives and positive outcomes CAFA believes the approach of ‘hitting companies with a stick’ simply doesn’t work. It’s much more about communicating incentives and the positive outcomes and business benefits of being aligned with the 1.5-degree target in accordance with the Paris Agreement. Indeed, the benefits are plentiful. These include having the opportunity to win more work through being more attractive to customers and suppliers, being able to bid for further work based on solid ESG credentials, being able to increase their bottom line by reducing costs through becoming more sustainable, together with many other benefits. Of course, transitioning doesn’t happen overnight, so this is where CAFA can help. CAFA believes we have a duty to help associations move things forward in this respect. See you at the BFPA’s AGM in May CAFA will be presenting at the BFPA’s AGM, to be held at Hilton at St George’s Park, Burton upon Trent on the 16th of May. CAFA will also be running a Sustainability Workshop on the 17th of May.
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