With funding from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), the North East Automotive Alliance (NEAA), has delivered sustainability and leadership and management workshops to its OEM and first tier members in the Sunderland region.
The initiative is part of the NEAA’s wider strategy to strengthen business resilience, support growth and, in particular, to integrate sustainability into the region’s automotive supply chain.
A key element of the Local Automotive Business Support – Sunderland (LABS-S) programme, which is funded through Sunderland’s Shared Prosperity Fund Programme, is the ability to support SMEs and larger businesses within the supply chain.
Delivered by sustainability expert, Gareth Kane, managing director of Terra Infirma, the NEAA facilitated a workshop for its Sunderland-based members. The half-day session looked at operational changes required to embed sustainability in a way that has a direct link with profitability. It also offered a platform to share best practices and understand how other businesses within the NEAA network are operating.
Discussed, were the business drivers for the individual companies in attendance to embrace sustainability. Evolving EU regulations, such as the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), were highlighted as being the biggest concern.
The group also looked to understand priority areas, challenges, opportunities and solutions.
Moving forward, the NEAA is looking to work with Gareth on a series of sustainability workshops throughout 2025. These will facilitate collaboration on issues such as the efficient deployment of measures, compliance with legislation including lobbying, circular economy solutions, culture change and education around evolving sustainability targets and how to achieve them.
The NEAA also hosted a leadership and management programme, delivered by Dale Carnegie Training, an industry leader in professional training and development. The two-day course focused on building critical leadership skills for employee retention and team performance, key drivers of success in today’s competitive talent market. It provided attendees with the tools to integrate enhanced communication, leadership and collaboration into their businesses, helping them to better engage employees and foster a high-performance culture.
The NEAA, which was established in 2015 to support the automotive supply chain, has a proven track record of delivering business support programmes to the automotive sector. An independent audit stated the NEAA is uniquely positioned to deliver support for the sector, bringing together companies working within the sector, experiencing similar issues and linking regional activities to national sector priorities, thus providing significant economies of scale for regional and national programmes.
Paul Butler, chief executive of the NEAA, said: “The LABS-S programme is a crucial part of our ongoing efforts to support automotive businesses as they adapt to changing market demands. By focusing on both sustainability and leadership, we are helping our members build the skills they need to stay ahead of regulatory changes, improve team performance and grow their businesses.
“The NEAA is extremely well-positioned to lobby local and national government for policies that promote sustainability and mitigate the impact on businesses. This is something we not only see as vital but as a moral obligation and one we will put strong resources into. The future of the automotive industry depends upon clear communication between business, organisations and government to achieve sustainability targets in a way that does not harm our industry but benefits it.”