Business Impact Lab
This is an exciting collaboration between two of Oxford’s oldest and largest employers. In 2023, the BMW Group MINI Plant Oxford celebrated it's 110th year of production in the city with around 1,000 cars built each day. Today the plant stands at the cutting edge of automotive manufacturing technology and sustainability after significant investments over the years. A major focus is the reduction of energy usage, water consumption, waste of all kinds and CO2 emissions. The roof of the building has a solar energy plant the size of five football pitches.
The purpose of the Lab partnership is to deliver high-impact and feasible research projects that will contribute to making the Plant’s operations, governance frameworks and organisational processes more sustainable and efficient. Previous areas of research have included climate impact, specifically how the Plant can improve overall consumption and waste management.
In 2024, Lab Fellows worked on four key areas: Sustainability, Artificial Intelligence (A.I), Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Leadership and Culture. Their interdisciplinary research explored how AI could optimise manufacturing processes, reduce waste, and lower emissions at the Plant. They also focused on enhancing energy efficiency, water conservation, and circular economy practices, contributing to the Plant’s sustainability goals. In corporate social responsibility, the Fellows proposed strategies for improving community engagement and workforce diversity. Throughout the year, they collaborated closely with BMW Group’s leadership, offering insights that aligned with the 'Lean, Green, Digital' strategy. The Fellows culminated their efforts by presenting actionable recommendations to senior leadership, aimed at driving more sustainable and efficient operations at the Plant.
Research in the field of sustainable tourism offers Fellows an exciting opportunity to effect real change in a hugely important industry. In 2023, the UN Tourism and the SDG Impact Lab launched a ground-breaking project to develop the first harmonised ‘ESG Framework for Tourism Businesses.’
To inform the development of the framework, a group of 2023 Lab Fellows undertook a research project which included an extensive literature review of existing ESG practices, frameworks, and standards, followed by in-person pilot testing with 14 tourism companies and 27 hotels.
This framework will help tourism companies report their sustainability efforts and impact in a standardised, credible, and comparable manner, contributing to guiding the whole tourism sector towards a more sustainable future.
In 2024, Lab Fellows conducted in-depth field research across key regions to inform the second phase of the ESG Framework development. Their research took them to diverse locations such as Malaysia, Zimbabwe, Belize, and Mexico, where they explored sustainable tourism practices focused on conservation, community empowerment, and biodiversity protection. Their work included studying waste management, sustainable workforce practices, and initiatives aimed at preserving local ecosystems, ensuring the framework accurately reflects sustainability efforts across global tourism.
Nico Rosberg - 2016 Formula One World Champion - is a Sustainability Entrepreneur and Start-up Investor. In 2023, he launched a non-profit, Rosberg Philanthropies, and this collaborative programme with the Lab is the first major funded project.
Rosberg Philanthropies sponsors Oxford graduate students to conduct research related to environmental and climate change issues, tackling big challenges such as carbon capture, ocean plastic pollution and alternative fuels. In the first year, there were three projects focusing on, carbon capture (with Climeworks), alternative fuels (with Neste in a project focusing on the St. Helena ship of the Extreme_E racing team), and on the relationship between marine organisms and floating plastic debris (with the Ocean Cleanup.)
In 2024, Lab Fellows worked on a project to decarbonise large-scale events, such as the British Grand Prix. Their research focused on understanding fan travel behaviour, optimising traffic management, and improving biodiversity around F1 sites. This collaborative effort, presented to Nico Rosberg and key stakeholders at F1’s London HQ, has laid the groundwork for developing sustainable strategies to reduce the environmental footprint of motorsport events. The team also presented their findings at the Greentech Festival, showcasing how these innovations can help shape a greener future for the industry.
Green Gold Forestry is conserving the Peruvian Amazon Rainforest by creating a sustainable forest economy on land once destined to be logged. It is committed to protecting the Amazon Rainforest, improving the livelihoods of local communities, as well as promoting economic development in remote rural areas of Peru.
The Lab project supports GGF with research to assess the overall impact that its activities are having on communities local to the area where it is operating. It has aligned its corporate goals with 9 of the UN SDGs - #1 No Poverty, #2, Zero Hunger, #3 Good Health and Wellbeing, #5 Gender Equality, #6 Clean Water and Sanitation, #8 Decent Work and Economic Growth, #10 Reduced Inequalities, #13 Climate Action, #15 Life on Land.
In July of 2024, Lab Fellows visited Peru to help formulate a robust framework for GGF to be able to measure and report on how its activities are helping to progress these goals, as well as have the external, independent and verifiable credentials provided by a University of Oxford-led impact research project.
