Oct 14

How the climate crisis is transforming the meaning of ‘sustainability’ in business

Businesses tend to value profit over people and planet. Climate change is forcing them to evolve. (elenabs via Getty Images)

In his 2021 letter to CEOs, Larry Fink, the CEO and chairman of BlackRock, the world’s largest investment manager, wrote: “No issue ranks higher than climate change on our clients’ lists of priorities.”

His comment reflected a growing unease with how the climate crisis is already disrupting businesses.

Companies’ concerns…

What is the Future of Business in the Era of Climate Crisis?

Curious to find the answer? Join me, Maxine Bédat (New Standard Institute), Asheen Phansey (Eleven Radius), Sesh Vedachalam (frog), and Jen van der Meer (Parsons School of Design) for an online panel on September 24th, where we will discuss why companies need to move away from ”sustainability-as-usual”, what will come next and how to make change happen!

Here is a prediction: Climate change will become the defining issue for companies this decade (even if CEOs are slow to recognize it). …

The guide for awakened sustainability narrative warriors — part 1 (the roles)

A vision without a theory of change explaining how might we get there has little value. This is also true when it comes to awakened sustainability, the mode that will replace sustainability-as-usual, as suggested in my new book Rethinking Corporate Sustainability in the Era of Climate Crisis — A Strategic Design Approach. New narratives play a critical role in this shift and so are the people and companies that advance them, which I call narrative warriors. This article is the first part of a guide describing how to be an effective narrative warrior.

Let’s focus on the “how”, not just the “what”

While it is difficult to stay indifferent to the latest IPCC report, one key question that remained unanswered is: What do we do about it? You won’t find the answer in the report itself, as its main role is to provide an assessment for policymakers, not a recipe for change…

It’s time for a new vision for business: Awakened sustainability

When I talk about the shortcomings of sustainability-as-usual and why this mode is inadequate for the era of climate crisis, I’m often asked: What is the alternative? What should we replace sustainability-as-usual with? In my new book Rethinking Corporate Sustainability in the Era of Climate Crisis — A Strategic Design Approach, I share my answer to these questions, presenting a new vision I call awakened sustainability. This is part of a series of articles highlighting issues I discuss in the new book.

“Eco-effective designers expand their vision from the primary purpose of a product or system and consider the whole. What are its goals and potential effects, both immediate and wide-ranging, with respect to both time and place? What is the entire system — cultural, commercial, ecological — of which this…

How to fix corporate sustainability? Start with dark matter

How do we fix corporate sustainability? Changing the focal point from corporate sustainability practices (normal matter) to the elements that underlie corporate sustainability (dark matter) is a good starting point. This is part of a series of articles highlighting issues I discuss in my upcoming book “Rethinking Corporate Sustainability in the Era of Climate Crisis — A Strategic Design Approach” (July 2021). You can find the other articles here, here, and here.

Corporate sustainability is broken. It may not be easy to see it with the constant news on new net-zero pledges, innovative products, successful stakeholder resolutions, and ongoing ESG buzz. So, yes, companies are moving forward but too slowly and incrementally as they are still operating in what I describe…

Forget about the business case for sustainability

The climate crisis requires us to challenge our taken-for-granted assumptions, including the need to make the business case for sustainability. In this article, I explain why we should start asking instead: What’s the sustainability case of business? This is part of a series of articles highlighting issues I discuss in my upcoming book “Rethinking Corporate Sustainability in the Era of Climate Crisis — A Strategic Design Approach” (July 2021).

In an online event on the circular economy organized by the New York Times last week, Andrew Ross Sorkin asked Matt Dwyer, VP of Product Impact & Innovation at Patagonia about the expensive price of Patagonia products. …

The battle of narratives: Five new sustainability narratives for business

This is the second in a series of articles I publish in preparation for the release of my upcoming book “Rethinking Corporate Sustainability in the Era of Climate Crisis — A Strategic Design Approach”. This time I focus on the narratives we need to have in place to move companies away from sustainability-as-usual.

There is one thing that both President Biden and Republicans share when it comes to climate change — understanding narratives. President Biden understands the need to frame the fight over climate as a way to improve people’s lives here and now. This is why he focuses on jobs when…

The end of sustainability-as-usual is in sight

I’m starting today a series of articles in preparation for the release of my upcoming book “Rethinking Corporate Sustainability in the Era of Climate Crisis — A Strategic Design Approach” (Palgrave MacMillan, July 2021). The first piece is about the signs we can already see of the (hopefully near) end of sustainability-as-usual.

If you look around corporate sustainability seems bolder and more promising than ever with new commitments of companies for net-zero emission targets, efforts to create global standardization for sustainability reporting, circular economy innovations, greater attention to social justice issues, and so on. …

Are companies taking climate change seriously? A new tool helps you figure it out

We see a flood of corporate climate change plans and commitments, but are companies go far enough, or is it just a mirage of corporate responsibility? …

A New President is Not Enough to Fight the Climate Crisis. We Need a New Theory of Change.

What do we do when we have a new Democratic President who wants to pursue a bold climate agenda and a Senate that is not that interested in big climate policies? One option is to work harder to elect politicians who are committed to fighting climate change. Another option is to expand our theory of change and focus on changing companies, not just politicians.

This week’s elections are nerve-wracking for everyone, but it seems to be especially difficult, not to say devastating to those of us who had high hopes for a new course of action on climate change. …

Let’s focus on the “how”, not just the “what”

Raz Godelnik