How companies can shape climate action based on peer insights

If your business isn’t prepared to disrupt itself for our planet, the planet will disrupt your business. At a UNGA Goals House panel, industry leaders didn’t mince words. They laid out bold, transformative strategies for businesses that want to survive and thrive in the era of climate action. Sharing key takeaways herein: 1. A unified approach to financial and non-financial data: This aims to normalize carbon accounting, making it as central to decision-making as revenue or costs. Imagine if every business prioritized emissions and nature/biodiversity data the way they prioritize profit. 2. Big Tech as Energy Producers: Major tech companies are some of the world’s largest energy consumers, especially with the growth of AI and quantum computing. But what if they became leaders in the renewable energy transition? With their purchasing power, these tech giants have the potential to not just consume clean energy but to drive investment in it. This could be a tipping point for clean energy on a global scale. 3. Embedding Sustainability in Culture + Incentives: Some organizations are making it clear—sustainability must be woven into the fabric of an entire company; it’s about aligning incentives, from leadership to frontline employees, with emissions reduction and climate goals. When sustainability is tied to performance and compensation, it moves from a “nice to have” to a business-critical priority. 4. Transforming (Not Just Improving) Supply Chains: One company highlighted the need to stop thinking about incremental improvements and start reimagining supply chains entirely. True climate action might mean disrupting long-standing relationships or processes, but it’s this willingness to drive systemic transformation that’s necessary for real progress. 5. Regulation vs. Transformation: Regulations are powerful, but transformation plays an essential role in creating long term value. The insight shared was balancing the power of markets and transformation with the need for regulatory frameworks to drive widespread adoption. This was notably one of the most provocative debates in the room. 6. Tackling the “Too Big to Solve” Mindset: It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the scale of climate challenges, but the panelists were optimistic. Their message? Even the biggest sustainability problems can be solved with ambition, innovation, and collaboration. From decarbonizing heavy industry to reshaping supply chains, the key is to break these challenges into actionable steps and leverage the power of digital technologies to make progress. Businesses need to think bigger, act faster, and integrate sustainability at every level. How is your organization addressing these challenges? Let’s connect and share strategies on how we can drive meaningful, systemic change together. #Sustainability #SupplyChain #Innovation

I met my inspiration at NY Climate Week and the insights she dropped will shape my work for years. Solitaire Townsend shared something uncomfortable: we've been telling the same "running out of time" story for longer than some activists have been alive. After decades at Futerra studying storytelling, here's the truth → Stories are 22 times more likely to be remembered than facts. Yet we keep managing data instead of managing emotion. Three narrative killers plague climate stories: → Sacrifice – telling people they must give up everything → Agency – making people feel powerless → Fatalism – convincing young people (up to 50%) that we're doomed When she started in the '90s, renewable energy was a joke—"what a few weirdos in California did." Now it's cheaper than fossil fuels. The story changed. The world changed. But we're STILL stuck at the inciting incident without moving forward. That's not how society changes. Society changes through punctuated equilibrium. Everything stays the same, then everything changes at once. We're at that moment. Here's what we miss: people engage with climate differently. After testing across markets from China to the US to Europe, Futerra identified three psychographic groups in your boardrooms and buying committees: GREENS (systems-first) → Push lifecycle TCO, Scope 1-3 cuts, resilience scores. Want credible roadmaps, open data and predictive impact metrics. What stalls them: short-termism and vendor lock-in GOLDS (societal-status focused) → Ask "What are peers doing?" Need recognizable logos, benchmarks, case studies. Move on what will make them look good internally and externally What stalls them: jargon and unclear immediate value. BRICKS (pragmatic operators) → Need <18-month payback, concrete playbooks, role-level wins. Track OPEX cuts and cycle time. What stalls them: Vague benefits and unclear ROI The tragedy is that Greens and Bricks fight each other. Greens push systems thinking; Bricks demand immediate ROI. Both try to convert Golds, who follow momentum. The insight: Stop trying to make every stakeholder Green. Your buying committee has all three. Your roadmap needs to speak to all three. If we change the story, we can change the world. We are homo narrativus : the storytelling ape. It's time we acted like it. -- Looking to tell effective stories for GTM in Climate? Check the pinned comment.

Business Framework for Climate Adaptation 🌎 Climate adaptation is an increasingly strategic concern for companies across sectors. Rising temperatures, extreme weather events, and supply chain disruptions are no longer distant threats but material risks to business continuity, performance, and value creation. Responding to these risks requires more than isolated initiatives; it calls for structured, forward-looking action. A comprehensive approach to adaptation begins by recognizing the business drivers that make action necessary. These include avoiding financial losses from climate impacts, unlocking new revenue streams and efficiencies, and contributing to broader resilience in communities and ecosystems. These motivations help define the scope and urgency of adaptation efforts. To move from intention to execution, companies can organize their response across three pillars: enhancing resilience, capitalizing on opportunities, and shaping collaborative outcomes. This structure supports both internal action and external engagement, ensuring that adaptation efforts are both strategic and systemic. Enhancing resilience involves assessing physical climate risks and strengthening the capacity of operations, assets, and value chains to withstand disruptions. This includes scenario planning, supplier resilience programs, and investments in infrastructure that can endure future conditions. The second pillar focuses on capturing opportunities by developing solutions that support adaptation. This includes climate-resilient products, services tailored to emerging risks, and investment in technologies that deliver both adaptation and mitigation co-benefits. These innovations create new markets and competitive advantage. Collaborative outcomes are essential for building resilience beyond the boundaries of the business. This involves partnerships with governments, NGOs, and communities to support large-scale adaptation initiatives. Collective action can drive systemic change and expand the reach and impact of individual company efforts. Implementation requires enabling structures that integrate adaptation into decision-making. This includes aligning corporate strategy with climate science, embedding risk analysis into governance processes, and ensuring transparency through credible disclosures. These elements make adaptation measurable, accountable, and scalable. Taken together, these components form a practical path for companies to address the climate risks ahead while contributing to long-term stability and sustainable development. Adaptation is no longer optional. It is a critical lever for resilience, relevance, and long-term value. #sustainability #sustainable #business #esg #climatechange #risks

PhD thesis submitted! My work explored how the pharmaceutical industry can play its part in addressing climate change. Pharmaceuticals are estimated to account for up to 55% of national health systems’ greenhouse gas emissions. There is little research about how pharmaceutical companies are navigating their climate impact, or what shapes their approach to reducing it. I analysed company documents from multinational pharmaceutical companies and conducted in-depth interviews with people working in pharmaceutical companies, industry groups, and health systems. Using a method called argumentative discourse analysis, I examined how people talked about climate action and how these ways of talking influenced real-world practices. What I found: 1. Climate action was often framed as secondary to patient wellbeing, with some viewing climate action as a potential risk to care. This framing was often in the absence of evidence of patient harm from climate action and reflected a narrow understanding of patient wellbeing – one underpinned by reactive, pharmaceutical-dependent modes of care rather than proactive and preventive approaches to health. Some recognised this, and framed climate action as essential for protecting health. 2. Many saw climate action as dependent on financial viability. This was challenged by those arguing that climate action should not hinge on profitability. My findings showed that it is becoming increasingly more financially advantageous to engage with climate action – from a regulatory, market advantage, operational resilience, and reputational perspective. 3. Carbon footprint quantification, disclosure, and data were presented as key steps to climate action, but measuring and reporting this data often became an end in itself rather than a means to an end, reinforced by regulatory and procurement demands for data rather than reductions. Some warned this focus risked delaying actual reductions. 4. Collaboration was widely called for – across supply chains, with regulators and policymakers, and wider health system actors – but was often left vague, aspirational, or used to shift responsibility elsewhere. These narratives can unintentionally slow progress towards net zero. However, alternative narratives already exist. By reframing climate action as integral to patient care, recognising and reinforcing the business case for climate action, focusing on reduction over quantification and reporting, and surfacing and navigating tensions to drive productive collaboration, the pharmaceutical industry and wider health systems can take a more decisive role in tackling climate change. Climate action in health care is not just a scientific challenge, but also a social, organisational, economic, and political one. Changing the stories we tell about climate change and action may be just as important to drive progress towards net zero. (P.S. this is a very basic summary of 272 pages of work! More publications - and Viva - to follow!)

Sustainability isn’t failing because of a lack of ambition. It’s failing because of where we’re looking for solutions. When strategies stall, most companies double down on reporting, targets, or tech. But the real levers for change are already on the ground—just waiting to be activated. Here are 3 proven ways I help companies unlock real ROI from their sustainability work: 1️⃣ Consumer-led change at the point of action Awareness isn’t enough. Real behavior change requires prompts, peer support, and habit formation—right where decisions happen. Think in-store sustainability guides, cold-wash defaults, food waste support systems that actually help households. 2️⃣ Community-based infrastructure investments You can’t hit targets without supportive conditions. Companies that partner with local leaders to build composting, EV, or reuse infrastructure see long-term savings and increase community trust. 3️⃣ Supplier- and peer-led solutions Some of the best sustainability ideas come from frontline workers, not frameworks. Create spaces for peer learning across your value chain. Find the farmer, the factory worker, the supplier who’s already doing it—and amplify them. These 3 strategies reduce emissions, build buy-in, and deliver visible progress. And the best part? ✅ They’re already happening. ✅ You don’t need to invent them—just invest in scaling them. 👉 Which of these feels most urgent—or most overlooked—in your company right now?

I met Devin when he shared on Fortune 500 pharma company, Bristol Myers Squibb's journey measuring & reducing their Scope 3 (value chain) emissions. Here's his 4 pieces of advice.. For context: As of July this year, BMS has received approval for its near-term and long-term Science-Based Targets. Given BMS’s enterprise footprint involves >80% of Scope 3 GHG emissions, one of its near-term goals is to engage 75% of its suppliers to develop SBTs by 2028 From my perspective, this is admirable, provided support is offered to their suppliers, as it will help drive further Net-Zero action throughout their supply chain Here's our summary of his 4 key pieces of advice to sustainability professionals tackling Scope 3 emissions reliant on suppliers 1) Be an influencer to accelerate the sustainability agenda your organization This requires partnering both inside the business, but also with suppliers. Ethical and responsible purchasing needs to be a priority from the beginning, and sustainability questions should be asked to suppliers during any RFP process. Procurement teams should include sustainability in meetings with suppliers on an on-going basis, making it a standing topic on the agenda. 2) Segment your supply chain to prioritize efforts BMS performed a climate maturity assessment to segment its suppliers and prioritize its engagement efforts — knowing the company cannot feasibly engage thousands of suppliers at once. BMS started by looking at its top emitting suppliers and then assessed their maturity — finding one third to be very mature, a third just starting out, and a third somewhere in between. The company then prioritized suppliers with low maturity and/or a higher perceived ESG risk. 3) Partner with industry peers to create a collaborative environment In Pharma in particular, companies have been working collaboratively with their peers, through the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Initiative, to harmonize resources and offer subsidized programs to suppliers, acknowledging the burden faced by them. One such program is Schneider Electric’s Energize, which offers access to education on renewable energy purchasing, and acts as an entry point for suppliers who can choose to enter buying cohorts and partner with other companies to buy renewable electricity. 4) Take your time and be comprehensive “I would just be a little cautious when you see companies who are sprinting out in front, because of the complexity, particularly in the supply chain — there's just fundamental challenges that folks are not going to be able to solve overnight. And doing the maybe less sexy work of just engaging stakeholders, setting targets, building a language of sustainability — that's the work that may not make the headlines, but that's what's going to change the world in the coming years.” 💬 What responsibilities should larger companies own compared to suppliers (and vice versa) when it comes to their emission impacts?

I'm excited to share the launch of "Bold Measures to Close the Climate Action Gap," the latest report from Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and the World Economic Forum Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders. https://lnkd.in/e8MCFKAm    We see businesses doing more to tackle climate change, but collectively, the world is moving way too slowly. This new report focused on opportunities for companies and governments to translate their individual actions into more substantial global progress. The bottom line is that our individual efforts must be more geared to driving systemic change. The report highlights five ways for companies to do this, including: 1. Accelerate supplier decarbonization. In many companies, suppliers’ emissions are 3x to 8x their own Scope 1&2. Cutting the first 50% of many products’ supply chain emissions can be achieved with an end-price impact under 1% 2. Enable customers to make greener choices. Product redesign, circularity, reducing customers’ energy consumption can substantially lower the emissions footprint of many products. 3. Drive change with peers in your sector, especially in supply chain ‘pinch points’: Ten players or less control more than 40% of many key markets; clearer product labeling is another great area of opportunity 4. Engage in cross-industry partnerships, especially large-scale buying groups, to mobilize capital and accelerate development and scaling of advanced technologies 5. Advocate and support bolder policies. First, make sure you and your lobbying partners are not harming climate progress in your government engagements. Then, look for opportunities to go further to be an effective partner to governments to encourage bold and pragmatic changes in incentives, policies, and reporting. The report is filled with real life examples of what companies are doing today in each of these areas. Thanks to Pim Valdre and Pedro G Gomez Pensado from WEF and my colleagues Dr. Patrick Herhold, Jens Burchardt, Cornelius Pieper, Edmond Rhys Jones, Trine Filtenborg de Nully, Galaad Préau and Natalia Mrówczyńska for leading the work on this important report. And to my Alliance co-chairs, Jesper Brodin, Christian Mumenthaler, Ester Baiget, and Feike Sijbesma for your continued leadership.

Internal Carbon Pricing (ICP) is one of the most effective tools companies can use to link emissions with financial outcomes. Yet only around 14–18% of companies have adopted an ICP, and many stop at a shadow price that raises awareness but does not influence decisions. WBCSD – World Business Council for Sustainable Development member insights highlight clear opportunities to strengthen impact: — Use ICPs in investment, procurement, and operations to guide decisions. — Tailor approaches by business unit, region, or operation type. — Link ICPs to performance metrics and incentives. — Combine ICPs with carbon budgets to increase accountability. Companies such as Microsoft, Bayer, Novartis, Nestlé, and H&M are already showing how ICPs can drive innovation and decarbonization. WBCSD will continue to work with members to refine and scale these practices, embedding climate considerations at the core of corporate finance. This article was co-authored with Boston Consulting Group (BCG): Jenny Kwan, Inês Estrela Amorim, Vignesh Gowrishankar, Elfrun von Koeller, Anastasia Kouvela, Lizzy Coad https://lnkd.in/eVp5bndQ #ClimateAction #SustainableFinance #InternalCarbonPricing