I was talking to a client the other day about environmental issues and how sustainability is no longer just a topic for environmental types or students or confined to once a year conversations at Davos.

Gone are the days when it was enough to publish your sustainability commitments and efforts annually in a costly, hard to put together sustainability report (printed on sustainably sourced paper) – hoping it would at least be read by some not too scrutinising journos ….who would present your efforts in a positive light.

Today, ‘real’ sustainability is now the reality for most FTSE100 companies. Those bold CEO statements about carbon neutrality, circular economy and responsible environmental citizenship now need to be followed through, monitored and proven.

But what does that really mean? What actions need to be taken? Who needs to be involved?

The challenge for sustainability folk is how to ensure that every decision maker in the business understands and considers sustainability in the decisions they make. How do you make it clear that there is no magic solution for sustainability that the sustainability team will conjure up?

The only way for a business to become truly sustainable, and deliver on environmental targets, is for it to be central to every decision, every investment and every development that the business makes. The only people that can influence that, are leaders from every area of your business.

At BB&A, we help organisations engage their leaders in the why, what and how of business strategy, enabling them to change their mindsets and change behaviours.

— Gideon Bernto, Founder and Director