I was very fortunate to attend The Times Earth Business Summit last week: a fantastic event, beautifully facilitated by a team of journalists from The Times, and generously sponsored by KPMG and NatWest.

My key take out from the event are the bold CEO statements about how net zero (and beyond), circular economy, and responsible environmental citizenship now need to be actioned, monitored, and proven. But what does that really mean? What actions need to be taken? Who needs to be involved?

The only way for a business to become truly sustainable is for environmental sustainability 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 the business.

But as Deborah Meaden honestly pointed out during the event, many leaders, including herself, don’t truly understand what being ‘sustainable’ and ‘green’ means for them and their businesses.

It’s a conversation we are having with a number of organisations, helping them to raise leader awareness, understand the challenge their businesses has really signed up to, and what it will take from them to make it a reality.

— Gideon Bernto, Founder and Director