How to restart the sustainability train in a cautious environment

About the authors:

Lucy Carver is Co Founder of Ochre Partners, advising businesses across the public and private sector on sustainability and former Chief Sustainability Officer at Sky; and Will Kirkpatrick previously served as the Head of Social Impact and Sustainable Development at O2 and as a Senior Advisor to The Crown Estate.

Lucy and Will have both led sustainability agendas both in house, and as advisors within multiple sectors and in government. Drawing on their experience and learnings, they have reunited to reflect on how to spark the momentum so needed across corporate sustainability.

The "momentum gap" and the current climate

There is a palpable sense that organisations are holding their breath on sustainability, waiting for economic or political storms to pass. However, holding back is a dangerous trap. The storm won’t pass at the speed we need, and businesses must act regardless to ensure organisations keep moving forwards with purpose, to protect and build value.

The early corporate sustainability and ESG "land grab" is officially over. Early success for many corporations was driven by the desire for a first-mover advantage, where pioneering teams set the conditions for change in a fast-paced, "go-go-go" environment that could easily absorb failures.

Today, the ‘low-hanging fruit’ of the less complex initiatives has been cleared. The harder trade-offs of the transition are causing leaders to pause and often highly cautious corporate risk appetites are compounding the momentum problem.

This operational slowdown is further aggravated by distinct headwinds:

There is now daily political and media friction, with the agenda becoming politicised in ways it wasn't even a few years ago, and this friction shows no signs of slowing down.

Rollbacks and delays such as the EU's Omnibus "Stop-the-Clock" directive, which delayed CSRD requirements for many companies and narrowed its scope, means many organisations seem to be pausing their momentum on sustainability.

Some companies are continuing to execute, but being careful about how they communicate to different stakeholders in different jurisdictions; whilst understandable this leads to a perception that there is less momentum in corporate sustainability.

There is also, arguably, a growing mindset challenge - with a narrative of stagnation repeated in conference and online panels, LinkedIn posts, and op-eds which reinforce a shared feeling of nervousness, overstating the problem and feeding a lack of confidence that holds us back.

But the case for action is stronger than the headlines suggest

The underlying drivers haven't changed. The risks-climate, biodiversity, supply chain, social inequality, energy costs-are as real as ever, and so are stakeholder expectations that they are recognised and tackled. Institutional investors continue to demand robust ESG data to inform their decisions, and while the pace of mandatory sustainability reporting has been uneven, including with delays and rollbacks in some regions, the direction of travel globally remains firmly toward greater transparency and accountability. Meanwhile, global energy transition investment hit a record $2.3 trillion in 2025 with the desire for energy security driven by geopolitical events set to further drive the green transition. The fundamentals remain intact - what's needed is the confidence to act on them.

Re-injecting momentum requires pragmatic bravery

To build confidence businesses must continue the shift away from the strategic theory and move toward high-impact, deliberate action.

Strategic levers to accelerate sustainability progress:

1. Build a "moving train"

Leaders throughout businesses must recreate a sense of inevitable momentum on sustainability initiatives - the distinct feeling that the train is leaving the station and we need to get on. This is not about railroading colleagues. Instead, it requires building momentum with the business and your stakeholders, through co-constructing the vision for the destination and journey so that everyone buys into the work.

This means seeking to deeply understand your internal and external stakeholders’ views on where you are today, their expectations about where you should be going, how sustainability is integral to the business plan and - especially in constrained times - what should be prioritised. The word "sustainability" often acts as an obstacle, so we are seeing more framing of the exact same issues instead as business risk, operational resilience or value creation which builds or protects the business. Being clear why these issues matter to your particular business, moves the conversation further, faster.

So, the strategic narrative needs to be grounded in business realities, opportunities and risks, and it’s critical to build credibility through a clear and considered plan with measurable and tracked progress, enabled by allocated budget and resources.

We continue to see momentum built by those businesses who are clear about how sustainability issues do and will impact their business, and also recognise the potential of inspiring storytelling about the future they want to create for their business in relation to the planet, society and the economy as a whole. Connecting with people’s desire for purpose and impact still carries weight.

2. Get clear on what's material - then make the hard calls

Even the most committed leaders can lose momentum when they lack clarity on what truly matters for their business. Businesses should assess both how their activities impact people and the planet, and how social and environmental issues create financial risks and opportunities in return, across short, medium and long-term horizons. This is the essence of double materiality, and when a business can articulate it clearly, the argument becomes harder to ignore and people are more likely to lean in, creating momentum from the inside out rather than leaders driving it from the top down. Leaders are also moving beyond looking at impact areas as distinct pillars, and considering climate, energy, nature and social issues in a holistic way. The risks and opportunities are interconnected so strategy must increasingly be viewed in a joined-up way.

Sustainability leaders must be clear-headed about prioritisation. Not everything can happen at once, and the skill is knowing what to focus on now, what to sequence, and what to park, then moving forward with conviction even when the picture isn't complete. Being open about those prioritisation decisions, and the trade-offs they involve, builds the trust that keeps teams moving.

The big systemic changes that a sustainable business demands will take time, which means holding both the urgent and the important simultaneously; acting on what needs to happen now while keeping sight of the longer-term destination. The best way to get ahead of a difficult decision is to anticipate it. Teams who find themselves constantly reacting are usually those who weren't thinking far enough ahead; whether that's losing a major client today due to failure to report robust GHG emissions data, or sleepwalking into a catastrophic AI carbon footprint tomorrow through lack of clean power contracts.

3. Get into the engine room

Success in today's climate comes from "lifting the plan" - moving far beyond strategy decks to manage chunky, complicated operational projects and deep supply chain integration. The goal is not a bigger sustainability team; it is transforming how the whole business operates, so that sustainability becomes part of its normal rhythm and pace. Until sustainability is everyone else's job, it isn't embedded; it's just a strategy that will stay on the periphery.

We frequently make the right noises about "talking the language of the CFO," but what this means in practice is those driving sustainability projects, from whichever function, need to be genuinely fluent in business literacy; upstream in the core business strategy and planning discussions; able to both clarify commercial risks, opportunities and trade-offs and to secure buy-in and budget.

We also have seen repeatedly that progress is better than perfection, and those companies who continue to move forwards with colleagues to find solutions are not afraid to just start, even when all the answers are not yet known; for example on Nature and Biodiversity.

4. Use regulation as a strategic advantage

Treating ESG regulations and reporting requirements as a compliance burden is missing the change they can drive. Businesses can lose momentum when blindsided by regulations they didn't see coming, so as well as being aware of current obligations, stay close to the direction of travel of ESG regulations and how your business is evolving that may tip you into scope. Embrace the thinking behind frameworks and regulations even if you’re not yet in scope. They were designed to help companies and investors identify what truly matters for their specific business, examining both the company’s impact on the world, and how sustainability risks affect the business in return.

Collect and interrogate your data, even before you're required to report, to deeply understand your material impacts, sharpen your strategy and drive meaningful momentum. When your strategy and plan is genuinely tracking material issues for the business and that's been clearly articulated, this creates its own pull. We’ve found that you don't have to manufacture buy-in as people naturally want to lean in and solve problems that matter, creating broad-based momentum, instead of top-down compliance.

5. Understand where investors are coming from

In an increasingly unstable world, investors are still committed to understanding that companies are both aware of, and acting on, their material sustainability risks and opportunities. Whilst requests for information from investors may have died down, many are making decisions based on reported information. They are still engaging with ESG disclosure systems, frameworks and reports on a company' s sustainability risks, opportunities and progression against targets.

Understanding who your existing and future investors are, what actions they expect from your company on sustainability, and considering how you are articulating your strategy and progress is important. At the same time, there are specific sources of investor capital you can explore to help support plans.

6. Engage leadership at every level

Building momentum requires sustained engagement at every level of leadership. With executive teams, this means understanding their pressures, their priorities and their planning cycles, and making sustainability relevant to each of them on their own terms. With the board, the opportunity is different and complementary: structurally positioned to think across decades rather than quarters, boards can act as long-term custodians who protect and champion sustainability bets that short-term business planning cycles would otherwise crowd out. The most durable momentum for sustainability comes when both are pulling in the same direction, the executive team driving it through the business day to day, and the board holding the long-term ambition steady.

7. Build capability and co-ownership across your business

Sustainability success does not, and never really did, require a large, isolated sustainability department; instead, with the right plan and expertise relevant to each business’s material impact, we’ve found deep change occurs when sustainable thinking becomes so embedded it becomes unremarkable. Success depends on building transformation plans with colleagues including across finance, procurement, legal, marketing, operations and HR, underpinned with rigorous governance; clear policies, well-structured working groups and unambiguous ownership of delivery, so that engagement translates into action rather than good intentions.

Upskill sustainability literacy through executive education and core leadership programmes; be prepared to bring in specific sector experts to support your plans when necessary. Establish clear metrics from the outset and make sure there is accountability for them across different business areas. Measured progress is what sustains momentum, demonstrates impact to sceptics, and gives teams the evidence they need to keep going; and if those metrics feed directly into your reporting, all the better.

Use every tool available to accelerate progress; as well as robust ESG data reporting tools, explore the use of AI in a targeted way to perform tasks like synthesising supply chain data, uncovering operational insights and pressure-testing solutions at pace. There is potential to use the technology to scale your impact in a way that goes way beyond using it to just draft reports.

8. Embrace a campaigning mindset - and don’t forget the inspiration.

While embedding sustainability into business operations, it’s important to retain the inspiring elements of the work. Bold goals continue to galvanise action, and campaigning initiatives create a powerful gravitational pull and serve as vital signals of corporate ambition - just ground them in what is materially relevant.

The Crown Estate partnered on two Minecraft games including “Offshore Wind Challenge” that educated school kids on green jobs, achieving over 1 million downloads. This kind of activity helps you stand out, and inspires innovative thinking. Sky Rainforest Rescue worked with WWF to raise awareness of deforestation amongst 7m of Sky’s consumers through Sky channels, as well as raising £9 million to help save 1 billion trees through pioneering conservation work, and provided a visible example of Sky’s commitment to minimising environmental impact. It’s worth thinking deeply about what the relevant, stand-out initiatives could be for your business that could signal commitment and leadership.

9. Beyond collaboration: galvanizing radical partnerships

It is easy to default to safe corporate platitudes about how "we all need to collaborate". In reality, broad, passive collaboration has often become a principle people talk about rather than an operational reality that delivers. To build real momentum we must empower colleagues across the business to step up and galvanise action. By building deep, transformative relationships we can actively change how value chains function as we transition to a more sustainable future.

By partnering deliberately with peers, competitors, government, NGOs, academics, and investors on very specific, shared operational challenges, businesses can enhance their immediate capabilities and find break-throughs that establish new industry standards and tackle systemic issues across sectors, supply chains, with customers or in places.

The businesses making the greatest impact today are not those who simply show up to alliances, committees and working groups, but those who design, fund and partner across the entire ecosystem to make progress unstoppable.

10. Share your progress - both failures and successes

Greenhushing at a corporate level is a genuine concern for many reasons, including that stakeholders don’t assume the best of companies if information isn’t transparently shared, and peers won’t easily learn from each other’s progress and challenges.

The one to one conversations we are having across all parts of the sustainability world show that meaningful work is still happening, and thoughtfully communicating highly evidenced progress and ambition to stakeholders builds trust and momentum. Recent research from Stanford University, highlighted the potential to motivate people by demonstrating the impact of collective action in delivering structural change.

Social and economic change is happening - so celebrating your company’s role in this bigger picture can help create the feeling of momentum needed in business.

We encourage everyone in sustainability to find ways to keep connecting with as many people as possible, and joining the dots on the wider impact we are having, so that we can support each other at this crucial juncture, helping us to dig deep and keep moving forwards at pace.