The CEO of the world’s largest oil company says that renewables and clean tech are a “fantasy” and not economically competitive. After I posted something joke-y about the absurdity of an oil company telling the world not to, you know, move away from oil, a lively discussion ensued. One reader asked a reasonable question about whether “facing the hard reality of our predicament is a good idea.” He posited that people make the case that… A huge majority of energy is still fossil-fuel based There are some things “that electricity simply can’t do at the moment” (e.g., powering planes, producing i ..read more

Unilever announced it will cut 7,500 jobs and spin out its ice cream business (after divesting from most of the tea biz a few years ago). Because I know there will be a lot of noise about their sustainability focus — and pundits saying ‘see, that sustainability stuff doesn’t pay’ — I’ll point people to my article from last year, “The Burden of Proof on Sustainability is Too High“. In short, whenever a company with a sustainability plan has problems, the press immediately blames sustainability or stakeholder focus. And yet, when every other company stumbles, nobody says “you know, that sharehol ..read more

[A fun exercise in storytelling and uncovering the core narrative we live in. Published first on LinkedIn. Some good discussion about it here.] For 20 years, I’ve worked to change how companies see their role in society, and help leaders embrace the vast potential in solving environmental and social challenges. Much of my work is writing, speaking, and other forms of storytelling. The path to sustainable business is not easy or straight. Many things stand in the way of change, but one particular hurdle is fundamental, particularly in the western world: the idea that a company has one goal — to ..read more

[This appeared last week in MIT Sloan Management Review. Check out some discussion about it on LinkedIn here.] Predicting the future is a fool’s errand, but why let that stop us? Last year was volatile, and so was everything around corporate sustainability. The big stories of 2023 included the “anti-ESG” movement’s silencing effect on many companies; the explosion of clean tech; new reporting laws that are pressuring companies to measure and do more; and most oddly, the annual global climate meeting held in the United Arab Emirates, a petro-state. So, what will 2024 look like? With the caveat ..read more

[Over the last year-plus, I’ve done a lot of thinking, writing, and speaking about the so-called anti-ESG movement. It’s a complicated thing. This is my attempt to wrangle some kind of framework around the various critics out there. It appeared in HBR last month.] When I speak with business leaders about corporate sustainability, the conversations now inevitably turn to the “anti-ESG” movement — a loosely defined collection of beliefs and actions aimed at fighting a perceived shift towards “woke” or progressive ideas in society and business. While some of the rhetoric may be cooling a bit ..read more

Hi all. Let me cut to the chase and say I don’t have the answer to the question I pose here. I don’t think anyone does. Below is a LinkedIn post I put up a few days ago about the climate protest at the (tennis) US Open. If you have a few minutes, please check out the dialog on LinkedIn about it (and add your thoughts) — unlike in most social media, the discussion is almost entirely civil. My only meta comment is that I wish people would be a bit less absolute about what’s right — civil disobedience has a long history, with usually limited way knowing what is effective and what causes tipping p ..read more

[I posted this on HBR a couple of weeks ago, but I’ve tweaked the title here to avoid a touch of confusion. The original says “Anti-ESG” instead of “Anti-Woke.” Based on some reactions on LinkedIn, I want to be clearer. There are a few different Anti-ESG movements (I’m writing an article about that now). One group includes sustainability supporters, both within the investor community and without, who are calling foul (or greenwashing) on financial firms for overpromising what ESG funds accomplish. I don’t disagree much with this group. My discussions below about why investors are doing so much ..read more

[I sense I’ll be writing many times about ESG vs. sustainability in some fashion. There’s so much noise on the topic and a lot is wasted. This appeared in MIT Sloan Management Review a couple weeks ago.] If 2021 was the year ESG became mainstream in the financial world, then 2022 was the year things got bumpier. And everything around ESG points to 2023 being even more intense. Before diving into why, let’s define terms. ESG is not sustainability. ESG — the acronym stands for environmental, social, and governance — has been mostly focused on screening companies as inves ..read more

[Happy New Year all! My biggest article of the year is generally the last one; it’s an attempt to synthesize and summarize big themes in sustainability. It’s a labor of love and pain. Here it is, as seen a few weeks ago in Harvard Business Review] It was another tumultuous year for humanity and business. Inflation, supply chain problems, the first war in Europe in 80 years, and much more came together to challenge us all. The existential challenges we face — which the business community is increasingly being asked to help solve — got worse this year. We experienced climate-change-driven extrem ..read more

[This appeared in MIT Sloan Management Review last month. It’s co-authored with Elizabeth Doty and Prof. Tom Lyon, both from University of Michigan Ross School of Business and the Erb Institute. They have developed an excellent framework on how companies should think about their political influence. Glad to help promote it and connect it to the idea of “net positive advocacy” from my work with Paul Polman. Lots of collaborating on this one!] The business world is increasingly and genuinely inspired by the idea of building more sustainable businesses. Organizations are motivated by pressure fro ..read more