Sustaining sustainability

With increased focus on sustainability – partly regulation (like the pithily titled EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive) and partly stakeholder-driven (ESG to consumer demand) – where does risk sit?

This isn’t new. Sustainability was my university major (we don’t call it that). The lecturer brought in guest speakers in my final year (2000-2001). One worked in (what was then) CSR in a giant oil & gas behemoth. He described grand initiatives to donate fancy laptops to local schools, which fell flat. Roads and electricity were more pressing for schools than Windows 95. Another was the lead buyer for a fashion label, describing the challenges of eradicating child labour in post-conflict countries where many “older” kids (12-16 years old) need to work to support their orphaned siblings.

In the following 20 years, my relationship with sustainability was predominantly as a factor in crises, investigations, or a red flag during due diligence. For instance, I remember working with a Nordic renewables firm exploring hydro projects in the Greater Mekong region. The projects were vital (similar sketchy power supply issues and nations being weened off Chinese coal). But the problems were many – illegal land clearance, little or no free, prior or informed consent, corruption, environmental degradation, and so on.

Back in the UK, sustainability is increasingly a topic awkwardly sat between strategy and risk in mid-market and SME firms trying to work out whether it’s a threat or opportunity. My brother has spent his career working in social impact investment and regenerative agriculture. We team up and share notes. The more we do, the more we view our respective domains as symbiotic – not threat OR opportunity, but both.

How, then, can we strike the balance and integrate sustainability as both a risk mitigator and strategic opportunity? The simple answer is to learn from the O&G firm – make it rightsized, relevant, and relatable (for you and your stakeholders). Last week, I used the example of Ikigai – the Japanese construct whereby we find out career’s true north by finding that sweet spot between what the world needs, what we can do, what we love, and what we can get paid for.

I’m developing Sustainable Ikigai for organisations, the first iteration above. What do you think?