Leadership for Sustainability

How do you actually make change happen? What’s the right balance between collaboration and competition? How important is it to convince people about the importance of sustainability? Last year we (Osbert, Morag and Rich, co-founders of Realise Earth) headed for the hills of Westmoreland to camp, walk and talk – to see if we could pool our varied experiences of sustainability leadership to identify...

Daniella Vega is Senior Vice President of Health and Sustainability with Ahold Delhaize, a Dutch-Belgian multinational retail and wholesale holding company. Daniella talks with Osbert about this unusual role and the synergies between reducing emissions and improving health. She also talks about leading on Project Ocean, getting rid of single use plastic, as Group Director of Sustainability at the...

“It’s no longer sufficient to think about sustainability through the climate lens. The challenge and the exciting thing now is really grappling with the interconnectedness of the biodiversity crisis and the opportunity and necessity of the circular economy.” In this episode I interview Sam Gardner, Head of Climate Change & Sustainability with Scottish Power, and formerly Head of Policy at WWF...

How do you get started as a brand new sustainability manager? Libby Kerman stepped into the newly created role of sustainability manager with Lincolnshire Housing Partnership just a year after university. Now, two years on, she reflects on what she’s achieved and learned. Libby talks about: the achievements she’s most proud of who and what helped her succeed tackling her next big task: sustainabil...

Courage is identified by the Inner Development Goals as one the key skills needed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.  It takes courage to go against the flow. It takes courage to say things others don't want to hear. It takes courage to innovate and do things differently. That’s why, if you’re leading on sustainability, you need courage to make genuine progress. We recently brought...

At Realise Earth we’ve always been focused on helping sustainability leaders build support for, and catalyse action on, sustainability across their organisation.  A challenge is how to do this at scale. That’s why we’ve now partnered with the Most Sustainable Workplace Index which can help you do just that. I recently sat down with Jaime Blakeley-Glover, creator of the Index, to hear his stor...

Climate is only one of the planetary boundaries we need to work on. And we also need to tackle a whole range of social issues. That's why item four and our sustainability leadership manifesto is: "develop and deliver initiatives that offer multiple benefits for people and nature". In this Roundtable event, our guests, sustainability leaders across a variety of sectors, reflect on their experience...

In this Roundtable event, our guests are: Sandrine Ricard, Deputy Director Sustainability & Responsibility with Pernod Ricard in the UK Michael Solomon, Founder of Responsible 100 Sarah-Jane Littleford, Head of Responsible Business: Global Delivery with Fujitsu These sustainability leaders reflect on their experience of collaboration: in their organisations across their industry and when bring...

Collaboration is essential to making greater progress on sustainability – within organisations and supply chains, across sectors – and across society globally.  This is recognised by the UN Sustainable Development Goal 17 ‘Partnership for the Goals’, and Collaboration is one of the five dimensions identified by the Inner Development Goals as essential to achieving the SDGs. And the fifth call...

What kind of approach to sustainability leadership do we need in 2024? In this Roundtable event, our guests reflect on their experience as sustainability leaders and give feedback on the draft sustainability leadership manifesto that Osbert talked about in the last episode. The topics discussed include: Deeply listening to understand people's needs Embedding care in the sustainability agenda Build...

In the last year or so we’ve seen a slew of reports about the state of the environment showing that we’re close to, or perhaps have already gone beyond, the point of no return with climate change and several other planetary boundaries.  It’s genuinely scary stuff, and it sometimes floors me. And yet, other reports show real progress and suggest that we’re in with a chance of tackling the clim...

"How do we transition to net zero and build up the renewables we need in a way that respects our planetary boundaries and the natural world?" "How do you create a circular economy and break the link between business growth and resource use?" Kate Wallace Lockhart is head of sustainability with SSE Renewables, and in this episode she talks about working with businesses across the sector to cre...

"You also need a theory of change. If you haven't understood what the big thing is you're trying to achieve, and you haven't understood how you are going to achieve that thing, then you have no theory of change and you're not going to achieve it." Bob Gordon told me that when he started out as Head of Sustainability with Nando’s in the UK he didn’t really have a theory of change.  Bob’s now D...

Discover how Dee made the case for a global sustainability strategy, created Deluxe's first global sustainability role, and then developed and delivered their first sustainability strategy. Deluxe Media & Entertainment is a leading media services company with over 4,500 people across the world. Dee talks with Leadership for Sustainability host, Osbert Lancaster, about: Moving from localised CS...

Run a workshop that encourages colleagues and stakeholders to be actively involved in your sustainability initiative. How to plan and facilitate a workshop that builds collaboration What are good activities? How to get people engaged? Some top tips inspired by our workshop for the Coalition for Wind Industry Circularity We recently facilitated a workshop for the Coalition for Wind Industry Circula...

Adam Liddle, Head of Sustainability, RoslinCT, on creating a sustainability strategy in an industry, life sciences, that is completely new to him. 👉 Check out our new newsletter What if we saw our purpose as helping create the conditions for people and the rest of nature to thrive – whatever happens? Read about Thrivable Field Notes… Full show notes at https://realise.earth/creating-a-sustainabil...

Relating sustainability to people's interests and concerns, and to organisational values and culture, is crucial for engagement. Here's why it's so important, with case stories from our experience, and practical guidance on how to put this into practice in your organisation. 👉 Check out our new newsletter What if we saw our purpose as helping create the conditions for people and the rest of natur...

This is part 2 of our interview with Alan Hendry, Sustainability Director at Mott MacDonald Osbert and Morag discuss what we heard to pull out important insights and offer 10 practical opportunities for action inspired by the interview – with a particular focus on collaboration. 👉 Check out our new newsletter What if we saw our purpose as helping create the conditions for people and the rest of n...

Alan Hendry, Sustainability Director, Mott MacDonald, a global technical services firm, on supporting colleagues make their services more sustainable. 👉 Check out our new newsletter What if we saw our purpose as helping create the conditions for people and the rest of nature to thrive – whatever happens? Read about Thrivable Field Notes… Full show notes at https://realise.earth/how-to-inspire-col...

Not all of us are sustainability directors of a global finance house like Tobi Petrocelli who Osbert interviewed in Part 1. So, for this post, Part 2, Osbert and Morag got together to discuss the interview, and to pull out some insights and recommendations that are relevant to everyone leading sustainability, whatever their organisation. 👉 Check out our new newsletter What if we saw our purpose a...

In the first of our new interview series, I talk with Tobi Petrocelli, at MUFG, Japan's largest, and the world's fourth largest, bank.  Tobi is Head of Sustainability & Transition Finance Strategy at MUFG Americas. She offers fascinating insights into the world of funding the transition to a net zero economy – but what really struck me was not just her lifelong passion for sustainability,...

How do you develop the key skills that you and your team need to create change, build relationships and bring people with you when you are leading on sustainability in your organisation? In this guide Richard Profit summarises what the key skills are, and how you can go about developing them, whether you are just starting out or building on success.  👉 Check out our new newsletter What if we...

What are the key skills that you need to create change, build relationships and bring people with you, when you are leading on sustainability in your organisation?  Richard Profit talks about these essential skills, drawing on his research into sustainability leadership at Ashridge, his years leading on sustainability at PepsiCo, and the Inner Development Goals – the key skills and mindsets n...

What are the characteristics of a great sustainability team? Rich Profit shares his experience as a senior sustainability manager with Pepsico, the world's second largest food and beverage company.  👉 Check out our new newsletter What if we saw our purpose as helping create the conditions for people and the rest of nature to thrive – whatever happens? Read about Thrivable Field Notes… Show n...

We talk you through exactly how to prepare and delivery of a workshop with your board, senior managers or other colleagues, that will lay the foundations for the success of your sustainability initiative.  👉 Check out our new newsletter What if we saw our purpose as helping create the conditions for people and the rest of nature to thrive – whatever happens? Read about Thrivable Field Notes…...