The Responsible Edge Podcast

A 2026 report, After Service: The Hidden Costs of Britain's Military on its Veterans, documents a specific failure. The legal commitments made to service leavers exist. At the transition point, they break down. Ten percent of service leavers struggle to find employment in year one. A further fifteen percent need meaningful support in the first two years. In this episode of The Responsible Edge...

China is the world's largest carbon emitter and its largest producer of solar panels, electric vehicles, and battery storage. Those facts are not a paradox. From a Chinese cultural and political perspective, they are entirely consistent. In this episode of The Responsible Edge, host Charlie Martin speaks with Paul Gladston, Judith Nielsen Chair Professor of Contemporary Art at the University o...

The energy transition has a materials problem most corporate sustainability reports do not address. Wind turbines, electric vehicles, and grid-scale batteries require cobalt, lithium, and nickel extracted from mines. The governance architecture sitting between those mines and the finished product is, in most supply chains, structurally incomplete. In this episode of The Responsible Edge, host Char...

Greenpeace has called out the International Olympic Committee for accepting sponsorship from Eni, the Italian fossil fuel company, for the 2026 Winter Games. The charge is precise: a company contributing to global warming is funding an event whose future depends on snow and ice. In this episode of The Responsible Edge, host Charlie Martin uses that story as the starting point for a broader convers...

Research suggests forty percent of stressed senior leaders are currently considering stepping down. That figure arrives as organisations face climate risk, AI disruption, and shifting workforce expectations simultaneously. The leadership most needed is the leadership most at risk. In this episode of The Responsible Edge, host Charlie Martin speaks with Adrian Ferraro, founder of The Bioasis, an of...

Climate communication has a problem that more data will not fix. Research from the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication shows that 72 percent of Americans believe global warming is happening, but only 45 percent expect it to harm them personally. Scientific consensus messaging, the most common communication tool, can entrench scepticism rather than reduce it, particularly among those with...

When OpenAI completed its restructuring as a Delaware Public Benefit Corporation in October 2025, it did not create any new mandate to publish safety metrics, disclose how outputs are generated, or give civil society organisations formal standing in governance. A public benefit corporation requires directors to consider broader stakeholder interests. It does not require them to demonstrate that th...

Most sustainability professionals inside organisations spend the majority of their time on reporting. That was not the original intent. In this episode of The Responsible Edge, host Charlie Martin speaks with Kelsey Parsons, a global sustainability consultant and former in-house sustainability officer, about what that compliance burden is doing to the people carrying it. Parsons draws on experienc...

Circular economy is one of the clearest ideas in sustainable construction. Close material loops, reuse existing structures, extend the life of assets. The business case has been made. So why does it stall in practice? In this episode of The Responsible Edge, Charlie Martin speaks with structural engineer Amira Damji, Director of Additive Sustainability, about the structural and contractual reasons...

Climate communication is often treated as a messaging problem. This episode examines why that assumption may be flawed. The discussion centres on a widely shared article arguing that climate messaging should become more human, more local, and more relevant. While this addresses tone, it may overlook a more fundamental constraint: timing and incentives. “It’s very difficult to think about the clima...

Consumers transact daily with limited visibility into who they are buying from. At the same time, trust in institutions is fragmenting, and information is abundant but contested. In this episode, Raja Darbari, co-founder of Ample, explains how payment data can be used to surface sustainability signals at the point of transaction. His model integrates merchant-level data into banking apps, translat...

Office furniture waste is not a materials problem. It is a system problem. In this episode, Dr Greg Lavery explains why large volumes of usable office furniture are still discarded every day in the UK. Decisions are driven by lease cycles, procurement incentives, and design trends rather than asset life. Greg is founder of Rype Office and a member of the UK Circular Economy Taskforce. His work foc...

In this episode of The Responsible Edge, Pablo Lloyd examines why ethics often fails in real business environments. The common explanation is lack of time. Leaders are under pressure, dealing with targets, and moving quickly. Ethics is seen as an additional burden. Pablo challenges that directly. The issue is not time. It is how leadership is defined. Drawing on his experience as a CEO, he describ...

Sustainability strategy is increasingly central to business. But financial systems are not built to support it. In this episode, Amelia Woodley explains why Chief Sustainability Officers face a structural challenge. Businesses operate on short-term reporting cycles, while sustainability risks unfold over decades. Amelia draws on over 20 years of experience embedding ESG into commercial strategy. S...

Food waste remains one of the largest inefficiencies in the global food system. Around one billion tonnes of food are wasted every year. In this episode of The Responsible Edge, Charlie Bigham discusses how these issues appear inside a real food manufacturing business. Charlie started the company from his kitchen table in 1996. Today the business produces prepared meals from two kitchens and emplo...

The paint industry increasingly presents itself as sustainable. Labels highlight “water-based”, “low VOC”, and other environmental claims. But what actually sits inside the tin? In this episode of The Responsible Edge, Charlie Martin speaks with historic building envelope consultant and paint manufacturer Michiel Brouns about the gap between sustainability language and material reality in the coat...

Sustainability standards are designed to drive real-world impact. Certification schemes cite income gains, biodiversity protection and improved environmental management. But do they transform systems, or simply standardise compliance? In this episode of The Responsible Edge, Pooran Desai, founder of OnePlanet.com and creator of the One Planet Living framework, examines the evidence behind sustaina...

The built environment produces more than one third of global waste. Yet only around one percent of building materials are reused. In this episode, Tina Snedker Kristensen, founder of BuildDirection and former Head of Sustainability & Communications at Troldtekt A/S, examines why circularity in construction remains structurally constrained. Drawing on more than two decades inside the building m...

Compostable packaging is widely presented as a sustainable alternative to plastic. But does it solve the core issue? In this episode of The Responsible Edge, Clare Brass, Co-founder and Chief Product Officer at Moree, examines why compostables often fail in practice and why recycling cannot keep pace with rising consumption. “Very often if you switch one material for another material, you’re just...

Most boards believe they are prepared for a cyber attack. Joseph Hubback reviewed research showing that 94% of boards feel comfortable with their security posture. Yet cyber attacks continue every week. In this episode of The Responsible Edge, Joseph explains why cyber risk becomes an executive decision the moment systems fail. “When the attack happens, the CSO will do all they can,” he says, “but...

Should agencies be held responsible for the harm caused by their clients? In this episode of The Responsible Edge, we examine one of the most difficult questions facing consultancies and creative agencies today. As scrutiny around greenwashing, ethics, and accountability intensifies, neutrality is no longer an easy defence. Becky Holland, founder and CEO of BH&P, has spent her career inside ma...

Many organisations are busy without being effective. Projects multiply, initiatives overlap, and leaders spend increasing time maintaining activity rather than deciding what should stop. In this episode of The Responsible Edge, John reflects on why motion is often mistaken for progress, and why responsible leadership requires restraint as much as ambition. Drawing on a career that spans military s...

Artificial intelligence is moving fast into executive search. Promising speed, scale, and efficiency, it is reshaping how leaders are identified and shortlisted. In this episode of The Responsible Edge, Simon Heal, founder of Myco Search, explains why judgment cannot be automated when leadership decisions shape long-term outcomes. Drawing on more than twenty-five years in executive search and his...

The UK’s emissions are falling. But what if the numbers are hiding a deeper problem? In this episode of The Responsible Edge, Charlie Martin speaks with Sarah Le Gresley, Group Innovation and Sustainability Director at Michelmersh Brick Holdings, about the difference between territorial and consumption-based emissions and why it matters for British industry. Sarah explains how emissions reductions...

Recruiting for frontline roles has become increasingly difficult. Employers face high turnover, rising training costs, and constant pressure on customer-facing staff. In this episode of The Responsible Edge, we speak with Christy Acton, founder and CEO of Standing Tall , about why some employers are finding stronger performance by hiring people who have experienced homelessness. Standing Tall plac...