Business ⁽²⁹⁾

One year ago today, together with Tom Bregman, I co-founded Transition Agency, a disruptive startup which aims to be the antidote to business consulting. Some might suggest that there’s nothing wrong with the consulting industry — after all, companies are still paying consultants to ‘solve’…

I was disappointed this morning - though not surprised - to read this "Inside the Strategy Room" article from McKinsey & Company. The piece transcribes the 'key insights' from a conversation between three of McKinsey's most senior principals, and it begins well: We wanted to…

I'm really struggling with the IFRS Foundation's Exposure Draft for the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), because it seems to assume that all users of financial information are morally bankrupt. According to the Exposure Draft, information "is material if omitting, misstating or obscuring that information…

There's been a lot of debate recently about different kinds of "materiality" and the role of the IFRS Foundation and the nascent International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB). This LinkedIn post is one example. I know many people are confused about this topic, so here's my…

I just read a really depressing report from FCLTGlobal summarising the outcomes of its latest summit, held last week. The mission of FCLTGlobal is "to focus capital on the long term to support a sustainable and prosperous economy." An excellent objective, and one backed by…

Every January, various think tanks and advisory firms in the sustainability and ESG space publish a trend survey for the year ahead. If you haven't already waded through the 2022 crop, I've put together this handy template to save you time. Think of any environmental…

One could be forgiven for thinking that global markets are finally mobilising to solve humanity’s greatest challenges, from climate to poverty. ESG assets under management have been growing at 30% for five years, and now total $37 trillion. Meanwhile, a fifth of the world’s 2,000…

The greatest risk to the sustainability movement is that it is struggling and so far failing to articulate a vision of a future that is both prosperous while remaining within planetary boundaries. Until it is able to showcase a plausible paradigm shift, then no-one is…

Ask politicians, investors or CEOs if growth is ‘good’ and their "yes!" will likely be as emphatic as the "no!" one might hear from concerned environmentalists. Such polarisation is due to different perspectives on what growth actually means. To reconcile these views, we must apply a system…

In a previous article, we discussed how a defensive response to the SDGs achieves nothing, and a selective response risks causing negative trade-offs, which undermine any gains. Instead, a holistic response is required: Any company seeking to contribute positively to one or more SDGs must…