Note: The next seven essays are not a view from nowhere. I’ve spent decades working with governance systems as a sustainability consultant, a strategic adviser, a sectoral representative and now as a researcher. I am a long-term participant in the processes I’m now trying to understand. That position is part of the argument: because what
The term impossible object (or hyperobject) is sometimes used to describe something that exceeds our logic, our available grammar or our institutional reach. Climate change, radioactive waste, microplastics and artificial intelligence feel like impossible objects. It doesn’t matter what we say or try to do about them; they have an essence that exceeds our grasp.
Last week, I facilitated a climate leadership event with a public agency. We’d spent the day working through the challenges of translating policy into action, navigating the gap between ambition and implementation. At the close of the session, one participant offered a reflection that has stayed with me. He said he felt “vexed“! He said
Having delivered several Climate Action Leadership programmes for public sector organisations, one thing I have consistently noticed is that attendees are fully aware of the compliance obligations to reduce organisational greenhouse gas emissions by 51% and improve energy efficiency by 50% by 2030. However, in my experience, attendees are much less aware of the broader
The Government’s 2025 Climate Action Plan is released, complete with the usual choreography of ambition, alignment, and reaffirmation. There are targets. There are warnings. There were declarations that this plan will be “at the centre of social and economic development.” And yet—for many of us working in and around governance, something familiar stirred beneath the
Last week, Bruce and I were driving back from a one-day CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive) workshop that we had facilitated for a client. We used the time to reflect on how it went and eat ice-cream on a lovely spring afternoon. Our first credit went to the client. They wanted a workshop on a