Addressing Sustainability Conundrums

Human beings have never before lived on a planet with 415 parts per million of CO₂ in the atmosphere. It is truly a new world of unprecedented risk and we now find ourselves on “Mission 0”.

CEOs must learn quickly to wear the mantle of Chief Ecosystem Officer. Transformation is the keyword of the moment and is core to the work that needs to be done….

Rapid and far-reaching transformation is required in energy, transport, food, housing and manufacturing. Perhaps more significantly more far-reaching transformation is required in terms of what we value, believe in and maintain loyalty to because culture leads political action. Culture creates the space for political action.

We have even reached a point where mission 0 may not be enough. We have to do more than have no impact. We actually have to do some good; move beyond sustainability to regeneration.

It is a huge conundrum for a leadership culture that has been trained to value quick wins, power, profit and prestige. The culture must shift to a heart-centred leadership that puts love for the living world first. Navigating that shift is the defining challenge of our time.

Here are three questions (from Project Drawdown) that are useful to ponder:

1. How might your organisation/community rise to the great challenge of our time?
2. What is getting in the way of doing what you know is manifestly the right thing to do?
3. What can we do together that you cannot do alone?

I believe that organisations are responsible for engaging in conversations about their impact and what they will do differently. Perhaps an opening prompt might be:

“What is the least we can do?

Then the question might be – if that is the least we can do, can we do better than that?