The Sustainability Imperative

This Advisor highlights the critical need to align the green and digital transitions, emphasizing that while both will reshape society and the economy, they follow distinct trajectories. To ensure a just and effective twin transition, industry and policymakers must address key challenges, including data fragmentation, overreliance on technology, power imbalances, and policy alignment.

Shannon Ames and Whitney D. Stovall demonstrate how a whole-system approach can transform hydropower by expanding project evaluations beyond reliability and longevity to embrace multiple priorities that deliver additional value. The authors illustrate how, when designed effectively, hydropower can fulfill its renewable energy mandate while also supporting 24/7 demand matching, biodiversity protection and restoration, and positive community impact.

Matt Mayberry, Scott Tew, and Laura Asiala contend that a lack of strategic alignment between leadership and management is the root cause of failure in sustainability transformations — when sustainability is treated as an add-on, it remains separate from core business operations. Using Trane Technologies as an example (and pulling from the experience of coauthor Scott Tew, Trane’s chief sustainability officer), the article highlights a common pitfall: once executives roll out a strategy, leaders expect strategy execution to propagate naturally across the enterprise, but without structured alignment, implementation falters. This gap often leaves ambitious sustainability goals unheard or unheeded across the enterprise because of the distance — both actual and metaphorical — between the corporate boardroom and operations.

Paul C. Godfrey and Vishal Gajjar explore how a newly appointed chief sustainability officer (CSO) can navigate complex sustainability challenges to deliver co-benefits, satisfy multiple stakeholders, and optimize resources. This can be achieved through the Sustainability Canvas, a strategic framework that acts as a compass. The authors take us inside the world of a new CSO facing seemingly disparate issues — low maturity in sustainability reporting, water scarcity in operations, toxic chemicals in products, and a shallow community program that prioritizes philanthropy over genuine engagement. As the CSO plots sustainability approaches to address these issues, the Sustainability Canvas tool offers a structured approach for balancing compliance, costs, reputation, and customer expectations, viewing each challenge through both risk and opportunity lenses while addressing ROI concerns.

Ali Alessandro Ayach and Farhan Mirza of Arthur D. Little (ADL) explore integrated sustainability approaches to healthcare. The industry is significant in terms of economic and environmental impact, accounting for 10% of global GDP and 4.4% of net emissions — ironically contributing to the very health issues it seeks to prevent and cure. According to authors, the sector is pursuing sustainability both in response to regulatory pressure and as a moral imperative. The benefits — financial, reputational, and health-related — are clear, but so are the challenges, given healthcare’s complexity and heavy regulations. In this sector, sustainability can only be embraced if quality of care is not compromised.

Kelly T. Cooper and Neil C. Hawkins warn that “large corporations tend to overlook the fact that successful integration of sustainable business models consistently results in product innovation, new market entry, and commercial longevity.” They elevate the concept of purpose by combining the “what” and “why” of vision, mission, and strategy with the “how” of implementation to create a Constancy of Purpose. The article internalizes a whole-of-business approach to sustainability, which recognizes that ups and downs, headwinds and tailwinds, and expansions and contractions are normal to any business cycle.

This issue of Amplify, Part I of a two-part series, shines a light on the challenges and opportunities of unifying sustainability efforts and showcases pragmatic approaches for greater impact. It shows how a whole-of-business approach to corporate sustainability can unlock the private sector’s power to advance sustainability in tandem with the environment.

Best-selling author Alessia Falsarone highlights the critical but often-overlooked need for digital talent to manage sustainability solutions effectively. To unlock the benefits of digital sustainability and mitigate unintended consequences, organizations must prioritize building a strong talent base. This can be achieved by following three best practices.