Sustainability creates resilience

The current uncertain geopolitical environment was an opportunity rather than a cause for despair, attendees of today’s Sustainability 2026; Making progress in a time of uncertainty webinar heard.

Sarah Duncan from Expert Advice/Sleeping Lion and HOSPA’s sustainability advisor, opened the webinar with the comment: “The world has become even more fragile. It can feel like we’re living in a permanent state of crisis. When actually we need measured, thoughtful long-term resilience for businesses.

“If you want to have a strong brand, an efficiency business and a sustainable business - that will survive - this is the way to conduct business. In this or any climate.”

David Chenery, co-founder, Reassemble, agreed, commenting: “I like to zoom out from too much media. We had a period post covid where we felt we were all in this together. And then there was an inevitable reaction the other way and it can feel like times of scarcity versus times of abundance.

“I think overall we need to not focus on the day-to-day lurch of emotions. We are living through a time of American power going down and China coming up and there is lots of volatility in that process.

“This time is a gift to hold ourselves to account and make sure we can work with businesses in a language they can understand. Too often people think that if you are sustainable you will give away your profits to competitors, but what we’re trying to do is build resilient well-run companies because they have a better relationship with wider society and the natural ecosystem.

“This is about achieving excellence under restraint. We have a wider duty, but we can achieve excellence within that. There’s an important reframe and we can use this time as a gift.”

Ed Perryman co-founder, Replacer, said: “I’m feeling pretty bullish, although lots of the time I am feeling uncertain. But if we zoom out from the noise, sustainability isn’t really budging an inch. In the US there’s more negative noise, but 85% or more of the company there are maintaining or increasing their investment in ESG initiatives, they’re just not talking about it.  Sustainability is cutting across every aspect of businesses.

“There are companies scaling back and it's tough to see. But the economic climate means that people should be doubling down. Companies with better ESG performance are doing better financially than their peers. They’re more efficient, they’re more resilient. That’s about compliance, but also investor scrutiny.  We need to be doubling down on evidencing action.”

Bob Gordon, director, Zero Carbon Forum,  “It’s an important time. The geopolitics of the world today is largely unpredictable and driven by a small number of leaders. For sustainability we’re having to evolve, it’s part of the growing-up recess. So it's unsettling, but it’s been like this for a long time.

“We’re not talking about a moral or ethical case. We need to I want to be filthy rich in a functioning planet and that’s OK. You don’t have to sacrifice money to be a good person and that’s a false narrative set up by those who oppose our agenda.”

Grace Greensitt, founder, Global Sustainability Index, concluded: “Focus on what you can do as a business.

“Sustainability should enable you to build a better business. The minute you scale back and lose that, it tells us that’s not part of your strategy. If you’re talking about survival mode and cutting through the noise, that’s when people look to hotels, companies, suppliers who match your values, that’s when you can build a team. That’s how we becoming stronger together. If you strip back your sustainability to build a better business, you’re missing the point. Suitability might be the answer to some of the challenges that you are facing.”