The Business Case Is Clear. The Story Isn’t.

Be heartened by this. For Sally Uren, the business case for sustainability has never been stronger. Sally is Chief Acceleration Officer at Forum for the Future, having previously spent 11 years as its CEO.

She has been making the business case for sustainability for more than two decades. Now she believes the evidence is clear and reassuring: addressing sustainability does reduce costs and increases profit. It also improves access to finance, attracts and retains talent, and creates new commercial opportunities.

So why does that case still seem so elusive to many business leaders?

Many Bright Spots

Speaking with Nik Gowing on this 20 minute Thinking the Unthinkable podcast, Sally argues that there is a growing gap between the huge positives being recognised in boardrooms and the negative story still being told around it. “We need to tell a better story on the bright spots”.

In the boardrooms and organisations where she works, she says the business case is driving strategy and is well understood. “Non stickiness is not in boardrooms”, but outside there are “powerful pockets of resistance”. Despite all the positives. misinformation, political resistance and outdated assumptions continue to create the impression that sustainability is somehow a drag on business. The reality, she argues, is very different.

Renewable Energy: the Star of the Show

Renewable energy is increasingly making economic sense. “Renewable energy is the star of the show” she tells Nik. Businesses are finding commercial opportunities in sustainability. Countries and entire economies are leapfrogging towards cleaner energy systems. And investors are increasingly seeing strong sustainability credentials as a sign of business performance.

This is happening during a period of enormous transition. Energy systems are changing. Food systems are changing. Health systems are changing. Sally describes these as systems transitions. These are periods that are neither linear nor predictable. They create inevitable turbulence as established systems resist the emergence of something new.

That resistance should not necessarily be read as failure. It is part of the transition. So how do we accelerate it?

Head v Heart

The challenge is head versus heart!

Sally argues that data alone is not enough. “Data on its own doesn’t shift anything“. The deepest lever for change, she says, is not simply policy, finance or technology. It is people: their mindsets, beliefs and cultural norms. “Numbers are not enough, we must put the human case”. That means changing the language and using stories plus a narrative to do that.

Instead of presenting sustainability purely through the lens of climate, businesses can talk about energy security, health, well-being and business continuity. These are issues that people immediately understand and can act upon.

Value at Risk

It also means recognising the “value at risk” of doing nothing. For a food retailer, failing to prepare supply chains for climate disruption can threaten the availability of goods. For businesses failing to invest in new skills, technological change can leave them behind. Failure to anticipate new legislation can result in fines or even a loss of licence to operate.

Listen to Sally explain how the cost of inaction is already becoming visible. Her message is not simply about avoiding risk. It is about recognising opportunity. Businesses that understand where the world is heading can develop new products, services and markets.

Renewable energy, nature-based solutions and climate adaptation are already creating new opportunities. Sally calls these “bright spots” examples of innovation and action that are already working. Her argument is that we need to shine a much stronger light on them. The more people see what is possible, the more likely those solutions are to move into the mainstream.

Personal Resilience

There is also a human dimension to the transition that Sally believes cannot be ignored. It is personal resilience and organisational resilience. They are connected.

Organisations are made up of people. If those people driving change are exhausted or burnt out, they cannot sustain that change. Sally focuses increasingly on personal resilience among sustainability leaders. “We can’t afford these change-makers to burn out.”

Climate and Health

The impact of climate and health is now a long overdue part of the conversation that Sally says has been underestimated for too long.

Extreme heat is not simply an environmental issue. It affects cognitive ability, respiratory health and cardiovascular health. Talking about health, she argues, can make climate impacts more immediate, relatable and actionable. Ultimately, Sally believes the next chapter of the transition will depend on what people choose to do.

Numbers matter. Finance matters. Policy matters. But they are not enough on their own. “We need to share stories of hope and determination and courage.” For Sally, this is not about being blindly positive or negative.

It is about being realistic about what is already changing and acting accordingly. The transition is happening. The opportunities are emerging. The business case is becoming harder to ignore. The challenge for businesses will be to move quickly enough to take advantage of it. There will be a heavy price if they don’t.

There are plenty of positives, Sally tells us. So there is no need to scare people!

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