Be encouraged by this. Julie Baddeley has spent years working to get climate and nature firmly onto the boardroom agenda. She now has dramatic evidence of how board attitudes and conversations are changing positively. And fast,

Julie is Chair of the Chapter Zero Alliance. This global network now brings together tens of thousands of directors  to embrace and respond to climate change and nature loss. When TTU first spoke to Julie in 2019, Chapter Zero was just starting out in the UK . Now a handful of committed non-executive directors has grown to 100,000 directors across 34 chapters and 73 countries. This remarkable shift confirms a vital and dramatic change in leadership attitudes.

As Julie tells our podcast, this reflects something bigger. A “new economy” is being created. Boards, directors and leaders are moving well beyond simply knowing that climate change matters. Now they have a profound understanding of the advantages for their businesses and the new opportunities being created. And a next generation of Next Gen leaders are hungry for adopting new approaches that create resilience. So are investors, who are recalibrating their thinking.

From Awareness to Ambition

Speaking with Nik Gowing on this Thinking the Unthinkable podcast, Julie describes the shift as moving from “awareness to real understanding and real ambition.” That matters. Because the conversation around climate and nature has too often been dominated by risk, obligation and what businesses must stop doing.

Julie sees another story emerging. Businesses are recognising the huge opportunities created by the transition: new products, new markets, new skills, new jobs and new sources of growth. “We’ve got that perfect combination,” she tells Nik. Passionate people who understand the importance of climate and nature, working alongside commercially minded directors who understand growth, jobs and business reality. That makes the conversation much more powerful.

New Streams of Profit

Julie tells us  this is not about businesses choosing between sustainability and commercial success. The opportunity is increasingly to achieve both.

Chapter Zero companies are discovering “a whole new set of jobs” and “new streams of profit” as they respond to changing markets, technologies and customer expectations. Renewable energy is one of the clearest examples. The dramatic growth of solar and wind, alongside falling costs driven by aggressive expansion in places like China, are changing the economics of energy. What once seemed to be an expensive environmental choice is increasingly a commercial opportunity because it is cheaper and readily available.

Julie tells TTU this is exactly why boards need to understand the transition properly. It is not simply about managing what might go wrong. It is about recognising what is possible and how quickly it can be adopted.

A Tough Gig with Conflicting Priorities

That does not mean the job is suddenly easier. Far from it. Realities are ever more complex. In 2026, Julie notes candidly that leading a board remains a “tough gig.” The demands on board time are scarce, and companies are navigating a whole range of complex new shifts.

There are conflicting priorities, from the impacts of war and cost-of-living pressures to changing regulatory landscapes.

Then come the unexpected spikes in energy use that are being driven by the explosion of AI.

And there is a need for keeping a lower profile. Facing a political backlash in some regions, many companies are choosing to push forward with climate action more quietly rather than making loud public statements.

Despite these hurdles, Julie tells this podcast that enlightened companies recognise how investing now is far less costly than trying to fix things later. Supply chain shocks, droughts, floods and rising insurance costs are making long-term portfolio resilience a core commercial requirement rather than a discretionary choice.

100,000 Directors and Counting

The massive growth of Chapter Zero is itself evidence of the changing conversation. What began as a relatively small UK network has become a global movement involving 100,000 directors across 73 countries. That does not mean the job is finished. Far from it.

There remain major challenges, uncertainty and resistance, with many senior leaders still sitting on the fence. But they are learning from others, Julie’s optimism comes from seeing the number of engaging leaders increase and the quality of that engagement deepening

Just Don’t Stop

For Julie, the message to boards and leaders is to keep moving, become even more agile, and adapt fast to moving goalposts.

Her final message is wonderfully simple: “Just don’t stop, just accelerate.” The evidence Julie brings to the conversation is encouraging. The boardroom is changing. The commercial opportunity is growing. And an increasingly large global network of directors is engaging with what comes next.

The challenge now is to keep turning that momentum into action faster.

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