Inside the book
Here is a summary of the ideas and frameworks that shape each chapter of the guide. We extend our warm thanks to all contributors whose experience and insight broaden and enrich the work.
Chapter 1: The practitioner perspective on corporate sustainability
Despite socioeconomic and political headwinds, corporate sustainability is here to stay. With sustainability regulation increasing around the globe, sustainability practitioners must take a holistic view of the firm and engage a range of stakeholders to address its current and future risks and opportunities. The goal is for businesses to survive and thrive long into the future. In fact, the role of the sustainability practitioner has never been more urgent given the rapid acceleration of climate change, with artificial intelligence presenting sustainability challenges and possibilities.
In this chapter we cover:
Why we wrote the book and why practitioner insights matter for sustainable business
Our backgrounds in corporate sustainability
How to use the book
Chapter 2: Corporate sustainability – history, practice, and evolution
Where did corporate sustainability come from and how does its history affect practice in the field today? When did it become a discipline marked by practitioners? What does a stocktake on corporate sustainability today tell us about what the practice of sustainability may be like in the future?
This chapter summarizes the history of corporate sustainability, defines where we are today, and looks ahead to the future.
This chapter also contains insights from:
John Elkington, Author and Founder, Volans
Ioannis Ioannou, Associate Professor, London Business School
Alison Taylor, Clinical Associate Professor, NYU Stern School of Business
Chapter 3: Embedding sustainability into corporate strategy
Organizations do not need a separate sustainability strategy; they need a business strategy that is inherently sustainable. Why? The reasons are rooted in how sustainability shapes risk, opportunity and value creation.
Although the framing of sustainability is evolving, its strategic relevance remains unchanged. Climate impacts, resource constraints, water stress, biodiversity loss and social risks increasingly shape business resilience and long-term performance. Practitioners must therefore translate sustainability into the language of opportunity, risk and financial value.
We introduce practical tools and best practices to help sustainability leaders embed sustainability into strategy, moving from intention to impact.
This chapter also contains insights from:
Adam Elman, Director of Sustainability, Google Europe, Middle East, Africa
Linda Freiner, Chief Sustainability Officer, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd
Mark Gough, CEO and Founder at the Capitals Coalition
Alice Steenland, Chief Strategy, Sustainability & Marketing Officer of Signify
Chapter 4: The governance of corporate sustainability
Strong corporate governance is critical for embedding sustainability into core business strategy and decision-making. This chapter outlines the roles of boards, executive leadership and management, and provides practical guidance on integrating sustainability into the foundational structures of an organization.
In this chapter, we cover:
Why governance is the foundation for sustainable business
How to design effective sustainability governance from the board to executive team and senior leadership
How to embed sustainability into governance policies and processes
This chapter also contains insights from:
Lise Kingo, independent board director of Danone and Sanofi S.A. and Allianz Trade and former CEO & Executive Director of the UN Global Compact.
Klaus Moosmayer, a member of the Supervisory Board of Deutsche Bank AG and former Chief Ethics, Risk and Compliance Officer and member of the Executive Committee of Novartis
France Bourgouin, Head of ESG, A.P. Moller Holding
Karen Pflug, Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) at Ingka Group, the largest IKEA franchisee
Chapter 5: Stakeholder engagement for corporate sustainability success
Good stakeholder engagement is critical to advancing sustainability. Internally, companies need their employees to be thriving and performing to their highest abilities. Externally, organizations need to not only understand and meet the needs and expectations of investors, customers, governments, suppliers, non-governmental organizations, communities and others, but also to collaborate in flexible and innovative ways with those stakeholders in order to make progress on a shared agenda.
Effective engagement does not happen by accident. It requires systematic identification of who the relevant stakeholders are, rigorous assessment of their expectations and concerns, and a coherent strategy for prioritization and dialogue. It also demands the ability to balance competing and sometimes irreconcilable demands — distinguishing non-negotiable obligations from negotiable preferences, and short-run tensions from conflicts that may dissolve over longer time horizons. Underpinning all of this is credible sustainability communication: the ability to convey progress, acknowledge difficulty, and maintain consistency across audiences without overstating what has been achieved.
This chapter also contains insights from:
Mario Abreu, Head of Group CSR and Sustainability, Ferrero
Marianne Mwaniki, Co-founder Avunja Mobile and former SVP Social Impact and Vice Chair at the Visa Foundation
Markus Strangmüller, Head of Sustainability Implementation and Engagement, Siemens AG
Michele Vela, Director, Ebnat AG
Chapter 6: Sustainability disclosures and reporting in practice
Sustainability disclosures – once viewed as peripheral – have become a critical component of corporate accountability. While companies may communicate about their sustainability-related activities throughout the year, everything comes together in their sustainability disclosures. It is via transparent, high-quality disclosures that companies demonstrate to investors and other stakeholders how their sustainability efforts create business value.
In this chapter we cover:
Navigating global sustainability disclosure requirements and standards
The end-to-end sustainability reporting process – data collection to publication
Driving transparency and trust through sustainability disclosures
This chapter also contains insights from:
Amy Brachio, CEO of Carbon Measures
Emmanuel Faber, Chair, International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB)
Lindsay Zingg, Chief Sustainability Officer, Georg Fischer
Chapter 7: The future of corporate sustainability – pathways for practitioners
This chapter begins by distilling the book’s insights into essential takeaways to help sustainability practitioners navigate the current period and take quick and effective action for the long term. We highlight emerging trends that will shape their work – a future where they must be strategists, integrators, and enterprise‑wide influencers.
We also showcase the views of global sustainability leaders on the capabilities that will define the next generation of leadership in the field. This chapter includes essays from:
Shweta Agarwal, Managing Trustee & Head of ESG, Sterlite Technologies Limited
Matthias Berninger, Head, Public Affairs, Sustainability and Safety, Bayer Group
Susan Hooper, co-founder Chapter Zero and Board Member Uber
Anna Krutikov, Head of Sustainability, Glencore
Joel Makower, Chairman, Trellis Group
Robert Metzke, Chief Sustainability Officer, Deutsche Telekom
Pedro Pereira, Chief Business Expert AI, Supply Chain & Sustainability, SAP Americas
Takako Ohyabu, former Chief Global Corporate Affairs & Sustainability Officer, Takeda
Annika Ramsköld, Vice President, Corporate Sustainability, Vattenfall
Lene Bjørn Serpa, former head of Corporate Sustainability and ESG, Maersk
Chapter 8: Resources
To operate effectively in an increasingly complex environment, sustainability leaders need access to high‑quality, trusted, and diverse sources of information and insight.
This chapter brings together a curated selection of resources recommended by the authors and contributors of this book. Their recommendations reflect the resources they have relied on throughout their career: insightful daily newsletters, foundational reports and datasets, thought‑provoking books and articles, practical tools and frameworks, and the podcasts that help them learn on the go.
Photography: “Trees of the City”
The tension between nature and the built environment is the theme of the photography throughout this book. Every day, we move through cities shaped by glass, concrete, stone and steel, yet nature continually asserts its presence.
Photographed by Carrie Scott in Basel, London, Zurich, and the Canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland – places where the authors are based – this series explores those intersections. Rather than focusing on the trees themselves, the images capture their shadows, reflections and traces as they fall across the built environment. The resulting compositions reveal an ongoing dialogue between natural systems and human design – much like the work of sustainability practitioners – reminding us that even in highly urbanized settings, nature remains active and enduring.