The Net Zero Business Podcast

This is the sixth of 10 special episodes to mark the publication of my guide '10 Rules for Corporate Sustainability' where I sum up the lessons I have learnt delivering Sustainability over the last 25+ years. In this episode, I talk through what is probably the most important of the ten rules, Rule 6: Leadership must own your Sustainability Strategy

The biggest threat to your Sustainability programme is a disconnect between intention and action at the highest levels in the organisation. In this episode I explain how I ensure that my clients' leadership takes true ownership of Sustainability.

Click here to download 10 Rules for Corporate Sustainability

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Derrick Emsley started his career in nature restoration in Canada as a teenager, before launching the TenTree clothing brand (ten trees planted for every product bought) and then building the Veritree verification platform for nature-based solutions. All of this has led to the planting of a whopping 100 million trees. In this episode, Derrick and I chew over the whys and wherefores of nature-based solutions, how his ventures have developed and the lessons he has learned. This is a guy who thinks big, very big – an inspiration for us all.

This episode is brought to you by Terra Infirma Ltd - bringing Sustainability to Life

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I'm always very conscious that the pod tends to feature European or US guests, so this week I'm delighted to reach across the equator to Zimbabwe to talk to sustainable entrepreneur Maureen Vere. Maureen's company Verager grows cowpeas alongside maize as a living mulch to protect the latter from climate impacts, and then processes those cowpeas into a range of vegan food products, all the while promoting women in agriculture.

As well as digging into that clever green business model, Maureen and I discuss the Sustainability environment in Zimbabwe including the surging uptake of solar + battery domestic energy systems.

Finally, Maureen lists her key advice for people working in Sustainable business – very wise words indeed!

This episode is brought to you by Terra Infirma Ltd – Bringing Sustainability to Life

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Impending doom, eco-anxiety, sackcloth and ashes – Sustainability is often portrayed in very negative terms, but are Sustainable organisations happier organisations? Who better to ask than Richard Lupo, a Sustainability Consultant and the author of the book "Happiness by Numbers"? Here's what we discuss:

• Happiness by numbers – measuring well being
• Sustainability and Maslow's hierarchy of needs
• The effect of happiness hormones
• Sustainability, levels of employee engagement and co performance
• Making Sustainability fun
• Happiness and the built environment

This episode is brought to you by Terra Infirma Ltd, Bringing Sustainability to Life

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the fifth of 10 special episodes to mark the publication of my guide '10 Rules for Corporate Sustainability' where I sum up the lessons I have learnt delivering Sustainability over the last 25+ years. In this episode, I talk through what is probably the most important of the ten rules, Rule 5: Don't try to convert people; find buttons to press

Most attempts at Sustainability engagement fall into the 'preaching to the choir' category; most attempts fail to make a real difference. About 15 years ago I started developing an alternative approach, Green Jujitsu, which is about finding the sweetspot between the existing culture in the organisation and Sustainability, and starting there. In this episode I give examples in three different sectors. Green Jujitsu works!

Click here to download 10 Rules for Corporate Sustainability

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Offsetting is often described as a distraction from decarbonisation, or, worse, a scam or greenwash. At best, organisations often say "we will concentrate on carbon reductions first and only offset what we can't get rid of." But what if we've got it all wrong? Can 100% offsetting drive your Net Zero programme by acting as an internal carbon tax? Matteo Deidda of Tide, the all-in-one finance platform with a customer base of 1.5 million small and medium size businesses (SMEs) explains all. Here's what we discuss:

• Tide's three Net Zero pledges
• The benefits of investing in 100% carbon removals up front
• Pros and cons of different forms of carbon removal
• Why Tide has chosen biochar as a carbon removal mechanism
• Decarbonising the fintech sector
• Supporting SME customers in their decarbonisation efforts
• The importance of data in the age of AI

I mention the episode featuring Heather Buchanan of Bankers for Net Zero (apologies for dropping a clanger!)

This episode is brought to you by Terra Infirma Ltd - Bringing Sustainability to Life

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If the internet was a country, it would be one of the top 5 polluters. What's that got to do with you? Well, if you have a website, then part of that is part of your carbon footprint. In this wide ranging conversation with Digital Sustainability expert James Chudley, we cover:

• Building your Sustainability career on non-Sustainability skills
• Trends in the digital and their impact on global emissions
• The power of design for good and ill
• Why 'page weight' matters
• User experience: 'good for the user' usually means 'good for the planet'

James' website, full of resources to help you, can be found here.

This episode is brought to you by Terra Infirma Ltd - Bringing Sustainability to Life

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Jeremy Leggett decided to abandon the fossil fuel industry in favour of fighting climate change, he didn't take half measures. Cutting his teeth in Greenpeace, he founded the Solar Century business, the associated charity SolarAid, sat on a huge range of advisory panels and most recently founded Highlands Rewilding to bring nature based solutions into the mix. No wonder he was awarded the prestigious 2025 Blue Planet award.

Here's what we discuss:

• Setting up a solar company when solar was expensive
• Bringing light to the desperately poor via SolarAid
• Navigating the post-truth world
• Peak oil in an age of fracking
• The need for carbon removals and the scope for nature based solutions
• Monetising natural solutions amid the offsetting controversy

This episode is brought to you by Terra Infirma Ltd - Bringing Sustainability to Life.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Through August the podcast will feature themed compilation episodes featuring hot takes from our wonderful guests over the last year. This week the theme is leading change for Sustainability featuring the combined wisdom of a stunning cast of characters:

• Profs Knut Hanaess and Julia Binder of IMD on 'head, heart and hands' and future-back thinking
• Solitaire Townsend of Futerra on the march of the Solutionists
• Abby Chicken of Openreach on 'make friends first, change second'
• Richard Smith of PS Planet on the impact of Blue Planet II and other TV programmes
• Lucy Siegle on fixing the failures of international leadership

Click on the links for the full interviews.

This episode is brought to you by Terra Infirma Ltd - Bringing Sustainability to Life

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Through August the podcast will feature themed compilation episodes featuring hot takes from our wonderful guests over the last year. This week the theme is clean energy – production, distribution and consumption – featuring the combined wisdom of a stunning cast of characters:

• Richard Black of Ember on the Future of Energy
• Michael Liebreich on why the hydrogen economy has never taken off (disagreeing with Richard!)
• Adam Bell of Stonehaven on the prospects for a nuclear energy renaissance in the UK
• Paul Glendinning of Northern Powergrid on whether the grid is ready for Net Zero
• Emma Fletcher of Octopus on 'zero bills homes'
• Prof Jan Rosenow on the electrication of industrial processes

Click on the links for the full interviews.

This episode is brought to you by Terra Infirma Ltd - Bringing Sustainability to Life

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.