Sustainability — An Opportunity, Not an Obligation

We all need to be sustainable.

What is in a name?

Sustainable literally means “Able to be maintained at a certain rate or level.” It matters not what the word refers to, it can be anything, a military campaign, lifestyle, a marriage or an organisation, if it isn’t sustainable it has no future.

For some, it’s about cutting carbon or going “net zero.” For others, it’s a buzzword that feels overused or political.

The reality is that when you consider the true meaning of the word, everyone understands that a business must be sustainable, it is just that in the fog of jargon and social media the word gets conflated with tree-hugging — with woke politics. In reality sustainability means: awake to business threats, the need for resilience and opportunity.

Or take AI. Suppose that the wildest predictions about AI turn out to be true, and within say a decade, it has replaced most jobs. If hardly anyone is earning an income who will be able to afford the products that business produces, and in turn that means the AI companies may find a lack of customers.

The AI business may find itself in a financial cul de sac of its own making which will be far from sustainable. Suppose AI removes from us the pesky requirement to think; what of us, will humanity itself be sustainable?

When Sustainability Fails: The Kodak Lesson

Remember Kodak? It was once a great company — a corporate giant throughout most of the 20th Century but it didn’t survive long into the next millennium. Why? Its business model was no longer sustainable.

Maybe the word sustainable is inter-changeable with disruption proof: it just makes less clumsy use of the English vernacular.

Future gazing, anticipating what could go wrong; is the staple diet of those who fret about disruption.

There’s a good reason for fretting about the risks of disruption. Back in 1912, the economist Alfred Marshall drew up a list of the world’s 100 largest companies; he likened them to Californian Redwoods — companies so large and mighty that whilst it would be wrong to describe them as immortal, extended longevity seemed guaranteed.

Yet, in 1988 when Leslie Hannah revisited the Marshall list he found that 29 had gone bust and 48 had disappeared. Indeed a couple of decades later Marshall’s Redwoods lost another member from that list - Kodak itself. See: Marshall's "Trees" and the. Global "Forest": Were "Giant Redwoods" Different?

Why did so many of Marshall’s redwoods live barely longer than a rose? They couldn’t evolve. They weren’t built to last. They ceased to be sustainable.

Sustainability, at its core, is adaptability.

And what has all the above got to do with environmental considerations? The environment is changing, the climate is changing, life is changing, and together this creates disruption — a disruption more far reaching than any of the developments that claimed the corporate lives of Marshall's apparent immortal behemoths.

That is why sustainability matters.

“That which we call a rose by any other name smells so sweet,” or so said Shakespeare. The same applies to sustainability — the only difference, it can confer greater longevity than that which is enjoyed by a rose.

The Military Perspective: Innovation or Inertia?
⚔

“It would be really sad if we just focused on sustainability on how to become a net zero army. I think a more exciting discussion is how we use organisations within the government to move us to a more sustainable world.” — Brigadier Tim Symonds OBE

Brigadier Tim Symonds OBE, Head of Productivity and Sustainability for the British Army, puts it well: “You can’t have a secure and stable world unless it’s sustainable.”

He argues that sustainability shouldn’t just be about going net zero — it’s about how institutions like the Army can help build a sustainable world.

Here he expands on these ideas, explaining why the British Army must be sustainable and but also how it often takes jeopardy before it turns its attention to true innovation.

But change meets resistance. The old saying goes: “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.”

Yet by the time something is broken — it’s usually too late. The corporate graveyard is full of companies that refused to adapt. Their leaders didn’t want to “cannibalise their own products.” Maybe they should cannibalise or risk eventually being eaten.

As the Brigadier says: “Green technology will change the world like AI has changed the world. You can either be at the forefront — or let competitors take the advantage.”

Sustainability isn’t a constraint. It’s a competitive edge.

Here he explains how green technologies represent an opportunity for the British Army — “if sustainability is at the expense of winning a battle next year?,” he says — leaving the question hanging and adds: “Winning comes first but if we can win using sustainability and sustainability helps us to win, then that’s where we want to get to.”

The Business Case: Aligning Purpose and Profit

Martin Welsh, CEO of engineering firm Booth Welsh, captures the above narrative perfectly: “The sustainability challenge and the business challenge are totally aligned.”

He’s right. Sustainability isn’t separate from strategy — it is strategy.

“Sustainability can be viewed as a risk or opportunity; and sustainability is going to be used as a method of measurement and you need to be on board now.”

Younger employees already expect their employers to take sustainability seriously. And they’re shaping how companies think and innovate.

“The idea that the best ideas come from the boardroom is long gone,” Welsh says.

Sustainability, once a “nice to have,” has become a driver of talent, innovation, and brand trust.

Compliance — The Hidden Gold Mine

Take compliance — for many in business compliance is that annoying thing that has to be done — tick those boxes so we can go back to creating a profitable business.

There is an alternative point of view, however. Some see compliance as an opportunity?

As ESG quant researcher Sneha Yada said on The ESG Show: “Compliance is a potential gold mine.”

It gives organisations detailed data about their operations, supply chains, and blind spots. That information can drive efficiency, resilience, and even new opportunities.

Robin Boustead, author of The ESG Reporting Manuel. adds: “Without compliance, you don’t have a system that’s comparable, informative, or meaningful.”

The famous economist Milton Friedman once famously said the social responsibility of a business is to make a profit. But sustainability and compliance that provides the information to support it, helps ensure long-term profitability. As Petter Binde, author of The ESG Sprint, argues, sustainability and compliance are perfectly compatible with the Friedman doctrine.

For smaller companies there is an interesting twist. They are often excused from the more challenging compliance burden as much regulation only applies to larger organisations.

But compliance also represents an opportunity for smaller companies that do master it. Larger firms now face due diligence laws like the EU’s CSDDD, meaning they must prove their supply chains are sustainable.

Smaller suppliers that are advancing sustainable practices can turn good compliance into a unique selling point.

Then there is a global perspective. In the developed world, ESG is coming under pressure, in the developing world a quite different story is emerging with organisations and indeed governments embracing ESG principles.

This is a huge opportunity for creating real impact, or so argues Fredrick Royson from Frost and Sullivan.

Here: Sue Bonney, Robin Boustead, Petter Binde, Fredrick Royson, Sneha Yadav and Cecilia Thorn explain why compliance is an opportunity.

The carrot and the stick

There’s the stick: any business that isn’t sustainable won’t survive.

But there is a carrot too; sustainability isn’t just essential — it’s profitable. It lowers costs, drives innovation, builds resilience, attracts talent, and earns trust.

In short: Sustainability is not a burden.

It’s not a checkbox. It’s a strategy for long-term success.

Sustainability = Opportunity.