Council for Sustainability Transformation calls for a reset of corporate sustainability strategies

Council for Sustainability Transformation calls for a reset of corporate sustainability strategies

17 June 2025

The Council on Sustainability Transformation, a group of senior leaders from corporations, governments, and academia convened by ERM, has launched a new White Paper to help business leaders rethink their sustainability strategies to build resilience and drive growth in the face of geopolitical, economic, and societal turbulence.

Navigating Change: Delivering Sustainability Value in a Volatile World outlines how companies can continue to deliver sustainability progress while adapting to shifting global dynamics, including fragmented regulation, supply chain disruption, and accelerating climate and nature risks.

Its key recommendations include:

• Focusing on the existential battles and meaningful value creation

Given the commercial and societal risks and opportunities climate and nature create, companies should prioritize these two areas plus the social issues most material to their individual organizations.

• Identifying where sustainability challenges overlap with other strategic priorities

Companies benefit when they find where strategic priorities and practical solutions overlap.

• Adapting to short-term realities without sacrificing core values or long-term direction

Senior business leaders need to be pragmatic and steadfast. Ultimately, success depends more on progress than perfection. A deep understanding of sustainability's commercial benefits and risks and how it interacts with other priorities like supply chain security and geopolitical navigation is vital.

• Reframing sustainability narratives from planet-saving to business-critical

Shifting the narrative helps show how sustainability actions also enhance value creation, political and supply chain stability, innovation, and resilience.

• Building stronger collaboration within and across value chains as a bulwark against challenges and uncertainty

The recent trend of companies and investors leaving collective sustainability alliances needs to be reversed. What may seem logical in response to short-term pressures makes individual businesses and industries more vulnerable in the long run.

Commenting on the launch of the White Paper, ERM's Global Leader of Sustainability & Risk Sabine Hoefnagel, said: "The deep expertise and insights of Council members come at a critical moment for businesses navigating a volatile landscape.

"Instead of dialling back sustainability efforts, the Council makes the case for embracing market complexity and provides business leaders with guidance on charting a new path forward.

"This is a challenging undertaking, but, as this paper makes clear, companies that focus on the fundamentals of addressing climate and nature risks as a priority, while aligning sustainability with commercial imperatives like energy security, supply chain resilience, and innovation, will be best positioned to thrive."

The White Paper can be downloaded here. It is the second in a series of papers from the Council, with the first paper providing recommendations to business leaders on company-investor engagement as a catalyst for climate action.

About the Council

Convened by ERM, the Council marshals the extensive experience of its members across industries to provide C-suite executives and board members with practical guidance on how to tackle obstacles to progress on ambitious sustainability targets, while preserving and growing financial value.

The Council's members are:

• Peter Agnefjäll, former CEO of IKEA Group, current Chair of Ahold Delhaize
• Mark Cutifani, former CEO of Anglo American
• Connie Hedegaard, former EU Commissioner for Climate Action
• Naoko Ishii, former CEO and Chairperson, Global Environment Facility
• Hixonia Nyasulu, former Chair of Sasol, current board member of Anglo American
• Feike Sijbesma, former CEO of Royal DSM, current Chair of Philips
• Johannes Teyssen, former CEO of E.ON

Rachel Kyte, former CEO of the UN's Sustainable Energy for All initiative, was also a founding member and is now an alumna of the Council.