3 Unexpected Ways CEOs Can Do More to Address Sustainability in 2023 For much of the last five years sustainability has been a golden goose for CEOs. In the investment world sustainable funds - and the companies those funds invested in - outperformed their conventional peers. In the consumer sphere, customers flocked to sustainable brands and to climate protests with equal enthusiasm. And in talent wars, the most exceptional employees hopped jobs in search of firms that put purpose ahead of - or at least alongside – profit. However, in the past eighteen months the pendulum has swung. Sustainable investment funds - in part due to surging energy prices – underperformed, and sustainability became an unlikely political football. Meanwhile, some USRepublican lawmakers criticised woke ideology and sustainable investing. With increasingly vocal activists at the other extreme, the debate has appeared to become more polarised than balanced. Against this backdrop, CEOs face challenging choices. If they warmly embrace sustainability, they risk alienating a portion of their employees and customers. If they step away, the voices of dissent could be even louder. So, what are the unexpected ways CEOs can do more to address sustainability in 2023? James Purcell Author of Sustainable Investing in Practice
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