A glimpse of life as an inchoate reality-surfer riding waves of awe and ridicule — I peel back layers of reality to understand things that don’t make sense. Then I compare notes with others and share what I find out. This is how I seek a path towards healing our industrial system. I feel wedged between those who are way ahead of me on the…

People keep tagging me on the JBS CDP thing. Here’s a wee rant. — ***What follows is a somewhat inside-ESG-baseball rant. You are forewarned.*** There is a scandal — and it’s not the CDP ranking I guess I’ve made myself into a mini-lightening rod on the topic of global meat company JBS’s claims around environmental, social, and governance (ESG) impacts, given the recent Matereality assessment I did. (Briefing here ICYMI). …

Looking for substance in sustainable finance — I wish I could say I was making the following up. I hope you will fact-check me and tell me what I am missing. …

I totally get why you do what you do. And we have alternatives. — This is an edited version of a recent email thread with a friend who is knowledgeable and experienced in corporate sustainability. I sanitized the text because the specific people and the company we were discussing don’t matter. The point is the role of Sustainability Inc — i.e. …

Asking what a company SAYS versus DOES versus IS — Purpose-washing is icky. When a company states a grand social purpose without backing it up, it adds to the rushing tide of greenwash, making it hard to navigate towards an economy that works in service of life. To tackle this, I offer three simple questions that can indicate if a…

Tips to prime you ahead of the week — whether you’re attending in person or not — This is an invitation to do something useful and joyful in relation to Climate Week, which begins this week in New York City. I compiled this based on years of experience immersed in corporate sustainability while living in NYC. If it seems unfairly critical read from top to bottom, consider…

Coming clean on what I really think about “corporate climate action” — We were driving — my boss, J and I — on a wide swath of highway towards a client site just outside Atlanta, Georgia. It was 2012, early days for us. I had been freelancing for the firm where he was a senior leader. I then got hired on as…

You see the madness, you’re not buying the endless growth narrative, and you want to help. Now what? — This is no time for recycling and double-sided printing If you read another sustainability report touting 25% emissions reductions by 2025 when you know what is needed was more than 100%, decades ago, along with a complete rethink of business’ relationship with the rest of the natural world that isn’t hyper-focused on carbon and is hyper-focused on supporting life…

Imagine a friend telling us a story about his mother. She called him up to say: “I’ve got some great news! I counted up how many times your dad beat me this year compared to last year. It’s more than 10% less than last year! …

But I have a few questions first. — Dear Samantha Suppiah, Thank you for providing the opportunity to experience a “Plantation Sustainability Starter Pack”. This is exactly what the world has been waiting for! And since I am (I think?) …

I hope this finds you well. Thank you for publishing your letter to CEOs earlier this year. You made a compelling case to take the risks of climate change seriously. Your letter created a stir. I am involved in corporate reporting projects with publicly listed companies and I have seen…

What if we look at an old tool in a new way? I propose a variation on a materiality assessment, as an alternate way to understand a company in relation to the future we want. This new approach asks the question,“What if materiality was based in reality?” Those of us working in the environmental, social and governance (ESG) space, encounter materiality assessments…

I ran an assessment to find out: does the company contribute to—or undermine—the future we want? Here’s what I learned. — What’s this all about? After twenty years of sustainability consulting, including conducting a lot of materiality assessments where I felt like we were side-stepping the real conversations — e.g., about business models and economic structures that incentivize harm — I launched a project called Matereality. It’s a twist on the materiality assessments done for…

No, unless they change two fundamental things, ASAP — I conducted a Matereality assessment on Toronto-Dominion Bank (aka TD). The assessment deck is free to access, download, or share here. A brief video explaining the findings is here [added Sept 15: new and improved simplified video here]. …