What Is Sustainability Today? And Why It’s Time to Rethink the Narrative  

Drawing from discussions at our Climate Leaders Forum, Tech Nation’s Head of Climate, Sammy Fry, makes the case for a new sustainability narrative to cut through to business and the public.

Rising living costs and fragile supply chains have made it easy to blame ‘net zero’ for driving up prices and slow economic growth, but the evidence tells a different story. Sustainability isn’t what’s holding us back, it’s what’s holding everything together. So what does sustainability look like today?

At our recent Climate Leaders Forum, hosted in partnership with Octopus Energy, CUR8, and Plan A, sustainability leaders gathered to discuss how to inject fresh momentum into the climate agenda and highlighted the on-the-ground progress being made. The overwhelming conviction from the day was that progress on climate change and nature restoration isn’t stalling. It’s simply evolving. 

Sustainability as a Growth Strategy

A glance at the headlines can easily lead us to believe corporate ESG is retreating, coalitions are dissolving and climate commitments are dead. But beneath the noise, a quieter, more hopeful reality is unfolding.

According to Harvard Business Review, over 70% of large global firms have maintained or strengthened their climate targets since 2023, while investment in decarbonisation grew by 18% last year. As Lubomila Jordanova, Co-Founder & CEO of Plan A noted at our forum, their clients are not abandoning but embedding their sustainability goals more deeply into their core strategy.

Across industry, sustainability is moving beyond experimentalism to profitability. Octopus Energy is proving that sustainable innovation and affordability can coexist. Its Zero Bill Homes initiative is creating housing developments that generate more energy than they consume. It is allowing residents to live without paying an energy bill, powered entirely by solar panels, heat pumps and intelligent energy management. 

Meanwhile, major corporations are investing in insetting projects across reforestation and regenerative agriculture not as philanthropy, but as risk management. These projects protect nature and secure value chains, showing that sustainability isn’t a moral tax on growth, it’s a strategy for competitiveness. The question is no longer “What will this cost?” but “What are we risking if we don’t act?” 

A Simpler, More Human Sustainability Story

Part of the challenge lies in how we communicate. The climate conversation has become buried in acronyms, ESG, CSRD, SBTi, alienating the very people it needs to engage.

At the same time, our minds are under siege. Short-form content and an endless stream of competing opinions have left us overstimulated but underinformed. The result is paralysis, a population overwhelmed by noise and undernourished by meaning.

And yet, amid this noise, a new movement is emerging. The rise of the Green Party in the UK, now the third largest party by membership, reflects a growing demand for authenticity and hope. As Green Party CEO, Harriet Lamb observed, ‘people don’t want to be preached at, they want to feel part of something real.’

Purpose as a Source of Power for Sustainability Leaders

For many, especially younger generations, sustainability already speaks to something deeper. It’s about purpose. People want to work on something bigger than themselves.

Yet there’s a widening gap between that desire for purpose and the opportunities available to fulfil it. The UK’s clean-energy and construction sectors alone face shortages of more than 200,000 skilled workers needed to deliver the transition.

That’s why we, in partnership with Octopus Energy, launched Jobs That Matter, connecting young people with apprenticeships, training and career opportunities that directly contribute to the green transition and purposeful careers.

Of course, none of this will happen without financing the future we want. Capital must move faster toward climate tech, nature-based solutions and carbon removals – the technologies that balance the “net” in net zero.

As CUR8’s Chief Scientific Officer, Gabrielle Walker explained, financing early-stage, high-impact carbon removal projects bridges the gap between innovation and scale, ensuring that, as she puts it, ‘the shovel-ready solutions of today become the backbone of tomorrow’s economy.’

The future we want, one of healthy communities, thriving ecosystems and resilient economies, will only be realised if we fully embrace it. This isn’t about sacrifice but about opportunity. We must start telling the story of how sustainability is already making life better, powering homes, restoring landscapes, creating jobs and giving people purpose.

Insights informed by the 2025 Climate Leaders Forum, hosted by Tech Nation and Founders Forum.