During this very hot summer of droughts at home and floods on the other side of the world, I found myself wondering whether our collective efforts are making enough of a dent in our impact on the environment, or even holding back the tide.
It took me back to pre-COVID times, when it felt like environmental action was gaining real momentum, although in hindsight, perhaps with more hope than accuracy. That made me wonder whether things have actually evolved since then, or simply changed shape. So I went down the rabbit hole a little further to find out.
Pre-COVID: The Era of Good Intentions
Roughly between 2015 and 2019, sustainability was largely a matter of voluntary pledges and corporate commitments, but with little substance behind them, and not even on the agenda for many businesses. ESG reporting was patchy at best, with many firms disclosing minimal data, and greenwashing spreading like wildfires (pun intended). Some of the period’s figures looked disheartening even as momentum seemed, on the surface, to be building.
Most businesses talked about sustainability, and it sounded ambitious, exciting even, but the enthusiasm rarely matched the efforts, or delivered the results required to reduce businesses’ environmental impact. Where accountability existed at all, it was very minimal.
The pandemic disrupted economies and daily life, exposed the fragility of our supply chains and highlighted the interconnectedness of environmental, economic and social systems. It also exposed inequalities and the need for change. For some businesses, it prompted a serious rethink of resilience and their role within those systems.
But for the most part, once the world opened back up, businesses seemed to rush straight back into: “business as usual.”
Post-COVID: The Era of (sort of) Accountability
Even so, regulations have tightened across the UK and Europe, with the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and the UK’s Green Claims Code, alongside the consumer-protection requirements introduced by the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, being two clear examples. Consumer and investor pressure has intensified, and greenwashing has become riskier, pushing companies to measure, reduce and report their environmental impact.
While public commitments have grown, meaningful action remains slow. Some sectors, such as renewables and those embracing circular economic models, are beginning to thrive, while others, including fossil fuels and fast fashion, continue to put enormous pressure on our already fragile systems, delaying and undermining our chances of turning the tide.
The Era of Silent Revolutions
The good news is that there has been a rise in regenerative businesses. A new wave of companies moving beyond sustainability, which is mostly about doing less harm, toward regeneration, which is about actively healing the planet. These businesses tend to prioritise circular economies that treat waste as a resource, and nature-positive supply chains built around approaches like regenerative agriculture, and peatland restoration (which can reduce emissions and increase carbon sequestration).
Renewable energy continues its remarkable, if often overlooked, revolution, even as the geopolitics of the moment push for more fossil fuels to be unearthed. Natural restoration keeps delivering beyond expectations through widespread rewilding programmes and community-led and grassroots movements keep forming and delivering results at a local level. All these are real, expanding and incredible sources of optimism and inspiration.
The Era of Collective Action
The pandemic forced businesses to rethink their role within global systems, and the results have been, let’s say…. mixed. While some companies still cling to profit-at-all-costs models there are pockets of hope proving that businesses can change and reinvent how they operate, even in the middle of considerable geopolitical and economic turmoil.
We may not have all the answers, but today’s businesses understand that many of the solutions are already out there or can be developed collaboratively. The ideas, technologies and approaches exist or are already underway. The challenge is finding how to make them work in different contexts, and how to develop and implement them together.
Good intentions, commitment, transparency and accountability are very good places to start, but finding better answers means connecting and working with those already doing the work: the grassroots movements and community projects changing lives as they grow, the organisations restoring and recovering our natural world, and the businesses quietly leading clean, equitable and innovative solutions.
This means that the Era of Collective Action is beginning to dawn. Beyond all technological discoveries, it will require new ways of interacting, understanding and connecting to find very human responses to our very human challenges.
