Session Description:
For more than a decade universities, corporations, investor coalitions like UN Principles for Responsible Investment, and industry associations have built a robust business case for sustainability – demonstrating links to revenue growth, cost savings, risk mitigation, and long-term value creation. The evidence can no longer be referred to as the critical issue. Yet meaningful adoption at scale remains stubbornly limited.
This gap reveals a critical insight: profitability is necessary, but not sufficient, to drive transformation. Financial proof alone does not overcome the organizational, structural, and behavioral barriers that prevent sustainability from being embedded into core business strategy.
This session will briefly revisit how the business case has traditionally been framed and demonstrated to date – then move beyond it. We will identify the less-visible, non-financial barriers that stall progress, from short-term decision frameworks to operational silos. Most importantly, we will outline how companies can activate three underleveraged levers – platforms, processes, and people – to operationalize sustainability at scale. Policy remains an essential fourth pillar, but businesses must be equipped to lead transformation across diverse and evolving regulatory environments.