Pity the poor business leaders trying to find a sustainable future for their companies. Hemmed in on all sides by boards pressing them to drive up share prices and profits, competitors innovating to steal market share, and customers demanding they be more green, how can they cave in to the call of COP and change the way they work to safeguard the planet’s future?

Our podcast guests have found a way to help them. Faustine Delasalle is Director of the Energy Transitions Commission, which has, over the last six years, built trust between wildly different stakeholders such as energy companies and NGOs. The goal was to explore if they could find agreement to reach net zero emissions by mid century. “They now share a vision of what the future holds,” Delasalle told us, “The next challenge is to go from vision to implementation, which also requires collaboration and openness to different points of view.”

TriCiclos, a circular economy and recycling company  co-founded by Gonzalo Munoz, became  the first B Corporation outside North America ten years ago. The certification requires companies to meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose. In those ten years, he has seen the number of B Corps grow to 4,500 but tells us there are around 120,000 companies using the application process to learn how to move to become responsible businesses.

“Every business should have a purpose more important than profit, because profit is a consequence of solving a problem, not a goal by itself. But also the importance of measuring very properly the impact of what you are delivering socially and environmentally. We have seen that change in the narrative in a very beautiful way,” Munoz told us. Know a business leader that needs steering in the right direction? Get them to listen to this.

This episode is hosted by James Cameron, a Friend of COP26 and Senior Adviser to SYSTEMIQ. James is also a Senior Adviser to Pollination, Tulchan, and various other companies. He is also a Non-Executive Director to the Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust (ORIT) and Crown Agents and served as Chairman of the Overseas Development Institute (ODI). He is also an entrepreneur, barrister, and mentor.