Sustainability Forward

S4E10: The Week London Couldn’t Breathe

In this episode of Sustainability Forward, we introduce a new type of content: a story-led sustainability deep dive. Instead of our usual conversation format, we step back into one defining moment in environmental history: the Great Smog of London. For five days in December 1952, London was trapped under a thick, toxic blanket of coal smoke and fog. Streets disappeared. Transport stopped. Hospitals filled. Thousands of people died. And eventually, the disaster helped force a political and social reckoning that led to the UK’s Clean Air Act. But this is not just a story about air pollution in the past. It is a story about what happens when environmental harm becomes normalised. It is about systems that appear to work until their hidden costs become impossible to ignore. And it is about the role of policy, public pressure and leadership in changing what society is willing to tolerate. As cities, companies and governments today confront climate change, air pollution, water stress, biodiversity loss and other sustainability challenges, the Great Smog offers a powerful reminder: sustainability failures rarely arrive out of nowhere. They build slowly, often in plain sight. This episode asks a simple but urgent question: what are we breathing in today without noticing?

S4E9: Can Electricity Ever Be 100% Clean?

Electricity is becoming the backbone of the modern economy — powering transport, heating, industry, cooling, digital infrastructure and increasingly, AI. But as demand grows, can we really build a power system that is 100% decarbonised? In this episode of Sustainability Forward, Wrishi and Carmine explore what “100% clean electricity” actually means, and why the final stretch of decarbonisation is often the hardest. They discuss the role of wind and solar, storage, grid expansion, demand flexibility, firm clean power, geothermal, market design and public acceptance. The conversation also looks at real-world examples, including Uruguay’s near-100% renewable electricity system and South Australia’s rapid shift towards high levels of wind and solar. The episode opens with a striking comparison between a proposed 9 GW AI data centre campus in Utah, the Boeing Everett factory, and the electricity consumption of the entire state of Utah — a reminder that the clean power challenge is not just about today’s grid, but the much larger grid of the future. A practical, accessible conversation on whether 100% decarbonised electricity is possible — and what it would actually take to get there.

S4E8: Change in Motion with Jennifer Motles

In this episode of Sustainability Forward, we speak with Jennifer Motles, Chief Sustainability Officer at Philip Morris International, about what sustainability leadership looks like inside a complex global business undergoing transformation. Jennifer shares her journey into sustainability leadership and explains how she sees the role of a CSO: not as a side function, but as a driver of long-term value creation, resilience, and business transformation. The conversation explores why sustainability must start with a company’s most material impacts, how systems change requires action far beyond one company alone, and why transformation should be understood not as a project with a clear end point, but as continuous “change in motion.” We also discuss what it takes to drive change across a large organisation, how senior leadership alignment shapes progress, and why credibility comes from outcomes, evidence, and transparency around both achievements and limitations. Jennifer offers a candid perspective on trade-offs, accountability, and the realities of working on difficult sustainability challenges where change is often slower and messier than outside observers expect. This episode will be especially relevant for sustainability professionals, business leaders, and anyone interested in how real transformation happens inside large organisations. Topics covered: * Jennifer Motles’ journey into sustainability leadership * Why sustainability matters in the context of business transformation * Systems change and the role of business in tackling complex challenges * How to drive change across strategy, operations, and leadership * Credibility, accountability, and evidence in sustainability * Why transparency about trade-offs and limitations matters * Advice for people trying to create meaningful change inside complex organisations A thoughtful episode on leadership, realism, and why the hard work of sustainability happens from within.

S4E7: Retrofitting the Future

In this episode of Sustainability Forward, we turn our attention to one of the most practical — and often underestimated — parts of the climate challenge: buildings. After previously exploring the carbon footprint of individuals, we saw that while transport dominates, the home is not far behind. And unlike transport, buildings are one area where change can happen now. To help us unpack the challenge, we are joined by Ascanio Vitale, a sustainability science expert with more than 30 years of experience in environmental advocacy and decarbonisation. With a background spanning engineering, policy, and consulting, Ascanio has worked with Greenpeace, WWF, the European Commission, and now leads Stop CO2, where he advises on sustainability and ultra-efficient buildings. Together, we explore why building retrofit is still moving too slowly, what households can do first to reduce energy use and bills, why commercial buildings struggle with split incentives, whether current grants and subsidies are working, and which technologies are genuinely promising. This is a conversation about more than carbon. It is about comfort, health, resilience, affordability, and how better buildings can become a real part of the transition.

S4E6: The New Logic of Clean Resilience

In this episode of Sustainability Forward, Wrishi and Carmine explore the new logic of clean resilience. Against the backdrop of the current Middle East crisis, they examine why the implications go far beyond oil prices. The conversation looks at three connected themes: how renewables are coming into sharper focus as an energy security lever, why water resilience and desalination can no longer be separated from power-system design, and how disruptions to critical commodities such as fertiliser and helium reveal the fragility of global supply chains. Rather than treating clean energy as only a climate solution, this episode asks a bigger question: are we entering a period in which clean energy, clean water and diversified supply systems become essential pillars of resilience? A timely discussion on energy, infrastructure, security and what the future may demand from more resilient systems.