Sustainability Forward

One Story, Sixteen Chapters

In this Season 3 finale of Sustainability Forward, hosts Wrishi Sutradhar and Carmine Fiume look back on the year — but not as a simple recap. Instead, we retell Season 3 as one connected story: a journey through the messy middle of sustainability, where progress depends on incentives, trust, execution, and real-world adoption. Across the season, we explored the topics shaping today’s sustainability and energy transition conversation — from impact investing and climate finance, to electrification of heating (heat pumps), resilience and food systems, and the growing importance of data, measurement, reporting and verification (MRV). This finale brings together the biggest insights from our guests and episodes, including: * Can we make money while saving the planet? (impact investing + incentives) * Why heat pumps and electrification matter for decarbonising homes * Resilience at household level: backyards, preparedness, community * Soil health, regenerative agriculture, and making climate tangible through food * Sustainability communication, trust, and avoiding greenwashing * Science, solar, and the realities of scaling the energy transition * AI for climate: opportunity, risk, and rising energy demand * Methane transparency and why MRV is becoming market infrastructure * The ESG backlash: reporting vs performance, and the role of corporate courage * Capital markets and what “mobilising trillions” really requires * Planetary boundaries and why sustainability is bigger than carbon * Emerging markets and renewables: India and Pakistan — same sun, different stories We close with our key learnings from the season and a forward-looking view of what 2026 may demand: proof over promises, better execution capacity, credible disclosure, and trust as a foundation for climate and sustainability action. If you want a thoughtful, practical synthesis of sustainability, ESG, climate tech, climate finance, and the energy transition — this episode is for you. Subscribe for more conversations on sustainability strategy, real-economy decarbonisation, climate risk, and the future of energy.

Same Sun, Different Stories - The Renewable Boom in India and Pakistan

What happens when people stop waiting for the grid — and build their own energy transition instead? In this episode of Sustainability Forward, Wrishi and Carmine travel across India and Pakistan to unpack one of the most dynamic – and least understood – clean energy stories in the world. Wrishi draws on childhood memories of Indian power cuts and today’s giant solar parks to explain how India became a renewables heavyweight: ambitious national targets, ultra-cheap solar auctions, and state-level champions like Gujarat and Rajasthan. At the same time, coal still acts as India’s safety blanket, revealing the tensions at the heart of its energy politics. Then the focus shifts to Pakistan, where the official numbers say renewables are tiny – but rooftops tell a very different story. We explore: * The silent rooftop solar boom reshaping homes, factories and farms * How cheap panels and batteries are changing daily life under chronic load-shedding * The hidden risks around grid finances, groundwater, and energy inequality * What “getting it right” could look like over the next decade Two countries under the same sun, facing different constraints, making different mistakes – and offering powerful lessons for the global energy transition. 🎧 Listen in if you care about climate, development, or just want to understand what the energy transition really feels like on the ground.

5 Sustainability Myths Every Leader Must Stop Believing

This week, we sit down with IMD Professor and World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, Julia Binder, to tackle the biggest misconceptions shaping corporate sustainability. From ESG confusion to climate myopia, “sustainability is expensive” narratives to the belief that sustainable products don’t sell — we break down the stories that have quietly distorted how leaders think and act. In this episode, you’ll learn: * Why ESG was never meant to measure positive impact, and what companies get wrong when they treat it as sustainability. * How climate has become a shorthand for sustainability, and the planetary boundaries we’re dangerously overlooking. * Why sustainability isn’t a cost centre — and how leading firms turn it into a strategic investment. * What really stops sustainable products from selling (hint: it’s not consumers), including performance, pricing, and sales-team barriers. * Whether we’re facing “sustainability fatigue” — and why the feel-good era is over, but the real work is just beginning. Julia brings clarity, candour, and optimism to one of the most misunderstood areas of modern business. If you’re a business leader, innovator, sustainability professional, or just curious about what’s really happening behind the headlines — this conversation is for you. 🎧 Listen now and subscribe to Sustainability Forward for more conversations with global thinkers shaping the future.

Has ESG lost its way — or just its courage?

Is ESG broken — or just leaderless? Lawyer-technologist Scott Lane, founder & CEO of Speeki, joins Sustainability Forward to argue the bottleneck is corporate courage, not cost or complexity. We cover boards’ ESG literacy, reframing the conversation around risk and resilience, compliance vs. true performance, customer-pulled sustainability, China’s scale, and how AI/agentic automation will reshape decisions. Scott’s advice to CEOs: have courage. In today’s episode, Wrishi and Carmine sit down with Scott Lane (lawyer, technologist, and founder/CEO of Speeki) to unpack why ESG feels “stuck” — and how to get it moving again. We discuss: * Crisis of leadership: why the missing ingredient is corporate courage * Boards & ESG: shifting the conversation to risk, resilience, duty of care * Reporting ≠ performance: ESG as a management system that happens to report * From green push to customer pull: building products people value (not paper-straw optics) * China’s renewable scale-up and lessons for global progress * AI & agentic automation: from “smart” to truly predictive decision-making * A CEO playbook: long-term thinking, listen to customers, stop being hostage to politics, and learn the new discipline Scott Lane — lawyer & technologist with 25+ years in ESG risk; founder & CEO of Speeki (ESG reporting and management partner). Former founder of The Red Flag Group (acquired by LSEG).

Mobilizing Trillions How Capital Markets Can Deliver Real Climate Impact

How can we move the machinery of global finance fast enough to meet the urgency of the climate crisis? In this episode of Sustainability Forward, hosts Wrishi Sutradhar and Carmine Fiume sit down with Steven Rothstein, Chief Program Officer at Ceres and the founding Managing Director of the Ceres Accelerator for Sustainable Capital Markets. With over four decades of experience spanning nonprofits, government, and finance, Steven shares what it really takes to turn investor intentions into measurable sustainability outcomes. From fiduciary duty and climate disclosure to risk, regulation, and the next wave of innovation — we unpack the playbook for mobilizing capital markets to deliver real-world climate results. 🎙️ Topics include: * Why climate risk is financial risk * The next frontier for investor action * The hidden role of water, insurance, and heavy industries * How credible disclosure can cut through greenwashing * What gives Steven hope for the future 📍 Visit www.sustainabilityforward.com for more stories and insights. Available on all major podcast platforms.