Net Zero Festival: How should businesses respond to the age of climate activism?

BusinessGreen staff
clock • 1 min read

VIDEO: Lucy Siegle joins activist and lawyer Farhana Yamin, Global Action Plan CEO Chris Large, and Stand.Earth's Tzeporah Berman to discuss whether activism can accelerate the net zero transition

Activists such as Greta Thunberg, school strikers and Extinction Rebellion have helped thrust climate change into the spotlight over the past couple of years, and undoubtedly played a key role in pushing environmental issued up both the political and boardroom agenda.

Activism takes many forms, and can come from many places - even sometimes within company boardrooms themselves - while growing awareness of the climate crisis among the public also puts organisations at greater risk of reputational damage if they are perceived to lack ambition in their sustainability efforts. 

At BusinessGreen's recent Net Zero Festival, journalist and broadcaster Lucy Siegle spoke to environmental lawyer and activist Farhana Yamin, Global Action Plan CEO Chris Large, and Stand.Earth's Tzeporah Berman about whether activism can accelerate the net zero transition, and how businesses should respond. The conversation can be watched in full above.

All of the panel debates, keynote speeches, and presentations from the world's first Net Zero Festival - which took place over three days from 30 September featuring hundreds of top speakers from business, politics and academia - are now available to watch again on demand through the Net Zero Festival website.

More on Politics

UN Climate Chief: Climate action can deliver stability in face of 'new world disorder'

UN Climate Chief: Climate action can deliver stability in face of 'new world disorder'

Simon Stiell stresses climate action is 'indisputably' in every nation's self-interest, as he warns those shirking leadership are gifting a 'goldmine' to rivals

Stuart Stone
clock 12 February 2026 • 4 min read
The Munich Security Conference's uncomfortable truth: Fossil fuels are now a security risk

The Munich Security Conference's uncomfortable truth: Fossil fuels are now a security risk

At Munich world leaders will talk about defence readiness, economic resilience and strategic autonomy, but energy and climate change should be understood as central to all three, writes We Mean Business Coalition CEO María Mendiluce

María Mendiluce, We Mean Business Coalition
clock 12 February 2026 • 4 min read
The Electric Economy: Creating consensus and communicating change

The Electric Economy: Creating consensus and communicating change

Chris Skidmore argues there is an opportunity to find common ground between political parties on the need for cheaper and more reliable power

Chris Skidmore
clock 02 February 2026 • 8 min read