Leading by example: The business case for climate integrity

Despite decades of international climate efforts, global carbon emissions continue to rise - highlighting a growing gap between ambition and action. As climate challenges intensify, businesses face mounting scrutiny not only over their environmental impact, but also their credibility in addressing it.

"We've had 29 annual COPs now, and the carbon emissions curve is still going up, not down," says Mike Berners-Lee, founder of Small World Consulting and author of A Climate of Truth. "Every year we're making the climate worse by a larger amount than we made it worse the year before."

For businesses, this is not just a failure of policy - it's a crisis of credibility. Berners-Lee points to the "cynical, deliberate misinformation" propagated by parts of the fossil fuel industry as a key driver behind stalled progress. He warns that trust is now central to the sustainability agenda: "Everybody's asking, how can I trust a business? And businesses are asking, what does it take to be trusted?"

The answer, he argues, begins with honesty: "It's far more important to be honest than it is to try to look as if you're perfect." Instead of overstating credentials, companies must ask fundamental questions about their role in a sustainable future, he adds. "If the world started making a serious transition towards sustainability, would that be an overall opportunity or threat to this business?" If the latter, then Berners-Lee argues that the priority is not carbon targets - it's changing the business model.

"At a time when the idea that climate change matters is being increasingly challenged," Berners-Lee says, "it's a very important time to stand up and be counted."

For business leaders, this means speaking plainly, acting with urgency, and ensuring that integrity sits at the heart of their response.

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This article is sponsored by Cambridge University Press.