Business Leadership for Climate Action and Promoting Sustainability

26th International Conference on Environment Management and Climate Change, 26th – 27th June 2025

By Professor Colin Coulson-Thomas

People, organisations and governments face a combination of inter-related challenges, global risks and existential threats. According to the World Economic Forum (WEF) the outlook for environmental risks over the next decade is alarming, with the top four global risks in terms of severity of impact all being environmental (WEF, 2025a & b). Global warming continues, extreme weather events multiply and collectively we are not doing enough, whether to adapt, mitigate or respond. International scientific agencies agree that 2024 was the warmest year on record (Bardan, 2025; Copernicus, 2025: WMO, 2025). Economic losses from natural disaster events driven by Hurricanes Milton and Helene in the U.S. and flooding across Europe reached $368 billion in 2024 (Aon, 2025). Biodiversity loss and habitat degradation continues, and tipping points approach, after which changes and trends become irreversible (WWF, 2024). The Arctic tundra has recently been emitting more carbon than it stores (NOAA, 2024). With pushback against net zero pledges increasing and climate deniers emboldened, should business leaders now drive climate action and promote sustainability?

Confronting Rather than Avoiding Realities

 While evidence of negative externalities, global warming, climate change, and damage to the environment is overwhelming, and may correspond with common sense and our experience, why is it denied, rejected and/or ignored? Why do so many people still seem so determined to avoid knowing about things that might be inconvenient, uncomfortable or challenging and opt for ignorance rather than understanding (Gore, 2006; Lilla, 2024)? Do they derive some comfort in avoidance and not knowing? Are they trying to keep in with power and potential patronage, such as when corporate policies that were providing a slim prospect of human survival have been reversed following the election of Donald Trump, a climate change denier, as US President? Environmental, technological, economic and political changes are interrelated and exacerbating tensions, fuelling violence and leading to conflicts in many parts of the world (Schwartzstein, 2024). How might boards engage with stakeholders to refocus corporate and collective action upon climate change and sustainability?

An examination of human activities over the past 500 years from an environmental perspective suggests that throughout this period successive ecological impacts have been profound and may have affected the climate before more recent global warming (Amrith, 2024). Many of the impacts of natural disasters that may occur because of the climate change caused by collective human activity, are also made worse by various human activities, inadequate prevention and mitigation measures, and a failure to think ahead (Cottam, 2024). They are compounded and made worse by the choices we make. What more can and should boards do to help prevent disasters and reduce their negative impacts? Companies may have disaster recovery plans to cope with adverse impacts upon their operations, but what about the collective recovery of communities, entities and shared infrastructures and services? How should boards articulate, initiate and implement positive corporate and collective visions, plans and strategies for a more responsible, inclusive and sustainable future?

This Theme Paper explores areas on the agenda of the 26th International Conference on Environment Management and Climate Change. It suggests issues and questions that directors, speakers, and other participants might wish to consider ahead of the event and discuss with their peers, and highlights developments since last year’s event. It includes references to recent investigations and studies related to the conference’s agenda. When reading claims, proposals and reports relating to corporate environmental and climate action a degree of caution and scepticism is often advisable. Evidence presented may be selected to portray what has been done in the best possible light, and it could be misinformation, subject to confirmation bias and/or be misleading (van der Linden, 2023; Edmans, 2024). Directors should consider the source and purpose of board papers and other documents and be alert to the possibilities of hidden agendas, ulterior motives, and self-interests.

Environment Management Challenges

 People are not always aware of environmental damage, or it may seem remote, unconnected with their daily lives, and the responsibility of someone else. Areas inhabited by other species such as the oceans of the world are also being degraded by human activities and need our attention as much as the land ecosystems we may encounter daily (Bradley, 2024). The future of marine environments may depend upon local community awareness of issues relating to them and willingness to pay for their protection and sustainable management (Mai et al, 2024). How might stakeholder environmental awareness best be increased, and more people and organisations encouraged to embrace rather than avoid responsibility for our collective future? How could they be made more aware of the implications of existential threats such as global warming and climate change? Are there better ways of communicating the impacts of contemporary lifestyles, and options and choices open to them, for example with more use of diagrams, graphics and other visuals (Jancovici and Blain, 2024)?

Environment management systems must often accomplish multiple objectives. For example, in relation to water which in many areas is becoming increasingly scarce and the source of many disputes, rural water management systems may have to address quality, water pollution level, and water resource utilization rate concerns and might significantly improve the latter (Chen, 2024). How might the interests of competing users be aligned and better reconciled? In urban areas the prevention and control of the pollution of water environments can require a large amount of capital investment with the benefits accruing over the longer-term, so longterm planning is required (Jiang, 2024). Will timescales required for investment justification be available when migrations occur, and significant populations must be relocated? What mechanisms or interventions would ensure a more equitable sharing of costs and benefits, which can also influence the attitudes and behaviours of participating and/or affected parties?

Beneficial environmental changes can take time. A study of selected Chinese cities suggests the cost of the governance of water environments can have a negative effect in the short term and a positive effect in the long term (Jiang, 2024). It may also be important to know what can be beneficial in different contexts. Knowledge, consumption behaviour and adoption of renewable energy have been found to have a positive association with environment

management in the industrial sector in Germany (Azam et al, 2024). Much of the natural world will not have a voice or anyone acting on their behalf. How should their interests and those of future generations be taken into account and addressed? Should respecting nature and living in harmony with the natural world rather than thinking only about our own welfare, involve more respect for the 23 billion poultry, pigs and cattle living in factory farms (Godfrey-Smith, 2025)? Should their welfare be of concern to directors and stakeholders of companies supplying these farms or purchasing from them? What role should a board play in transitioning from current activities and operations to approaches and models that are less damaging to eco-systems and the environment?

Transition Planning and Corporate Boards

 Transition planning may seem problematic, without a motivating imperative and convincing justification for change, and a shared understanding of both the realities of what is being transitioned from and a clear and common vision of an alternative that is being transitioned to. The hoped for benefits of transition should exceed its costs, and delaying tactics from vested interests in the status quo and determined and powerful opponents, whether lobbies or climate change denying governments may be encountered on route (Coulson-Thomas, 2024a). Imperatives and justifications for change are likely to increase as tipping points approach. Certain tipping points have already been crossed, for example with the melting of large sheets of ice such as Greenland now irreversible (Moon, 2025). Impacts such as wildfires, floods, excess deaths from higher temperatures, and water shortages are being felt. How resilient and able to cope with environmental and other challenges are people, organisations, communities and their leaders (Coulson-Thomas, 2025b)?

How prepared are directors and boards for multiple uncertainties, contemporary insecurity, approaching tipping points and fundamental shifts that are occurring (Coulson-Thomas, 2025b)? Do they and other business leaders have the qualities and capabilities to lead corporate and collective initiatives to address existential threats (Coulson-Thomas, 2024c & d)? How prepared are they and companies for environmental and climate change challenges? What needs to be done now for them to be more flexible, adaptable and innovative in responses to climate change impacts and withstanding them? To manage climate risks, one needs first to recognise them along with associated regulatory risks and then analyse them and how they might be addressed and/or mitigated in what could be a regulatory environment that varies across business divisions and areas of operation (Kouloukoui et al, 2025). What strategies should boards adopt for integrating climate risks into corporate governance arrangements, along with related business and innovation opportunities?

Transition plans can be a way of bringing distant future risks into the present (Dikau et al. 2025). How essential are they for ensuring that steps to protect or restore ecosystems and the environment, and to mitigate and tackle or cope with the impacts of climate change, are taken and their consequences monitored? Should credible transition plans be mandatory for entities of a certain size or in sectors that are either harmful or crucial for the effectiveness of responses? When decarbonising, the advantages of achieving climate related targets may have to be balanced against competitive considerations, against a background of cost uncertainty (Wolf, 2025). The priority given to climate targets can also change, and sometimes dramatically following a change of Minister or government. In some sectors, there may be calls of a wider sharing of the costs of transition or public financial support and a sharing of financial risk with customers and/or taxpayers (Wolfe, 2025). How should boards ensure effective and appropriate financial risk assessment in a decarbonizing economy?

As conditions worsen, existential threats loom and tipping points approach, directors may find companies whose boards they sit upon increasingly held responsible for environmental damage (Rudall, 2024). What are the legal implications of ‘ecocide’ and corporate liabilities relating to the environment? Establishing the crime of Ecocide, prosecution criteria, and means of enforcement in diverse locations and circumstances could lead to greater accountability, more innovative approaches to preventing environmental damage, further restoration initiatives, and enhanced commitment to environmental protection (Davoodipad, 2025). What strategies and guidelines should be adopted for recognising and handling contingent and other liabilities? How might the financial costs of reduced biodiversity be assessed (Dasgupta, 2021)? Who should undertake such assessments and for whom?

Companies can be so focused on the environmental consequences of current operations, that they fail to explore alternative ways of operating more in harmony with the natural world, as advocated by Indian ancient wisdom (Baindur, 2015; Coulson-Thomas, 2019). What role could corporate boards and companies play in advocating, initiating or leading social and economic transformation towards more environment friendly lifestyles, infrastructure and public services? How would and should customers and other stakeholders respond? A lack of knowledge and cognitive and motivational biases can lead some consumers away from more effective climate mitigation responses (Winterich et al, 2024). How might association with LiFE and other campaigns and/or themes enable potential collaborators to be identified, and public-private and community partnerships forged?

Climate Change Related Finance

 Is contemporary capitalism both a cause of climate change and a means of addressing it, depending upon the behaviour of boards and whether they act responsibly and quickly enough in relation to trends, such as the falling cost of renewables in relation to fossil fuels for electricity generation (Rathi, 2024)? Given other claims on resources, the financial requirements for energy transitions that would bring rising global average temperatures closer to Paris Agreement (2015) objectives are considerable. Green finance to support environment friendly activity has been found to accelerate green growth in 19 selected OECD economies (Tufail et al, 2024). What changes would increase its utility and take up for the funding of renewable energy transitions? How might green and/or climate finance be used to address environmental and other risks and cope with the consequences of global warming and climate change? What changes would alter the relative attractiveness of climate finance?

The costs of climate change impacts such as extreme weather events is already considerable and set to increase (Aon, 2025). They remain modest in relation to the expected rapidly rising costs of climate inaction, especially if a combination of existential threat impacts occurred simultaneously and infrastructures, governments and response services were overwhelmed (Stern, 2006; Coulson-Thomas, 2024b). What should boards do to put the case for corporate leadership in collective action to address climate change? How might a ‘call to arms’ best be issued, and what steps could be taken to engage stakeholders and business and collaborating partners and secure their involvement in collective action? Are pressures for action likely to be more acute in some locations than others? What can boards do in collaboration with others to ameliorate the impact of heat islands in cities and urban areas, especially in poorer areas, by introducing green spaces, roof gardens and reflective surfaces (El-Said, 2025)?

Green finance, green innovation, green growth, and environmental taxes have been found to curb CO2 emissions in 25 environmentally friendly countries, but internet users increase them (Wei et al, 2025). As more activities are undertaken online, and the adoption of AI increases, CO2 emissions are likely to further increase along with the possibility of our collective demise. What strategies should directors, boards and companies use to prevent this and leverage climate finance to mitigate economic volatility? How can they increase the transformative influence of financial institutions in building a sustainable green economy? Growth needs to be sustainable. While human capital and green finance have a positive relationship with green growth, an increase in globalization and GDP can decrease green growth (Tufail et al, 2024). How can finance best mobilize resources to bridge climate and sustainable development goal (SDG) funding gaps? Which SDGs should be prioritised?

The impact of carbon pricing in developing countries is sometimes undervalued in relation to non-pricing but can be effective and increase carbon emission abatement effects (Zhang et al, 2024). What role should carbon pricing and market mechanisms play in financing climate action? How might additional incentives, inducements or other regulatory or financial interventions help or hinder it? India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) resulted from a proactive and partially consensual policy style involving state and non-state actors (Deshpande et al, 2025). What forms of public-private partnerships would best mobilize climate finance? How could they become more synergistic, and how should they be governed? While higher temperatures may increase intention to migrate, this may be easier for some people than for others. A Chinese study recommends that policymakers consider the different impacts of climate change on various demographic groups and provide support to the underprivileged to bolster their ability to adapt to climate changes (Yue et al, 2025).

Climate Change Anxiety, Deniers and Opponents

 In comparison with its physical impacts, how climate change affects our behaviour, health, thinking and wellbeing is sometimes overlooked (Aldern, 2024). Climate anxiety is already affecting our prospects in ways as profound as the decision of whether to have children in view of what they might encounter in their lifetimes (Sasser, 2024). What can be done to ease anxiety and retain focus on climate related mitigation, action and innovation? Corporate and collective efforts to address climate change are facing resistance as growth projections are reduced, and expenditure on armaments increases in the face of hot and hybrid warfare. Pushback from people under pressure from cost-of-living increases and confronted simultaneously with other challenges, risks and threats seems to have eroded much of an earlier consensus (Catt, 2025). How can it be restored and climate momentum renewed?

Climate action can provoke the initiation of activities to counter it. Over a 30-year period a network of companies, think tanks, nonprofits, and advocacy organizations in the US have sought to obstruct climate change action, and such counter climate change organizations are most likely to develop in countries with more extensive state policies and structures oriented toward protecting the natural environment (Furuta and Bromley, 2025). The level of climate change denial in a local community might influence corporate environmental commitment and performance. A US study has found that firms located in counties with higher levels of climate change denial have weaker environmental performance ratings, are more likely to commit environmental violations, and impose greater environmental costs on society (Afzali et al, 2025). How might boards better understand where they and companies stand in relation to changing community and stakeholder views and priorities relating to climate change?

While US educators report that many children are worried about climate change, teachers may not be comfortable in helping them to cope with their concerns (Clayton et al, 2025). Climate change teaching in the US is limited and often only available in science classes with many teachers feeling unprepared for it (Parnes et al, 2025). Views can reflect engagement with the natural world and positions taken in the contexts in which people are socialised. In authoritarian societies climate change deniers encouraged by fossil fuel lobbies may exert pressure upon public education bodies to remove references to global warming and climate change from textbooks that require approval (Branch, 2025). In the US, climate change has become a polarising issue with differing sustainable behaviours among conservatives and liberals (Cakanlar, 2024). An examination of global twitter data from the past 13 years has found a globally strong climate denier stance among men (Singh, 2025).

Pushback is occurring as evidence suggests action to achieve net zero is beginning to have a beneficial impact. The issue is whether electorates and governments will feel that these outweigh the immediate and short-term costs at a time of cost-of-living pressures (Catt, 2025). A series of simulations on the impact of China’s efforts to achieve carbon neutrality on CO2 emissions has found positive impacts, but that confronting global warming and climate change will require worldwide concerted and collaborative efforts (Tan et al, 2025). Following the election of a climate change denying US President Trump, certain international oil companies have reigned back their ‘green’ investments in renewables and ramped up oil and gas production (Jack, 2025). Others have followed suit, suggesting the commitment of some boards to climate and sustainability action might not have been as deep as rhetoric may have suggested? How should boards navigate reactions from different categories of stakeholder when they change course, alter priorities and handle their reporting?

Exaggerated claims have been made by many companies for poorly regulated carbon offsetting schemes (Burton, 2024). Boards may find governments in some jurisdictions are more flexible and sympathetic to sudden changes of direction and priority than others. How should they handle differing responses across countries in which they operate? There may be multiple policies and projects to change. Reaching net zero can involve action on several fronts. Amazon’s efforts to achieve net zero carbon by 2040 have included efficiency improvements, lower-carbon substitutions, longer-term innovation investments, and engagements with supply chains (O’Rourke, 2025). Which areas need review and how might positive momentum be maintained? As efforts to control CO2 emissions fall further behind what is required to ensure our survival? Should more attention be devoted to reducing methane emissions which are at record levels and some thirty times more potent as a cause of global warming (Rowe, 2024a)? What can boards do to initiate collective action?

Green and Sustainable Growth

 Changing corporate priorities, moderation of net zero ambitions, and geopolitical developments can impact growth projections and environmental impacts. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is anticipating that global uncertainties, including those relating to US tariff policies, will lead to lower growth and inflationary pressures in many countries around the world (IMF, 2025). Green growth refers to economic growth that is achieved while ensuring environmental sustainability. There are questions to ask and positions that can be taken in terms of whether growth can be green or de-growth is required for sustainable operations and lifestyles (Thornton, 2024). What steps should boards take to ensure that the implementation of policy and priority changes and new investments are responsible in terms of green considerations and sustainability implications?

The importance of green production is sometimes overlooked. Data from BRICS countries suggests that green production practices significantly contribute to long-term green growth (Zhao and Syed, 2024). There is a danger that more companies might soft pedal and reduce their efforts at a time when evidence is showing that past efforts have been beneficial and more needs to be done. A study of G7 countries has found that environmental policy and cleaner energy corelate with environmental protection and carbon mitigation and are linked with green growth, and that eco-friendly technologies can sustain and enhance environmental quality (Yin et al, 2024). As environmental challenges escalate globally, various incentives are still required to encourage many individuals and businesses to act in a more environmentally friendly and sustainable way (Gizyatova et al, 2024). How can boards ensure that opportunities to tackle negative externalities and advance SDGs are taken across organisations, and appropriate incentives to undertake production and other activities in environmentally responsible ways are in place across supply and value chains?

Given pushback against green and sustainability ambitions, commitment to them should not be assumed (Catt, 2025). There is some evidence that the impact of a board’s sustainability experience upon a firm’s sustainability performance is contingent upon age, with younger boards amplifying the positive effect of sustainability experience, while for older boards, this effect diminishes, up to the point of being completely mitigated (Collevecchio et al, 2025). Where do boards currently stand in terms of internal views and opinions among stakeholders? Do existing policies and functional and business unit practices require review? For example, green HRM policies may reinforce that an organization is particularly concerned about social sustainability, hoping employees may become more committed to serving this cause (Azeem et al, 2025). Are policies and practices across an organisation aligned with SDGs? What is required to better align finance, technology, and capacity-building for sustainability?

From Fragmented Approaches to Integrated Strategies

 Alignment and integration may not occur without action to assess how a current situation falls short of what is desired and could be achieved. A study of 270 major cities across China suggests their climate resilience could be evaluated using an indicator system focused on exposure, vulnerability and resilience, and the influence of financial investments on urban climate resilience, with the rate of urbanisation as a moderating factor (Li et al, 2025). Boards may wish to check the alignment of corporate environmental and other policies, with those of governments, including Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), city authorities and local communities. Is corporate climate action aligned with national development strategies? How might NDCs be used as a tool for achieving targets equitably? What external sources of financing and collaboration options might be available and appropriate?

Energy aid can support transition to energy decarbonization, with the most substantial positive impact stemming from aid directed towards renewable energy generation, energy policy, and energy distribution (Liu et al, 2024). However, as countries such as the US cut overseas aid, increase fossil fuel production and refocus on their own national interests, it is not clear that others will step up their efforts to compensate and support energy transition. To balance economic growth with environmental sustainability, and based on past CO2 emissions, policy interventions in India could include transitioning to clean energy, enforcing afforestation initiatives, managing population growth sustainably, and promoting eco-friendly agricultural practices (Dhayal et al, 2024). Joined up approaches are required. How might corporate and other initiatives be better coordinated and integrated?

When pursuing environmental objectives and navigating a net-zero transition, how should boards balance ecological imperatives with business profitability? How aligned are corporate approaches and priorities with those of supply and value chain partners? Does a perceived environmental footprint coincide with the impacts of corporate operations when negative externalities are considered? The consequences of human activities and pollution extend beyond territorial waters to the deep ocean and the high seas, threatening known and unknown creatures and eco-systems that we are barely aware of (Hefferman, 2024). Are companies and their directors and executive teams aware of best practices in implementing integrated sustainability strategies? Financial and other formal objectives are sometimes achieved at the expense of negative externalities and associated costs for wider society.

Social sustainability involves creating value more widely than just for shareholders. Organisations with a social sustainability orientation may achieve higher sustainable performance because their employees develop a shared belief that environmental conservation initiatives are both valued and expected (Azeem et al, 2025). A regression study has found that corporate sustainability reporting practices have a significant positive relationship with Environment Performance Management (EPM) (Saeed and Cek, 2024). Both may derive from a board and corporate commitment to EPM and benefit from integrating sustainability reporting and environment management systems. The ISSA 5000 standard for sustainability assurance is designed to cover a wide range of sustainability considerations and frameworks. It can be used for both limited and reasonable assurance.

Clean Energy and Infrastructure for a Sustainable Future

 The creation of more sustainable communities, lifestyles and infrastructures and the provision of more sustainable choices, options and offerings is an arena of unprecedented business opportunity. Global investment shifts are occurring. Prior to the industrial revolution and emergence of fossil fuel use, biomass energy was the primary source of fuel (Mensah and Yankson, 2025). Renewable energy schemes to achieve energy security, affordability and sustainability objectives can involve both environmental and economic trade-offs (Badrudeen et al, 2024). A study of 20 years of data across 104 countries has found that renewable energy, globalization, and labour can have a positive impact on sustainable development (Chuong et al, 2025). Are global investment shifts occurring? Is the rise of renewables and the fall of fossil fuels likely to continue, or will oil and gas prospecting and production increase following pushback against net zero ambitions and the abandonment of renewable drives by some major oil companies (Catt, 2025; Jack, 2025)?

Will greenhouse gas emissions escalate, or will progress towards net zero and beyond be sustained by innovation and the efforts of others? How should boards prioritise business development opportunities relating to renewable energy, the pursuit of SDGs and the development of more environmentally responsible and sustainable business, operating and lifestyle options? Should more companies explore smart city options for building more sustainable cities that balance the needs of urban stakeholders while safeguarding the environment (Ito and Kato, 2025)? How might successful early-stage developments, solutions and their trials be more quickly scaled up? What can and should boards do to advance green hydrogen, solar and wind technologies? Are there inspiring transformations that others could learn from? What lessons can be derived from global clean energy success stories?

Biomass energy represents a pathway to energy security, carbon neutrality and socio-economic development, but its prospects are likely to require incentives for people to make the investments required and supporting technological, regulatory and other policy measures (Mensah and Yankson, 2025). Whether renewable energy, a circular economy solution or some other development pathway, what foundations for change need to be in place to accelerate progress? What legal, regulatory and financing changes are needed to build more resilient infrastructures for supporting more sustainable activities, lifestyles, communities and societies and promote clean energy adoption? The extent to which renewable energy is integrated into the energy mix can determine whether the contribution of energy consumption in the industry, transport, and residential sectors is positive or negative in relation to green growth and an ecological footprint (Pradhan et al, 2025).

Progress in more sustainable energy and aviation and shipping fuels depends upon marketplace demand and investments to increase capacity to meet it. Renewable energy can require significant up-front capital investments and enabling infrastructure costs against a background of fluctuating energy prices and the intermittent nature of some sources (Spilnichenko et al, 2024). The reliability of renewable energy autonomous generation systems is also an important factor in investment decisions (Mammadov and Mukhtarova, 2024). Energy storage batteries have a key role to play in overcoming the intermittency of renewable sources and ensuring a stable and efficient energy supply (Redouani et al, 2024). Policies should reflect their life cycle and end-of-life demands on scarce resources and the environment. What should boards do to increase recycling, focus on end-of-life issues, and reduce the vulnerability associated with complexity (Tainter, 1990; Dhanorkar et al, 2025)?

Innovation, Digital and Other Technologies

 Transition to less damaging sources of energy to combat climate change is not free of environmental costs. A scramble to secure lithium required by electric batteries and other minerals and the development of processing facilities outside of China can lead to environmental damage, including the destruction of sensitive locations and habitats (Scheyder, 2024). Given scarcity of natural capital and the mineral, energy and water requirements of certain technology applications involving AI and data centres, how should we leverage science and technology for sustainable and green solutions? Digitisation could be an obstacle to the achievement of net zero, but need not be, depending upon its purposes, adoptions and uses. A survey of 964 UK SMEs found that digitally advanced firms are more likely to adopt net zero innovations (Kesidou et al, 2025).

Digital technology and infrastructure have been identified as key enablers of the digital economy (Patwa et al, 2025). Digital innovations, such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, and the Internet of Things (IoT) while demanding of scarce resources, could be leveraged to promote economic efficiency, resource conservation, and social equity, and advance SDG goals (John et al, 2025). How might boards ensure environmentally beneficial applications are prioritised? An AI strategy may be desirable to ensure that: required infrastructure and skills are available when needed, including data centres with access to the power they require; sustainability and security risks are mitigated; and capacity is allocated to priority requirements, whether from a corporate or national perspective (Clifford, 2025). Data centres are the equivalent of small cities in terms of their power and water consumption, and companies building them are likely to be unable to address their environmental impacts without collaboration with other entities. How might boards ensure that required capabilities are available to be accessed as and when required?

Due to the lead times involved, an AI strategy could cover the selection and development of priority data sets, some of which may derive from the public sector, and their structure and arrangements for access to them (Clifford, 2025). While there are multiple potential applications of AI in the fight against climate change, it is not a panacea, as it and required data may not be available in much of the Global South, past training data may be suspect, and patterns from previous years may not reflect unfolding scenarios (Rowe, 2024b). Adoption and spread of a new technology may reflect its perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use (Davis, 1989). AI applications may be easy for people to use for trivial or non-essential purposes in relation to challenges facing humankind but can sometimes be more difficult to use for more socially and environmentally beneficial purposes. Board assurance uses could include compliance with requirements using the captured knowledge of experts in each area and the assessment of sustainability claims against emissions data to identify greenwashing.

Tackling the worldwide increase in the generation of waste may require holistic examination of waste management supply chains and a focus on factors such as the price of processed waste and the margin between this and the cost of pre-processed waste from the perspective of waste management companies (Chintapalli and Vakharia, 2024). Encouraging a scarcity mindset, rather than an abundance one, may be a way of reducing food waste (Gao et al, 2024). Digitisation has created a growing volume of E-waste, much of which is transported to developing countries where it becomes subject to informal recycling with environmental risks to those involved. Information systems and digital products should be designed for e-waste recycling monitoring and collaboration, and electrical and electronic equipment should be designed for repairability and recyclability (Du and Zeng, 2024). What circular economy options might be available? How should they be initiated, coordinated and managed?

Pollution and Water Management

 Care needs to be taken to ensure that concern with immediate and emerging issues does not lead to traditional concerns being overlooked. Air pollution remains an issue in urban areas around the world and is especially acute in India. It can have negative educational and health impacts, for example by reducing test scores and the acquisition of gross motor, fine motor and problem-solving skills, and being detrimental to educational attainment (Nduka and Jimoh, 2024; Villalobos and Blackman, 2025). A direct relationship has also been found between air pollution and COVID-19 infection and fatality rates (Kargi and Coccia, 2024; Kadhom et al, 2025). How might collaboration across discipline, functional, business unit and organisational boundaries and national borders be facilitated?

Conflicts of interest and the influence of vested interests can affect attempts to control or limit emissions from power plants (Buonocore et al, 2025).At international talks in Busan, South Korea on a treaty to limit plastic pollution, oil and gas lobbyists have outnumbered scientific representatives three to one, and while 100 countries wanted to limit plastic production, several countries including major fossil fuel producers prevented this (Rowe, 2025a). For them and oil and gas companies emboldened by US President Donald Trump plastic production represents an arena of business opportunity. How might climate change backsliding, defensive reactions and active opposition best be countered?

A Chinese study has shown that environmental information can help pollution abatement efforts and related technology upgrades and increase productivity, but the beneficial impact was found to be more pronounced in non-resource-based cities, coastal areas, areas with stronger environmental regulations, non-state enterprises, and exporting enterprises (Lou and

Zhu, 2025). A study of heavy-polluting A-share firms listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges has found that boards with a larger number of foreign directors spend more on environmental protection, and this relationship is more pronounced in state-owned enterprises (Wang et al, 2024). Chinese firm data suggests women on corporate boards enhance a company’s environmental performance and disclosures, while limiting greenwashing behaviour, with the impact increasing exponentially once females reach the threshold of 33.5% representation on a board or higher (Zahid et al, 2025). Where do factors that relate to the environment and sustainable development rank in board selection criteria?

Water management and availability, and unequal access to it, is a pressing issue in many parts of the world as water becomes scarcer and is increasingly polluted because of human activity (Boateng et al, 2024; Rifkin, 2024). The UN has warned that the unprecedented speed of glacier melting is threatening food and water supplies to two billion people (UN, 2025). Despite the Namami Gange programme, clean water in the Ganges for devotees to bathe in at Varanasi remains an aspiration rather than a reality. Is the need to tackle pollution from discharges of sewerage, chemicals and other waste not being addressed with the urgency and seriousness it deserves? What changes to policy, laws and regulations are required to avoid, reduce or better treat harmful emissions to reduce their negative impacts? Regular supplies of water are essential for certain operations and activities. How might boards ensure future supplies will be available in the light of multiple threats to them?

What strategies and collaborations and changes of practice are required to ensure continuing operations? Agricultural run-off can adversely affect water in streams, rivers and lakes. For example, a lake basin study has found that it directly and negatively affects the quality of soil and water, ecological balance and human health (Liu et al, 2025). Have water related risks and vulnerabilities been identified and addressed? Suspended particles in rainwater during rainy season and in flood water can present problems that require technological solutions (Yu, 2025). The quality of potable or drinking water can be an issue for developed as well as developing economies. For example, a US study has found that among different socio-economic groups, black and Hispanic citizens can be at higher risk from contaminants in drinking water (Maruzzo et al, 2025). What special measures might be required in certain locations in respect of particular communities and groups?

Business, Policy and Climate Leadership

 Smart boards try to address multiple issues simultaneously. A resilient organisation can hopefully be a more sustainable one and vice versa. A Chinese FMCG sector study suggests organisational resilience may influence various aspects of sustainability and might enhance social, economic, environmental and human sustainability (Xu et al, 2024). What should a board encourage for a company to be more resilient, responsible and sustainable? In which areas is leadership required and what should the priorities be? For example, should strategies be adopted to unlock demand for low-carbon products? Are there changes to regulatory frameworks and policies that would better enable private sector action?

California evidence suggests e-waste recycling standards that are observed and/or enforced can: induce firms to design products with reduced environmental impact that are easier to recycle; enhance inventive activity to better comply with regulatory requirements and may lead to further patents for related green and other innovations (Dhanorkar and Muthulingam, 2025). Recent evidence from China suggests that market-based environmental regulation and taxes can reduce industrial water pollution (Guo et al, 2025). In what areas would further regulation be most desirable and effective and at what point might there be a risk of regulation overload? Are costs and benefits measured and reviewed? How could the drafting and ease of adoption and implementation of environmental regulations be improved? In relation to the built environment, there may not be agreement on what constitutes a sustainable building and how it is defined and measured (Isaksson and Rosvall, 2025). How might differences of perspective, interpretation, priority and understanding be reconciled?

Given changing and polarising attitudes concerning global warming and climate change in different jurisdictions, and the changing positions of some governments, what environmental and sustainability strategies should contemporary boards pursue? Is a reset or renewed commitment required? How might sustainability be embedded at the heart of corporate strategy and governance? What forms of engagement and consultation should be undertaken before a significant change of direction? Is a paradigm shift for long-term value creation required (Kuhn, 1962)? What role should corporate leadership play in driving decarbonization in terms of vision, accountability, and transformative action? Engaging and communicating with people in relation to sustainability in ways that secure attention, commitment and beneficial action can be a challenge. Could it be helped by conceptualising sustainability as the pursuit of life (Dahlmann, 2025)?

Customers may not fully appreciate the environmental consequences of their purchasing and consumption. Consumers may overlook or underestimate both the environmental harm of production waste, and the benefits of reducing it (Xu and Bolton, 2024). How might their understanding of negative externalities and unintended consequences best be improved? Is collaboration between industry leaders required to cultivate demand for sustainable products? What more could and should be done to explore and incentivise recycling and reuse and circular economy and waste to energy solutions? Exaggeration, concealment and misinformation should be addressed. How might certain claims, such as those for biomass energy generation be verified where investigations have revealed the use of unsustainable, uncertified or unreported wood by subsidised plants (Ro and Brown, 2025)?

Are consumer environmental issues, the behaviours of stakeholders and their expectations of businesses monitored identified and addressed? What priority and resources are allocated to different environmental risks and existential threats and how do these compare with others in the sector? How do the rankings compare with those surveyed by the WEF (2025a & b)? Climate change is also a threat to biodiversity, both being directly impacted negatively by human activities. Unintended consequences and efforts to address one negative impact can affect others and create further dilemmas, as with efforts to control invasive species (Warwick, 2024). Biodiversity, the mass extinction of other species, and the threat posed by monoculture risks to food security represents a global risk and existential threat (Dasgupta, 2021). Where do biodiversity and other challenges feature in corporate priorities? What should the role of central and state governments be in improving biodiversity in coastal zones and other areas and combating sea level rise? Are contingency plans in place for relocations?

Confronting Multiple Challenges

 Technological changes, geopolitical differences, seismic shifts and mega disruptions are leading to alienation, destabilisation, distrust, fracturing and polarisation, and the distrust, insecurity and instability they cause inhibits collective action to address common challenges and shared interests (Coulson-Thomas, 2025a & b; Kaplan, 2025). Demographic changes are going to add to social and environmental problems, including migratory flows, caused by

global warming, and challenge the capacities of many countries to cope (Rowe, 2025b). Common challenges and shared problems can require collective solutions. Collective responses to climate change and becoming more sustainable can involve sustainability alliances and understanding how to establish and maintain them and retain focus upon what the parties are seeking to achieve together (Johansson et al, 2025). How might we avoid vulnerability resulting from complexity and energy dependency (Tainter, 1990)?

Contemporary societies could learn much from Indian and other ancient wisdom on living in harmony with the natural world (Baindur, 2015, Coulson-Thomas, 2019). Bishnoi, desert dwellers in Rajasthan still act to protect plants and animals and operate sustainably in harsh conditions more people are likely to encounter (Goodman, 2025). One can also learn from how past communities and civilisations have sometimes coped with various catastrophes, including societies that have been riven with religious and other conflicts and divisions (Wade, 2025). The challenge now is to cope and survive, with global challenges, risks and existential threats that may be denied or ignored by key players and when it is questionable whether there is sufficient bandwidth to maintain order and cope with a combination of catastrophic events occurring simultaneously (Coulson-Thomas, 2024b). How might boards ensure collaboration efforts are pursued to enhance collective capability to address environmental challenges, climate change and other existential threats and be sustainable?

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Further information

Details the 26th International Conference on Environment Management and Climate Change, including the agenda, can be obtained from the website of the organiser: India’s Institute of Directors (www.iodglobal.com): https://www.iodglobal.com/upcoming_events/details/26thinternational-conference-on-environment-management-and-climate-change

*Author

Prof (Dr) Colin Coulson-Thomas, President of the Institute of Management Services and DirectorGeneral, IOD India, UK and Europe, leads an International Governance Initiative and is an experienced chairman of award-winning companies and vision holder of successful transformation programmes. He has helped directors in over 40 countries to improve director, board and corporate performance and held public appointments at local, regional and national level and professorial roles in Europe, North and South America, Africa, the Middle East, India and China. He is currently inter alia Honorary Professor at the Aston India Centre for Applied Research of Aston University and Lincoln International Business School, College of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities of the University of Lincoln, a Distinguished Research Professor and President of the Council of

International Advisors at the Sri Sharada Institute of Indian Management-Research (SRISIIM), a Governing Director of the SRISIIM Foundation and has supervised dissertations at the University of Greenwich. Colin was educated at the LSE, London Business School, and the Universities of Chicago, Southern California and Westminster and obtained first place prizes in the final exams of three professions. He has authored over 70 books and reports and some 2,000 articles. Details of his recent publications can be found on: http://www.policypublications.com and http://www.academia.edu