Net Zero is not the starting point

Why Starting with Net Zero Creates Friction

This is probably the point that’s come up most often in conversations since putting the book out, and it’s usually where things start to get more complicated than they need to be.

For a lot of businesses, sustainability has effectively become shorthand for net zero. It’s the thing that gets talked about most, so it ends up feeling like the place you’re supposed to start.

The problem is, net zero is an end state. It describes where you might get to, not how you run the business day to day.

When the conversation starts there, it pushes people straight into targets and commitments before there’s a clear view of how sustainability actually affects the business.

That’s usually where things stall. It either feels too big to engage with properly, or there’s pressure to commit to something that isn’t grounded in how the business operates.

A more useful starting point is much simpler.

It’s understanding where sustainability actually shows up in the business – where it affects cost, where it affects operations, where it starts to influence customer relationships or access to opportunities.

From there, you can begin to see where it creates value, and what’s worth acting on.

That’s the shift that tends to make it practical.