Two recent news stories made me ponder this question.

Firstly, it was reported that the UK’s Climate Change Committee was recommending that the UK Government refrain from carrying forward a surplus in its legality binding carbon budgets, arguing that this was caused by Covid restrictions rather than genuine decarbonisation. The UK Government has already pushed back targets on EVs and phasing out gas boilers on the grounds that the country was ahead of the game on decarbonisation.

Then came the rather wonderful news that global carbon emissions may actually peak this year (as discussed on the Net Zero Business Podcast in January…). When I shared this on social media, some people commented that it may lead to countries taking their foot off the gas (but not in a good way). This headline is particularly open to misinterpretation as greenhouse gases accumulate in the atmosphere, so we need to go way beyond peaking annual emissions. While it would be a welcome milestone, it is far from the end of the journey.

I countered the latter with an anecdote from my own experience. In 2004, when I was first elected to Newcastle City Council, I was appointed deputy Cabinet Member for Environment and Sustainability. In 2009, we got a call to say Newcastle had been awarded “UK’s most Sustainable City” by Forum for the Future, beating the usual suspects such as Brighton and Bristol. My first thought was “How bad were all the others?” as I felt we were just getting some forward momentum, and the second thought was “Oh no, everybody will just sit on their laurels now.”

How wrong I was. Suddenly loads of people came out of the woodwork, claiming partial credit for the success (proving success really does have 1000 fathers). Certain key decision makers who had until then been decidedly lukewarm about our agenda suddenly started saying things like “Sustainability permeates everything we do.” “Errr…” became “OK…” and doors started opening. And the following year, we topped the ranking again, this time pulling further ahead of our rivals (Sadly the league table was discontinued the following year).

This isn’t a one-off either. You can see Sustainability success snowballing in companies such as Interface, Marks & Spencer and Patagonia. So what distinguishes the people who build on success rather than sitting back?

To me, the main factor is leadership. At the Council, my Cabinet Member for Environment & Sustainability, Cllr Wendy Taylor, had political clout (I may have had the technical knowledge, but I was wet behind the ears in political terms) and made it clear we were moving forwards. The organisations who keep going on Sustainability through thick and thin all have committed leaders.

By contrast, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s commitment to tackling climate change appears wafer thin and he is happy to use Sustainability as a political football on a weekly basis in the House of Commons. His shifting of the goalposts has upset the industries which need certainty to make long term investment and breeds unease amongst the public (the Government lost support in the polls following the backtracking – so much for the culture wars).

So, if we want to build on success, we need people in positions of power with the right attitude. Simple!