On the face of it, Sustainability here in the UK and abroad is in turmoil. Political pundits claim ESG, Net Zero and DEI are a thing of the past as populist politicians try to weaponise everything ‘woke’. And then there’s the backlash to the backlash – Tesla’s sales falling 71% due to Elon Musk’s political stances, BP’s retreat from green energy causing more uncertainty in its fortunes as different shareholders battle over its values and footfall in Target stores fell following a boycott by pro-DEI customers. Go anti-woke, go broke.

Here in the UK, Prime Minister Keir Starmer made a somewhat under-reported pro-Net Zero speech to an international conference in London convened to attract new investment. He said:

This government is acting now, with a muscular industrial policy, to seize the opportunities in low-carbon technology to boost investment, build new industries, drive UK competitiveness, and unlock export opportunities. That is the change we need. We won’t wait – we will accelerate.

This was music to my ears as the still new-ish Labour Government has appeared to wobble on the issue over the last 12 months. Prior to last year’s general election, Labour had nailed its colours to the ‘green growth’ mast, but had since pushed for airport expansion (aka subsidising affluent people to take their spending money overseas), watered down the Zero Emissions Vehicle mandate and failed to quash rumours that the position of the evangelical Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband was under threat. A firm re-commitment was long overdue.

On the other side of the Commons, Leader of the Opposition Kemi Badenoch has ditched her party’s commitment to Net Zero. This was a bizarre move as it means she is fishing the same small pond of voters as vehemently anti-Net Zero Reform UK to which the Tories lost 5 seats at the general election. The 60 seats the Tories lost to the much greener Liberal Democrats* appear to have been abandoned. Polls suggest Net Zero has three times the public support as anti-Net Zero despite Net Zero being (falsely) blamed for everything from the Heathrow blackout to the threatened shut down of a pair of antiquated blast furnaces in Scunthorpe.

But fundamentally, leadership comes down to trust, and consistency is a fundamental component of trust (our November NZBA webinar covers this). It is no surprise that investors are shunning the US while Donald Trump’s unfettered bull in a china shop leadership runs rampant. Nobody knows what will happen next, so they’re investing in gold instead of Government bonds. Starmer has a reputation as a bit of a weathervane, so it was a blessed relief to hear him step up to a lectern and set out the Government’s direction of travel like a compass showing us which way is North.

A compass will show you the direction, but not necessarily the best route to get where you want to go. I’m not so naive to discount the realpolitik of national and international politics where rigidity can lead to heroic failure, so I’ll use a third analogy. A sailor looks at their compass to work out which direction they want to go, checks the wind and tide directions and strengths, and sets their sails appropriately to harness those winds to get them in their desired direction. That’s the key to success.

* full disclosure, I’m a member of the Lib Dems

Photo Credit: Anna Om