Twice in recent weeks, UK prime minister David Cameron has answered questions on green issues with a simple and superficially impressive statistic:

98% of solar panels in the UK have been installed while I’ve been Prime Minister.

Now that may be strictly true, but I’m sure it generated howls of anguish from the two Lib Dem energy and climate change secretaries who had to fight tooth and nail to keep renewables on the agenda during the coalition government when this solar surge happened.

The other problem with this approach is that it’s justification of the past rather than true leadership for the future. We need our leaders to set out the direction and magnitude of change (the sustainability ‘vector’ as my client Sean Axon of Johnson Matthey likes to put it). UK private and public sector organisations are not getting the signals they needs to deliver sustainability. Some are forging their own way, others paying lip service like the PM, others not even bothering with that.

Leadership matters – with just a couple of years left to leave a legacy, Cameron should emulate Barack Obama in the twilight of his presidency and stick his neck out.

Photo copyright by World Economic Forum swiss-image.ch/Photo by Remy Steinegger