Building sustainability into your business strategy – insights from Climate Reality Leader Lee Stewart

In business, sustainability is increasingly recognised as a key factor for long-term success. Companies that incorporate sustainable practices into their core strategies not only contribute to a systemic transition toward true net zero emissions, but also unlock new opportunities for growth and innovation. However, the process of embedding sustainability into business operations can be complex and requires a strategic approach.​

​We recently spoke with Climate Reality Leader Lee Stewart, who shared insights from his upcoming book and his extensive experience in the field. 

From making sustainability profitable to overcoming common challenges, Lee offers practical advice for business leaders looking to make sustainability a core part of their operations.

Climate Reality: What initially motivated you to become a Climate Reality Leader, and how has this influenced your approach to sustainability and climate change within your work and personal life?

What motivated me, was the opportunity to learn from Al Gore and the team about how best to communicate the impacts of climate change. The experience I had in in Jakarta in 2011 was amazing. You have four days with like-minded individuals. The cohort from our region was amazing, and those are people I still get in touch with today.

The ability to witness how Al Gore has done this in the face of so much adversity is so motivating and especially since he continues to do this decades later. 

The training has influenced my work immensely, because it added another level of legitimacy to what I'm saying. And, in my personal life, it gave me more confidence and I actually talk about that in my upcoming book. Although I am not a scientist, the training gave be the ability take information and translate it to my audience. I've used that a lot in my career.

Climate Reality: You have a remarkable track record of innovating sustainability strategies that generate significant ROI. Can you share some insights into how to effectively monetise sustainability initiatives and incentivise stakeholder engagement to drive sustainable change within organisations?

The key point I discuss in the book and elsewhere is the importance of understanding where your revenue comes from and how it flows from your customers. The sustainability strategies that I've seen succeed, and have had the pleasure of developing, are those that are customer centric.

When you're working on a big deal with a large customer, it's important to understand their sustainability policies and climate targets. Knowing how your services and solutions can help them meet those goals is key. People often think that focusing on sustainability will just cost money, but in my experience, it can actually open up new opportunities. It can help you identify new markets or territories, create a competitive advantage, and add value to your offerings. So, understanding these aspects has been a real game-changer for me.

With every client I've worked with, I've found opportunities to save money, enter new markets, resonate more with customers, attract talent, and better engage and empower staff. These are the key levers that can be pulled when you have a solid sustainability strategy. The key point I emphasise is to examine where your business generates the most revenue and explore how sustainability can enhance that by collaborating more closely with your customers.

Climate Reality: According to your LinkedIn profile, throughout your career, you’ve launched over 20 sustainability programs and delivered numerous presentations and workshops. Could you highlight some of the most impactful programs or initiatives you’ve led, and discuss the key factors that contributed to their success?

Yes, there are two polar opposites throughout my career. Some projects have been complete failures, while others have been resounding successes. I've found that early engagement with key stakeholders and the board is crucial. If you rush into something without your executives' blessing or keeping them informed along the way, and then suddenly announce a massive climate target, it's a recipe for disaster.

You anticipate pushback. I've been there countless times. It's about strategically laying the groundwork for the decision you want, a process I detail extensively in my book. It's about building confidence in those around you.

When writing my book, my goal was to keep the content straightforward and accessible. Sustainability can often feel overwhelming and complex, with unfamiliar jargon that might alienate a typical business executive. Reflecting on my own career, I found the most success came from three key principles, which I call the 'Triple C Framework'—Confidence, Commitment, and Consistency. I explain this in detail in the book, and it's important to note that issues often arise when people skip straight to commitment without building confidence first.

For instance, your board might hesitate to set a climate target if they don’t fully understand its necessity. Every time I look back on things that have gone bad for me in the boardroom, it’s because I've had to push through to the commitment phase without spending time in the confidence building phase. And you realise you've actually taken up more time anyway because you get shot down, you have to go back and do more analysis because your executives are not confident in what you're presenting, and you end up burnt out.

I've also seen too many strategies launched without considering the governance aspect, which is crucial for consistency. It's vital to establish clear accountability for key individuals in your organisation and to have mechanisms in place to sustain momentum, even if key staff members leave. Without this, even the best intentions can falter when faced with inevitable changes.

Climate Reality: Your upcoming book, 'How to Build Sustainability into Your Business Strategy' - can you give us a preview of the key themes and messages you aim to convey in the book? How do you envision this book contributing to the ongoing dialogue on sustainability and business strategy?

The key messages I really want to convey is that sustainably is not that hard. The idea is, that a business leader, or emerging business leader can read this book in a weekend, ask questions of their business on say Monday or Tuesday, and actually do something by Friday.

Hopefully it's that simple. I want to demystify all the jargon around macro global issues, so the reader can analyse what they mean for their business and what they need to focus on. Ultimately I want the reader to understand that sustainability is a business opportunity, one that can reap many benefits if done properly.
Stage two of this project is the provision of mentoring and support to people going through the process, so I can help them embed what's in the book. My aim is to de-risk the process for a company trying to hire their first sustainability person. The idea is that if they follow the book, it generally will get them at least more than half the way there.

Climate Reality: What do you think makes your book different from other practical guides in the field?

The angle I have taken is that I wrote this book for myself 20 years ago, so someone new coming into sustainability can avoid all the mistakes I have made.

It has a lot of practical, real-life lessons. I have many battle scars and hopefully anyone who's trying to improve sustainability practice in their business can learn from my mistakes and have a much smoother run.

Also, I have approached this book from a business angle. I'm going to say that it’s the easiest framework you have probably seen around sustainability.

Climate Reality: What are some major roadblocks you have encountered on your journey?

First of all, you have these moments where you just ask yourself ‘what the hell am I doing? What is this? I could just go do another job.’ But you just come back to that purpose. There’s a greater meaning to our work, even if you sometimes feel like you are a lonely voice… especially in a large corporate, with a small team and a lot of pressure to perform, while dealing with a lot of components you can’t control.

Um, so as I've got older and stuff, you learn to actually manage that a bit better, um, from what you take on and what you don't take on and what you can leave at work, but there's obviously a lot of stuff that affects everything. You just watch the news and so forth.

But even though you might be that lonely sustainably person in your company, I do actually emphasise in the book that there is a community out there - you might just need a little help finding it.

Climate Reality: What is your key advice for someone working in the business sustainability space?

First, always take a step back. Second, put your own oxygen mask on first. If you are an experienced sustainability person experiencing roadblocks, burning out and not going back in to help another company ever again is probably the worst result.

Stepping away from something and taking time out for yourself is probably the best thing you can do, because you can then get back to achieving even bigger change.

Lee’s book, 'How to Build Sustainability into Your Business Strategy' officially launched on 22 August. It is available on Amazon. Find out more here www.leestewart.com.au