Our latest thought leadership and research aims to inform and equip decision makers across business, finance and policy to lay the foundations for a sustainable economy.
22 February 2023 – The University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), supported by Intuit and the We Mean Business Coalition (WMBC), spoke to 15 SMEs who have taken steps to decarbonise their business to share insight on the path to Net Zero for small and medium enterprises.
Financial innovation for SME net zero transition: Role of banks and buyers
17 January 2023 – The University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), We Mean Business Coalition (WMB) and the SME Climate Hub have published a new report highlighting the role of commercial banks and multi-national corporations in helping small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) reach net zero.
Competitive Sustainability Index: New Metrics for EU Competitiveness for an Economy in Transition
8 December 2022 - The publication of the first edition of the Competitive Sustainability Index (CSI) has been welcomed by Paolo Gentiloni, European Commissioner for the Economy, as a ground-breaking new approach to measuring the EU’s competitive sustainability performance, the EU’s strategy for global leadership in the sustainability transition.
CISL’s COP15 Briefing: Putting nature, wellbeing, and resilience at the heart of a new economic model
7 December - Joint actions from governments, business, and finance are urgently needed to reset our relationship with nature, and the United Nation’s COP15 conference in Montreal is a pivotal opportunity to set a bold pathway. In its new COP15 Briefing, CISL presents three recommendations for driving nature-positive transformation. The briefing also highlights 15 practical steps that governments, business, and finance should take in this transformation journey.
A pathway to sustainable value creation and a level playing field for action won’t emerge until business and investors build it. We work with leaders in business, policy and finance to transform markets so they deliver for people, nature and climate. Our impact For more than three decades, CISL has...
1 November 2022 - Our new COP27 briefing paper urges wealthy countries to meet their obligations under the Paris Agreement to deliver agreed climate finance and mobilise further funds to support decarbonisation and adaptation of economically poorer countries. In the build up to COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, the Institute has released a set of detailed asks collated from its work with leading businesses and financial institutions across climate change and nature regeneration, and business sustainability. The analysis also highlights the role of the private sector in reducing national and international emissions and supporting country adaptation to a changing climate.
Supermarkets and community well-being: Developing a framework to guide investment, implementation, and impact of community actions.
26 October 2022 - Supermarkets’ status as a lynchpin in communities was highlighted in the emergency response to the global Coronavirus pandemic. Can we to look towards supermarkets as ‘anchor organisations’ becoming more strategic contributors to the wellbeing of their surrounding communities?
Net Zero Business Transformation - A framework for accelerating change in an era of turbulence and complexity
3 October 2022 – CISL has published a new report to help companies achieve their net zero goals by taking a whole system approach to net zero transformation. The report, which builds on CISL’s Target Net Zero Framework, aims to help sustainability practitioners engage their C-Suite on systems change.
Integrating climate and nature: The rationale for financial institutions
27 September 2022 – Building on the nature-related financial risks collaboration between the Banking Environment Initiative (BEI) and Investment Leaders Group (ILG), CISL has published a new report detailing the importance of an integrated approach to addressing environmental challenges, encompassing climate and other nature-related issues.