Since 1988, CISL has worked with global businesses across multiple sectors to develop bold, pragmatic approaches that respond to today’s volatility while positioning organisations to succeed in delivering short-term performance while investing in the long-term resilience and transformation required to remain competitive. We have supported leaders to navigate disruption, manage risk, unlock opportunity and help shape markets that reward sustainable outcomes.
Below we highlight some of the recent examples of our work. Further details can be found in our impact report.
Business Leadership case studies Systems Innovation case studies Rewiring Finance case studies
Business Leadership
We believe the future will be built by leaders with the ambition to go further and faster: those impatient with the status quo, determined to be part of building something better. Their ambition builds momentum for market-wide change and positions their organisations to compete and thrive in more sustainable economies. We work through education, research, innovation and dialogue with policymakers, to equip leaders to seize that opportunity and turn that ambition into action.
Informing VodafoneThree’s social impact and sustainability strategy
As Vodafone and Three combined to create a new market-leading telecoms company, VodafoneThree built a clear, purpose-led strategy for social impact and sustainability, anchored in the business’s core strengths and commercial realities, and that reflects its role as national critical infrastructure.
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Tata: Developing a growth strategy in a low carbon economy
The Tata Sustainability Leadership Programme was commissioned by senior leaders at Tata Quality Management Services (TQMS) to provide Chief Executives and Board members from across Tata Sons with a shared understanding of the risks and opportunities posed by climate change.
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CHANEL and Cambridge renew partnership to accelerate sustainability
This year, CISL and the University of Cambridge extended its partnership with CHANEL for a further three years, expanding work to accelerate sustainability transformation and build long-term organisational capability.
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Jaguar Land Rover: Future-proofing business and embedding innovation
To help future-proof its business, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR)needed to mainstream sustainability into its operations. CISL worked with JLR to help translate this vision into clear and quantifiable business objectives for decoupling its future growth from its impact on the environment.
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Shaping the EU’s 2040 target
In 2025, CLG Europe mobilised over 155 leading businesses and investors, representing €5 trillion in turnover and €65 trillion in assets, to urge the EU to adopt a 90 per cent emissions reduction target by 2040.
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Anglo American: Enhancing social performance in different regions
Anglo American, in partnership with CISL and the University of Queensland’s Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining and BTS, has developed a unique programme specifically designed to build the leadership capabilities of senior managers across the Group to drive a sustainable future for the organisation and all their stakeholders.
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Systemic Innovation
Achieving sustainable markets will require co-ordinated change across multiple systems – technological, political, economic, social and environmental – often involving actors beyond a single organisation, sector or place. CISL’s approach to transforming systems, sectors and places is grounded in systems thinking alongside our experience of building real-world collaborations for change in the economy. Innovation is the driving force of the economy, unlocking change, solving problems but also disrupting the status quo.
Accelerating innovation with The Crown Estate through CISL’s Living Lab
In 2925, we announced a major new partnership with The Crown Estate to accelerate sustainable innovation and nature recovery across the UK’s built environment. As the founding partner of our Living Lab, The Crown Estate is helping to fast track the testing, scaling and adoption of real-world solutions.
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Partnering with Boston Scientific to accelerate sustainable healthcare
We partnered with global medical technology corporation, Boston Scientific, to address two priorities: building sustainability capability and accelerating sustainable transformation. Their ambition was clear: to exemplify how the principles of competitive sustainability could be implemented within a complex medical technologies organisation.
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L’Oréal Groupe
CISL is partnering with L’Oréal through a Sustainable Innovation Accelerator to identify, pilot and scale solutions addressing the beauty industry’s most pressing challenges – from low carbon processes and alternative ingredients to water resilience, circular packaging and inclusive business models.
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Partnering with UNICEF to accelerate climate innovation
CISL has partnered again with UNICEF Innovation, supporting the launch of the Climate Innovation Challenge alongside India Health Fund.
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Tackling solar PV waste in Europe’s energy transition with E.ON
As solar PV technology continues to grow in deployment across Europe, there is a critical need for systemic change to deal with the increasing volume of solar waste expected in the coming years. Our report, in partnership with E.ON Group Innovation, and IfM Engage, explores this challenge and outlines the circular solutions that can help us avoid creating an environmental crisis while tackling the climate crisis.
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Supporting a global brewer to set ambitious 2030 sustainability goals
CISL was engaged at a key point in the strategy cycle to support a global brewing and beverage company as it defined its 2030 sustainability goals and targets. We convened 60 senior leaders from across the organisation for an in-depth strategic programme, exploring progress to date, competitor benchmarks and future ambition. A year later, the company is finalising its targets, with water stewardship, agriculture and climate emerging as key focus areas. This work is helping position the business as a sector leader—raising ambition, influencing peers, and accelerating sustainability momentum across the global beverage industry.
Supporting a major UK airport group to develop a strategic approach to decarbonisation
Having already identified pathways to tackle operational airport emissions, a major UK airport operator wanted to better understand its role in tackling wider industry emissions, particularly those linked to aircraft operations. CISL brought together the organisation’s executive committee with expert voices on sustainable aviation, low-carbon fuels, airspace modernisation, and sector collaboration to explore where an airport operator can influence system-wide decarbonisation efforts. As the operator of three major UK airports, the organisation is well placed to help shape the future of low carbon aviation and accelerate progress across the sector
Working to advance nature positive business practices
We partnered with Asda and Land App to pilot a biodiversity baseline and land management planning approach for farmers in Asda’s supply chain, ensuring alignment with their nature strategy. This work provided practical tools for supply chain resilience and informed strategies for embedding nature into core business models, reinforcing CISL’s role in shaping actionable pathways for corporate biodiversity and sustainability leadership.
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Rewiring Finance
Our new approach to financing a sustainable economy shows that there is extraordinary opportunity for leaders: US$10.3 trillion in potential value waiting to be unlocked. A fundamental barrier to this is that the financial system is not set up to support the change and solutions required. It fails to direct capital towards sustainable investment, creating systemic risks while leaving massive opportunities on the table. At CISL, our work with financial institutions to rewire the financial system is building the momentum, evidence and partnerships to make this transformation real.
Investing in tomorrow: building climate-resilient investment portfolios
CISL’s Investment Leaders Group (ILG) is reshaping how finance responds to climate risk by turning resilience from a concept into action. Through a practical guide for listed equity and debt portfolios, ILG embeds physical climate risk into every stage of the investment process, using tools investors already know and trust.
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BNP Paribas: Financing the transformation to a sustainable economy
CISL continues its partnership with BNP Paribas to support their leadership and strategic alignment. Our work centres around capacity building, most notably through the continuation of the Positive Impact Programme. Now in its 14th cohort, the programme brings in customised live sessions with online and in person learning to help embed sustainability into core business decision-making.
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Partnering with finance to assess nature-related financial risks
Our collaboration with the Development Bank of Singapore, the Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, the United Overseas Bank and the Monetary Authority of Singapore translated theory into a practical use case that is reshaping how banks address nature-related financial risks.
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Fidelidade advances strategic thinking on sustainability-related risks and opportunities
The insurance sector is navigating a landscape of increasing risks and opportunities. In the face of this, Fidelidade engaged us to support its senior leadership team to advance the organisation’s sustainability strategy and explore how to embed futures thinking into decision-making.
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Shaping the EU’s sustainable finance policy
This year, our work activated the community of business and finance actors engaging in EU sustainable finance policy. We enabled more than 450 companies and investors to join the Brussels debate through a joint Omnibus statement, supported 15 CEOs to intervene directly with Commissioners through a collective letter, and contributed to the financing priorities in the Clean Industrial Deal manifesto which was shared widely with decision-makers.
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Unlocking Islamic finance as a driver of sustainable impact
CISL has partnered with Islamic Banking and Finance Institute Malaysia to equip senior leaders from Malaysia’s leading financial institutions to translate shared values into action. Through an intensive four-day residential programme, participants explored how Islamic finance principles align with sustainable finance and Malaysia’s Value-Based Intermediation agenda.
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Our work with business
CISL works with global business to create bold and pragmatic approaches to compete in today's volatile and disruptive markets. For over 35 years we have helped business become more competitive and resilient by:
- Building capability: We equip organisations with expertise, capabilities and tools to build competitiveness and resilience to benefit in a transitioning market.
- Developing strategy: We use our global network of industry experts and sustainability practitioners to help businesses identify and build solutions to address the key challenges facing them.
- Accelerating innovation: We bring together high potential innovators with business and policy makers to accelerate solutions for a resilient future.
- Driving system-wide change: We bring together business, government, academia and civil society to drive coordinated, system-wide approaches to market transformation.
All our work with business is underpinned by leading-edge research, insights and tools that enable us to shape and scale transformative leadership
