Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL)

Blogs

Our blogs offer timely perspectives from CISL experts and our global network, exploring how leaders are responding to market shifts, managing risk and turning insight into action.

289 results

At CISL, we’re committed to building a greener future for everyone

16 March 2023 - Concerns about the environment have become one of the defining issues of our times, writes Eliot Whittington, Chief System Change Officer at Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership.Featured in headlines, helping forge new laws and government strategies, setting the agenda in boardrooms and guiding the activities of major i…
Driving systemic change within the finance sector: an educator’s perspective

23 February 2023 - Drawing on his experience delivering executive education programmes to leaders in the finance sector, CISL Programme Director Thomas Vergunst considers perceptions of the need for systemic transformation - the extent of the change required, mechanisms for progress and the role of business in delivering transformative change.To ch…
Solvency in the age of emergency: how should new EU policy and the industry incorporate risk?

21 February 2023 – Both decisionmakers and insurers must together find a way of addressing the climate and ecological risks that complicate adaptation and mitigation strategies. The revision of EU Solvency rules could be a key opportunity to integrate sustainability in risk management of insurers, argue Ursula Woodburn and Nina Seega.The world’s na…
Is the polycrisis a call for urgent action on Social Injustice?

26 January 2023 - In this blog, Priya Rajasekar and Elspeth Donovan, convenors of the 8-week open online course on Business and Social Justice, argue that the ‘polycrisis’ which has emerged as a buzzword at the recently concluded World Economic Forum at Davos could be addressed effectively through collaborative business leadership and action on soc…
Following COP15 how can businesses overcome financial barriers to investing in nature-based solutions?

24 January 2023 – Edmund Dickens and Elizabeth Clark from CISL's Business and Nature team unpick perceived financial barriers to investing in nature, and some methods to overturn these and unlock the opportunities of nature-based solutions.COP15 closed out 2022 with the adoption of an ambitious Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). This milestone ac…
Collaborative leadership? It’s what a sustainable future in the built environment sector requires.

25 January 2023 - Dr Tim Forman, Senior Research Associate and Deputy Director of the Interdisciplinary Design for the Built Environment (IDBE) postgraduate courses, described how 'shared leadership' was central to the refurbishment of Entopia, the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership's (CISL) new home. A type of collaboration that is …
Communicating purpose: How to activate and embed purpose in your organisation

17 January 2023 - The Great Realignment has shown that current employees, as well as future recruits, make choices based on a company’s values. Zoë Arden, CISL Fellow and an independent leadership and stakeholder engagement specialist examines the significance of having a clear purpose for an organisation and how to bring it to life.The start of a …
The importance of lifelong learning in Sustainability Leadership

16 December 2022 – Dr Tanja Collavo, Course Director for the Master’s in Sustainability Leadership, discusses the importance of lifelong learning and its relationship to the new Master’s in Sustainability Leadership Flexible Route, launching in September 2023. Knowledge - of best practice, of issues to be tackled, of their underlying root causes, a…
Delivering a better future for people, nature and planet

30 November 2022 - In her foreword to CISL’s inaugural annual review, CISL Director and CEO Clare Shine reflects on the challenges we face in this critical decade and how CISL aims to create a new sustainability narrative.As the 21st century advances, we urgently need bold and imaginative transformation. To enable all people to lead healthy, flouri…
A community of action: Celebrating the impact stories of our global CISL Network

30 November 2022 - CISL Fellow Zoë Arden introduces impact stories from our global CISL Network, celebrating individuals who are driving change in their industries and communities.This autumn we set out to celebrate our community for action by uncovering individual stories of impact and were amazed by what we discovered. These stories showcase both…
Board Leadership - "If you don't ask, you don't get it" - Mahatma Gandhi

30 November 2022 - In this third in a series of blogs on Board Leadership, CISL Fellow Prof. Richard Calland builds on the argument about the new corporate governance framework for understanding the leadership responsibility of the board by shifting from the legal and conceptual issues of principle to the ‘how’ of governance. Specifically, what are…
Accelerating net zero transformation in turbulent times: Insights from senior business leaders

11 November 2022 - How do organisations keep the net zero transformation central to their strategies during times of extreme volatility and uncertainty? Marking the launch of CISL's framework to support businesses on their decarbonisation journeys, Dr James MacPherson, Programme Manager and Bianca Drotleff, Project Manager from CISL’s Centre for Bu…
Purpose and marketing – bedfellows or in battle?

27 September 2022 - CISL Fellow, and Co Convenor and Head Tutor of the Sustainable Marketing, Media & Creative course, Dr Victoria Hurth discusses the conflict and opportunity in the relationship between marketing and purpose. Will the development of purpose-led marketing practices help lead the organisations and society to a positive future, or wi…
COP27: Here’s how to unlock Africa’s low-carbon future

30 September 2022 - Private investment is needed for Africa to adopt renewable energy. Here’s why that investment makes senseClare Shine is the CEO and director of the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership.At last, the world is waking up to the climate-nature emergency. Not because of any great scientific breakthrough; new…
Sensible Green Leadership?

22 September 2023 - Eliot Whittington, Director of CLGs, reflects on the UK Prime Minister’s announcement on the reversal of the country’s net zero policiesWho doesn’t want “sensible, green leadership”? Rishi Sunak’s recent speech on UK policies to achieve its net zero target promised that he would provide it, but has received a huge outpouring of …

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Blogs

Our blogs offer timely perspectives from CISL experts and our global network, exploring how leaders are responding to market shifts, managing risk and turning insight into action.