Blogs

28 April 2021 – Understanding the climate performance of investment funds should be made simple to all investors. Lucy Auden, Senior Programme Manager for the Investment Leaders Group (ILG), analyses the current approaches to measuring fund climate performance and makes the case for a universal disclosure of Paris alignment. This analysis will be f…

9 April 2021 - CISL Course Convenor Dimitri Zenghelis unpacks the three major climate change-related risks affecting organisations and illustrates the significant opportunities that will be gained from transitioning to a net zero carbon business model.Climate change is increasingly taking centre stage in strategic business planning. The transition …

30 March 2021 – The built environment industry must challenge the notion that sustainability is ‘too hard’ to integrate. Paul Jaffe, Asset Manager at British Land reflects on his experience of the two-year Sustainability Leadership for the Built Environment (IDBE) programme and how this helped him form solutions and encourage change for investors a…

29 March 2021 – CISL’s Accelerator is designed to accelerate the world’s leading sustainability innovators, with new organisations and transformative business models that will decarbonise our economy, restore nature and create inclusive societies. But what is the experience like? In this blog, participants from our Innovators for sustainability fas…

24 March 2021 – The built environment industry has a long way to go in order to break down the silos between practitioners and 'build better'. Dr Kayla Friedman, Course Director for the Sustainability Leadership for the Built Environment (IDBE) Master’s and Postgraduate Certificate, identifies the key change agents within the sector and outlines w…

12 February 2021 - CISL’s Accelerator Programme Director, Eithne George recently lent her expertise to Lloyds Banking Group and wrote a chapter for their new book: Yes Business Can, which aims to help small British businesses maximise their potential. Here are the key recommendations for SMEs looking to take action on sustainability.Before the outb…

Register for the Panel Discussion: How can finance and business progress decent work and the living wage? on 19 November29 January 2021 – Dr. Anna Barford, Prince of Wales Global Sustainability Fellow, reflects on the significance of Unilever’s global commitment to living wages and it potential to create a fairer and more equal society.“Too many pe…

27 January 2021 – Alice Spencer, Programme Director and Global Lead for The Prince of Wales’s Business & Sustainability Programme, explores some of the dilemmas that senior business leaders will face in the year ahead and how CISL considers these in programme design.CISL’s Education Team is accustomed to working in a rapidly changing world. Each ye…

19 January 2021 – CISL Fellow and Head Tutor Zoë Arden considers how we can continue to build our capability to communicate truth and lead with courage.“At their best, the words of a president can inspire. At their worst, they can incite,” said President-Elect Joe Biden after pro-Trump insurrectionists stormed the U.S. Capitol building on 6 January…

19 January 2020 – As banks provide financial services along soft commodity supply chains they hold enormous influence, writes Nick Villiers, Director of CISL's Centre for Sustainable Finance.The finance industry is at an interesting fork in the road. Continuing along a well-worn path of investment and financial services that support carbon intensiv…

12 January 2021 – The transition to a net zero, nature-positive world requires focused collaboration between business, government and finance institutions, writes Simon Connell, Head of Sustainability Strategy, Standard Chartered and Chair of the BEI.Sustainable development, in aggregate or in its component parts, is not easy. If it were, we would …

22 December 2020 – In 2020 the coronavirus pandemic tested us all, both individually and collectively. It has also revealed the fragility of our current economic and social systems in the face of crisis. This comes at a time when further ‘system shocks’ are expected from climate change and the destruction of our natural systems, writes James Cole.F…

November 2020 – As businesses look to transition from ‘rescue’ to ‘recovery’ now is a good time to clarify their role in delivering a resilient, low carbon, and fundamentally sustainable economy, says CISL's Director of Business Strategy Ben Kellard. How can organisations ensure that they have aligned their purpose and strategy with the transition …

8 October 2020 – Beverley Cornaby, Senior Programme Manager in the Policy Team at CISL reflects on how small and medium enterprises (SMEs) can help shift the UK economy towards net zero by 2050.In conversations I’ve been having recently, a question keeps coming up – how do we meaningfully engage small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in achieving the …

28 May 2020 – Alice Chapple, Course Convenor on the new Sustainable Finance online short course from the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), explores the trends that are emerging in the world of finance, from the need to manage climate change risk, to responsible investment and harnessing big data.The world of fi…