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What does it take for a business to be trusted?
The question of trust over climate in particular, but over other issues as well, is so important for businesses now. There's quite clearly so much cynical, misinformation being perpetrated by some businesses. And it lies behind the failure of the COPs. They've been corrupted by cynical fossil fuel interests.
Everybody's asking how can I trust a business? And businesses are asking what does it take to be trusted? What I always say to all our clients is, it's far more important to be honest than it is to try to look as if you're perfect. So absolutely do not overstate your environmental or sustainable credentials.
Some people say we're making progress, but not fast enough. Actually, the headline facts are against them. We're going backwards on climate change.
We have to face a rather stark reality about the COPs, because we've had 29 annual COPs now, and the carbon emissions curve is still going up, not down. In other words, every year we're making the climate worse by a larger amount than we made it worse the year before. So, we're really not getting anywhere on climate change. Some people say we're making progress, but not fast enough. Actually, the headline facts are against them. We're going backwards on climate change.
You can
watch the interview here
or read his
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In this video, Mike Berners-Lee, the sustainability expert and author of There is No Planet B and A Climate of Truth, calls out the systemic failures behind climate inaction, from fossil fuel influence to corporate greenwashing. He urges businesses to lead with integrity, go beyond net-zero soundbites, and reframe their role in driving the conditions for global change.
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Three Minutes With
As the world marks nearly three decades of annual COP summits, carbon emissions continue to rise – a reality that we can no longer ignore
What advice do you
have for small businesses
who often feel too insignificant to make meaningful change?
When the problems are so big and global, it's tempting for all of us to let ourselves off the hook by saying, well, we're too insignificant to make a difference. That's not the case if you want to maximise your agency. The way to ask the question is: what can I do to help create the conditions under which the global systemic change that we need to see can become possible? That's a much wider and more powerful question to ask than just how can we cut our carbon footprint?
SMALL BUSINESSES
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BUILDING TRUST
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COPs
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Introduction
Three Minutes With: Mike Berners-Lee
My message for anyone working in any business is to say it like it is, and to insist that your colleagues and the businesses around you say it like it is – and challenge them if they don't.
It's a very interesting moment for the world. The idea that climate change is a big thing and we should all be doing something about it, is actually being increasingly challenged at the moment. It's a very interesting time to look around to your colleagues and the businesses around you to see who's got integrity and who just goes with the flow.
It takes a bit of courage, but we need to insist that the narrative that climate change is a huge deal and we all have a big responsibility to act urgently on it.
What can anyone in business do to help today?
presents
Mike Berners-Lee
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
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What can businesses
learn from three decades
of COPs and failures to combat the climate crisis?
That doesn't mean to say that we can't get on top of this, but it does mean that we need to change and raise our game. And it also tells us that the very cynical, deliberate, misinformation that has been propagated by elements of the fossil fuel industry has been highly effective, and we need to find much better ways of containing that misinformation.
Secondly, we need to look much deeper, into what it takes to be doing the right thing. We've had a narrative about net zero – and that's fine up to a point, but for a business to be doing the right thing in terms of the climate crisis, you really have to ask deeply: what is the business model?
And the killer question is, if the world started making a serious transition towards sustainability, would that be an overall opportunity or threat to this business? If the answer is the latter, then the urgent priority far more important than any carbon targets, is to change the business model until such time as a transition towards sustainability would represent an opportunity for your business.
The way that you communicate with your customers, with your supply chain, with your own industry, the way that you lobby – all of that is so important.
We need to get the narrative out there that is describing a climate and wider environmental emergency. And describing the need to act in a much more powerful way. And when we ask that wider question, all of us have the opportunity to be exemplars. And when we are an exemplar, that, of course, has a massive multiplier effect.
That tells you a great deal about how much you can trust the people around you and the businesses around you, not just about climate, but about anything at all. You can see who has got integrity.
Now is a very important time to stand up and be counted. It takes a bit of courage, but we need to insist that the narrative that climate change is a huge deal and we all have a big responsibility to act urgently on it.
In A Climate of Truth, Mike Berners-Lee delivers a compelling call to action for leaders navigating today’s interconnected crises – from climate and biodiversity to economic instability and social trust. For decision-makers, there is both challenge and opportunity: to lead with integrity, foster long-term thinking, and unlock high-leverage actions that drive real progress.
In A Climate of Truth, Mike Berners-Lee delivers a compelling call to action for leaders navigating today’s interconnected crises – from climate and biodiversity to economic instability and social trust. For decision-makers, there is both challenge and opportunity: to lead with integrity, foster long-term thinking, and unlock high-leverage actions that drive real progress.
