The stakes are rising - leadership at a time of disruption

2025 was the year of polarity. Strong headwinds caused a sustainability backlash and slowdown for many firms, while simultaneously accelerating progress for many entities and sectors, as sustainability became embedded into core business strategy. Our survey with Kantar revealed that 40% of directors now approach climate and sustainability as critical aspects of culture and operations, placing it firmly within the domains of the CFO and the COO. 

In 2025, we spoke about the sustainability narrative evolving. In 2026, our focus must shift to tangible implementation: uncovering concrete examples of how climate factors are becoming central to the business case. 

Your membership for the year ahead  

This year, Chapter Zero will offer you  

1. Case studies of every kind: Examples demonstrating how climate concerns are transforming business models, from Board Chair leadership to transition planning and real-world execution. 

1. Peer community: A platform for lively, robust peer-to-peer exchange—a more critical and less "polite" environment. I personally invite you to write to me at vicky@chapterzero.org.uk with topics and convenings that would provide the most value right now.  

1. Broader perspectives from a larger community: and an invitation to bring your board colleagues and company secretaries to join our growing Chapter Zero membership network. 

The Inevitability of Transformation 

The climate agenda will not dissipate despite ongoing geo-political turmoil; the urgency remains undiminished.  

Despite exhaustion, the "crisis of grievance" (Edelman Trust Barometer), and the "deep uncertainty" or "rift" described by Chatham House, the system is transforming because it must. Every board in the land should read HM Government's Nature Security Assessment, published this month which identifies global biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse as fundamental threats to UK national security and international stability. Environmental degradation could lead to a "pathway to collapse," causing severe food shortages and mass migration that could overwhelm national systems. The assessment recommends treating healthy ecosystems as critical national infrastructure and incorporating nature-based solutions into long-term resilience and economic planning. 

Meanwhile Mark Carney’s Davos speech describes Trump 2.0 as a "rupture," not a transition. Is this geo-political turmoil an accidental gift that could force the emergence of Carney's proposed "new world order"?  

In this complex context, our members' stewardship and strategic oversight has never been more critical. In navigating complex interdependent issues all related to climate; from AI to data, from policy to geo-politics, the Chairs and board directors are challenged in ways that have never occurred before. 

This is why Chapter Zero’s UK membership has reached nearly 4,000, despite the headwinds, and why we have expanded to 34 Chapters across 73 countries in just three years. We offer members stability to stay the course and a peer network to sharpen and share perspectives on how the climate topic underpins the very business model itself. 

We must not lose focus in 2026. Climate change is not a distant concern; it is the preeminent issue of our lifetimes. Let us invent Carney’s ‘new world order’, because for boards and their shareholders, the commercial winners of tomorrow will be the entities that recognize how the climate crisis must redefine the commercial opportunity and rethink the way our societies and economies function within our ecosystems.