Blog articles

Sustainability is integral to innovation. It underpins strong products and services across sectors – and then future proofs them. Chapter Zero member Jimmy Jia, a Non-executive Director and Chair of the Center for Sustainable Energy in San Diego and the Venture Partner for ESG at Pi labs (amongst other roles), reflects on sustainability as the engine for innovation and growth.

Taking a pioneering approach to technology, financing, policy, energy security, stakeholder engagement and markets, Vulcan Energy is pursuing an innovative geothermal and lithium production project in Germany’s Upper Rhine Valley. Chapter Zero member Josephine Bush chairs its Audit, Risk and ESG Committee. Here, she explains how stakeholder collaboration, and a board that combines the necessary skills and experience, aims to deliver one of Europe’s most transformational projects – Phase One Lionheart.

More than 20 years after ‘The Wisdom of Crowds’ entered the business lexicon, its core insight is more relevant than ever: organisations make better long term decisions when they draw on collective expertise rather than relying on a narrow set of voices. Chapter Zero Fellow, Oonagh Harpur, says there is wisdom to be found on the front line so listen to it.

Vicky Moffatt, CEO at Chapter Zero, reflects on the need for board leadership as we face the challenges of 2026. 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.

Jonny Wates is a Board Director of the Wates Group – a nearly 130-year-old, multi-generational, family-owned construction, property services and developments company based in the UK. He chairs the board’s Sustainability Committee and champions sustainability at both a strategic and operational level. In a case study on how the company’s stewardship ethos drives decarbonisation and the futureproofing of the business, Jonny talks about how, with an adaptive mindset, boards can steer businesses to both address global challenges and generate value.

Chapter Zero member, Henry Cubbon, is a Non-executive Director on the board of D2Zero, an international portfolio company based in Aberdeen, funded by private equity. D2Zero champions the movement toward lower emissions within the conventional energy sector and supports the acceleration of the transition to clean and sustainable energy. We ask him about the power of private equity.

How should boards think about sustainability and AI? Noela Nakos, Chapter Zero member and former Google Director, and Patricia Rodrigues Jenner, Chapter Zero Fellow, Global Non-executive Board Director and co-Chair of InfraNEDs, recommend that boards should do their research, understand what they can about the role of AI in the future, and what that means for Scope 3 reporting and their corporate ecosystem generally. Boards must think carefully about their fiduciary duty, their companies’ objectives in using AI and consider energy use.

Chapter Zero CEO, Vicky Moffatt, shares her optimism based on insights from our 3,500 members and their ever increasing engagement levels. She says that the urgency has inspired a more outspoken style of leadership from Directors and Chairs, and that a host of other indicators make her more encouraged about progress on the climate agenda.

As COP30 plays out in Belém, boards may ask what happened to the focus and urgency of earlier COPs. Certainly, the political sphere has become more polarised on climate and hopes of co-ordinated progress have receded. Gillian Karran-Cumberlege, member of the Chapter Zero board and Head of Chair Advisory and Co-Founder Fidelio Partners, asks does this mean that boards are deprioritising climate?

The COP process can feel detached from the day-to-day realities of business, but the decisions made at the summit will have material impacts on the future of our economies and private sector climate action. Susan Hooper, board member at Chapter Zero and Non-executive Director at Moonpig plc and Uber UK, sets out the key issues for board leaders following the talks.

In a rapidly changing world, several external pressures – with geopolitics and climate at the centre – are converging to fundamentally impact business performance. Building capacity to navigate this reality is now fundamental to good decision-making, says Nathalie Wlodarczyk, Chapter Zero member, geostrategy advisor at Gatehouse and Non-executive Director at Forster Communications. Unprecedented geopolitical volatility is changing both the climate debate and the space for action, and as we look to COP30 the opportunity may lie in new types of partnerships, she says.

An audience including FTSE350 board members and Chairs enjoyed the first instalment of a new Chapter Zero ‘in conversation’ event series focused on future-facing challenges for boards. This event, centred on the artificial intelligence (AI)/sustainability nexus, saw Emily Chien, Executive Fellow, Harvard Business School, discuss with Chapter Zero CEO, Vicky Moffatt, the challenge for boards in governing AI while simultaneously harnessing its huge potential as a business (and board) enabler.