Blog articles

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 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 their corporate ecosystem. Boards must think carefully about their fiduciary duty and their companies’ objectives in using AI, and consider AI economics, energy use, organisational and oversight requirements, data security, Scope 3 and overall sustainability.

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.

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.

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.

The health impacts of unchecked climate change are not a far-off scenario; they are already taking a toll across the world. That is why health is a key COP30 theme. Beyond the significant human consequences, the systemic disruption this generates represents a threat to businesses that rely on the collective health of people and the planet. Understanding this risk is important for board leaders to ensure their organisations remain fit and resilient.

Kantar conducts an annual pro bono quantitative survey of the Chapter Zero membership to uncover members’ attitudes to climate and demonstrate Chapter Zero’s impact, this includes depth interviews with Chairs and NEDs in FTSE 350 organisations. This year’s findings show encouraging progress in terms of boardroom leadership for the transition to net zero, as well as demonstrating the tangible impact of Chapter Zero itself.

COP30 is overflowing with events and themes; but security is not yet on the agenda. Rebecca Harding, CEO of the Centre for Economic Security, and Patricia Rodrigues Jenner, Global Non-executive Director, and Chapter Zero Fellow, challenge this and discuss the critical need for businesses to integrate climate security into their operations and boardroom conversations.

Over the past year, Chapter Zero has held a series of dialogues in which ESG Committee Chairs and members have shared exclusive insights into the issues top of the agenda for them, shining light on the ways in which the ESG Committee can accelerate momentum and drive meaningful change. A year into these dialogues, we reflected on what the role of the ESG Committee is now and what it might look like in the future with Chapter Zero Fellows and ESG Committee Chairs: Devyani Vaishampayan, Claire Hawkings, and Tracey Kerr, who have facilitated these peer dialogues.