Ex-McKinsey & Company Global Director of Sustainability and Social Impact, Dorothée D'Herde, joins Alberto Lidji to talk about the business case for acting sustainably, new value pools and key trends in sustainability.

Dorothée was at McKinsey for almost a decade and whether you’re a corporate CEO, a well-meaning consumer or simply trying to understand the latest thinking in this space, you’ll find this episode highly informative.

Dorothée gives listeners a succinct and powerful definition of sustainability, which simply put is about ensuring there’s “enough, for all, forever”.

Much of the conversation can be boiled down to meat, plastics and money.  Diets are changing, awareness of key issues is more pronounced, and we’re about to experience the biggest intergenerational transfer of wealth – the next generation of investors are aligning investments and sustainability much more robustly than before.

What do you think of the ostensible tensions in sustainability adherence between the developed and developing world?  Well, Dorothée is quick to point out she dislikes the ‘us’ vs ‘them’ mindset – we are all in this together.  We all need to take action; hope alone is insufficient.

She notes that at McKinsey, much attention was paid to the ways in which CEOs can derive value from sustainability: looking at key areas such as safeguarding your license to operate; cutting your costs by using less water, less energy; and finding new ‘value pools’.

There is a strong business case for being sustainable, and this is highly encouraging.

Dorothée references the Better Business, Better World report where business opportunities and new value pools derived from the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are identified to the tune of $12 trillion. Opportunities are wide-ranging, from food & agriculture and cities, to energy & materials, and health & wellbeing.

What should you do if you want your business to align with best practice in sustainability? Where do you start and who do you go to? There’s no single answer but by listening to this episode you’ll have a better idea of what your next step should look like.