With the urgency of climate action, the divide between environmental advocates and capitalists is narrowing quite significantly. This shift is a necessary and inevitable response to the pressing need for sustainability. “What we are also seeing,” says Kate Hart, Partner and Co-lead of APAC Sustainability Practice at Kearney, “is that whereas there has been a chasm between environmentalists and capitalists for a very long time, we’re increasingly finding that it’s now two sides of the same coin.” Hart emphasizes that real progress can only be made when both parties unite to close the sustainability execution gap.
Unlikely alliances that are driving real change
In a recent address at the Climate and Nature 2030 conference organized by Impact X, Kate Hart has a clear message: collaboration, innovation, and a unified vision are essential to solving the challenges we face, particularly in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, which accounts for more than 50% of global emissions.
Hart paints a vivid picture of the stakes: “In Asia Pacific, 60% of our workforce works in industries directly affected by climate change — forestry, agriculture, fisheries. Additionally, 7 out of the 10 countries most at risk from climate change are in Asia Pacific, three of which are small Pacific Island nations. It’s incredibly important that we address our sustainability ambitions in this region.”
Read the full story in the October 2024 issue of Impact Leadership magazine.
