The business challenge

The organisation had defined a clear sustainability strategy and made significant investments to support it. However, sustainability was still largely carried by a dedicated function and not consistently embedded into how teams operated, made decisions, or engaged clients.

Across regions and functions, teams interpreted priorities differently. Employees lacked a shared understanding of what the strategy meant for their role, and leadership was concerned that — without broader alignment — sustainability would remain an add-on rather than a driver of long-term value.

The core risk was clear: significant investment without sufficient organisational traction or return.

The approach

I worked with senior leadership to design a process that focused on alignment, ownership, and operational relevance, rather than rolling out another top-down initiative.

The work centred on three priorities:

• Leadership alignment and sponsorship
  Engaging the C-suite and senior management early to ensure sustainability was positioned as a core business priority, with clear expectations for leadership involvement and accountability.

• Translating strategy into operating reality
  Working across trade, finance, IT, operations, and sustainability teams to translate strategic ambition into clear implications for day-to-day decision-making and commercial practice.

• Building ownership across the value chain
  Designing leadership journeys for both destination and origin teams, grounded in direct engagement with value-chain realities, to ensure sustainability was understood not as an abstract goal but as a business and value-chain imperative.

Throughout, I worked as part of the organisation; facilitating alignment, connecting stated ambition with lived practice, and ensuring the organisation could sustain the work beyond my involvement.

The outcome

The organisation saw a clear shift in how sustainability showed up across the business:

• Sustainability became a standing topic in leadership, trade, and client discussions

• Teams gained the confidence and language to integrate sustainability into commercial conversations

• Cross-functional collaboration improved, breaking down siloes between sustainability, trade, finance, and operations

• The finance function was able to clearly articulate sustainability performance, contributing to the successful securing of sustainability-linked financing

• Sustainability ownership broadened well beyond the central team

These shifts reduced execution risk and contributed to sustained growth in sustainable sales over multiple years, strengthening both resilience and competitiveness.