About us

Helping Sustainability Professionals seeking to influence strategy development, finance and investment.

Who we write for and why

We write for sustainability professionals working in companies, the finance industry, government, academia and NGOs. 

Finance and sustainability people use different words and think differently. We write about sustainability with a finance perspective bridging the gap between sustainability, finance and strategy.

A key ask from our readers is "how do I influence strategy?" Sustainability professionals want to drive real change - make their business more sustainable - but are often excluded from the strategy process.

There are two levers to pull in making a business more sustainable within the context of making returns:

• Improve the business itself = predominately the finance world
• Improve the broader environment = predominately the political world

You can visualise this by thinking about a filing box sitting on top of a truck. If you wanted the box to move further away from you then you can either move the box along the roof of the truck or move the truck away from you or ideally both.

In the same way, we can either attract appropriate finance to make a business more sustainable or we can lobby for appropriate political change to make the broader environment more sustainable. Or we can do both!

There is also an important timescale aspect to making 'sustainability' strategic decisions:

• There could be an immediate win.
• I can position my business early for upcoming systemic change and avoid business obsolescence.
  

The aim of our writing is to help you understand these aspects.

How we can help you

An often repeated complaint is that it's really hard for sustainability professionals to actually make a difference.

We help you think holistically, laterally and see new insights.

We can help you understand how to pitch sustainability ideas in a way that finance and operational people will buy in to.

We help you make sustainability core to your organisation's strategy, driving long-term value.

Sustainability Strategy Finance.

What we don't write on

We do not cover ESG scoring, the reasons for action (climate change, environmental destruction, habitat loss) etc. These are well covered by other publications. Our focus is on viable private sector led solutions. 

What we do write on

We have two strands of writing:

The first looks at how sustainability professionals can best influence change. Finance and strategy people have a distinct language and way of thinking, and so Sustainability Professionals need to learn to communicate in a way that best captures their attention. This includes looking at the provision of government aid, tax breaks and Blended Capital. 

The second is looking at specific issues within the sustainable transitions, so agriculture, natural capital, mining, health, electricity , hard to decarbonise, transport and our built environment. Here we explore how best to link the options we face with the long term financial case for change. 

Membership is free

Register as a member and you can read all of our blogs in full either directly in your email inbox or on this website. For free.

Team with decades of experience

Steven Bowen: sustainable investing and strategy

After starting as an engineer, he has built nearly 30 years' experience in the finance and investing world, including periods in corporate finance, debt markets, broking, and as a buy side portfolio manager. 

His focus is on the importance of company strategy, and how to construct investment cases in an uncertain world (and the transitions are the biggest uncertainty of all), plus he is a massive advocate for active engagement.

Steven is a qualified engineer (Canterbury University NZ), with an MBA from London Business School & the post graduate FT Non-Executive diploma. He is also a columnist at illuminem.

Steven is one of the co-founders of The Sustainable Investor.

Sandy Jayaraj: experienced C-suite leader and executive

Sandy had a 25-year career in global financial markets at PricewaterhouseCoopers and Morgan Stanley enhanced by four years as COO, then CEO building Curation Corp into a trusted sustainability intelligence enterprise.

By employing lateral thinking, evaluating methods and an ability to communicate complex topics in a concise, relevant and understandable way, Sandy enables organisations to find new perspectives, garner new insights and make better informed decisions.

Sandy is a published journalist having written on emerging themes and sustainability for various publications including IR Magazine, Illuminem and Energy World, a publication of the Energy Institute. Sandy studied Engineering and Management Studies at Queens’ College, Cambridge University.

Sandy is a director of Point Rider Group (UK), a non executive director of Yellow Submarine and the other co-founder of The Sustainable Investor.

Ffiona Rowland Devasabai: business psychologist

Ffiona specialises in applying psychology to accelerate sustainability transitions. She partners with investors, business and public sector leaders to do so. Her work tends to involve helping leadership teams define and align on their strategy, strengthening board and team effectiveness or ensuring organisations have the right skills and mindset in place to achieve their sustainability plans. 

For the past 5 years she has been working as a leadership strategy consultant and coach at YSC Consulting, partnering mainly with FTSE 100 corporations as well as private equity investors.

Kristina Touzenis: Human rights lawyer

Kristina is a recognized leader in the effective and concrete operationalisation of international human rights standards and principles in complex settings worldwide requiring long term engagement with a multitude of stakeholders, from both the public and private sectors. 

She has more than 20 years of experience in advocacy, human rights reporting, monitoring, and evaluating as well as in policy making and negotiating at national, regional, and global levels. 

Kristina created the International Law Unit at the International Organization for Migration - IOM, the UN Agency for Migration, and served as Head of the Unit from 2011 to 2020.