SustainabilityOnline recently published its inaugural ‘Ambition Into Action’ report, featuring interviews with senior leaders about how they are turning sustainability vision into business reality at the mid-point of the decade.
Daniel Gadd is CEO and Co-founder of Position Green, which was founded in 2015 with the aim of making make sustainability measurable in a largely voluntary reporting environment. Today, with sustainability reporting increasingly regulated, the company helps clients use sustainability as a strategic tool for growth, innovation, and competitive advantage.
How has Position Green moved from ‘ambition to action’ in terms of turning sustainability into a core value driver – in other words, how have you made sustainability ‘good for business’?
We help companies turn ESG data into business strategy. By embedding tools for benchmarking, decarbonisation modelling, and AI-powered reporting, we make sustainability performance measurable and financially relevant.
That’s how ambition becomes action, and action becomes competitive advantage.
We’re now at the mid-point of the decade. What do you see as the single biggest barrier for businesses in moving from ambition to measurable action – and how can it be overcome?
The blocker is seldom ambition; it’s decision-grade data and ownership at the right altitude that determines whether measurable action can be achieved.
In our recently-published Sustainable Business Playbook, we conducted a benchmark analysis of over 1,900 companies across 48,000 datapoints to uncover how companies are linking sustainability performance to business outcome, and what metrics are seen as material.
What we saw was a very uneven data maturity: Scope 3 is still missing at approximately 48% of companies, and key social signals like Employee Net Promoter Score are reported by only 4%, which makes it hard to prioritise investments with confidence.
My recommendation is to treat sustainability data as a strategic asset. Anchor in governance and finance. Assign clear executive ownership across finance, procurement, and operations, and make material topics part of investment and budgeting cadences.
And, don’t forget: model before you move. Use scenario and sensitivity analysis to show payback, IRR and risk under different carbon/energy futures, then fund the most resilient plays.
What role can (and should) leadership play in ensuring sustainability commitments actually deliver results, rather than remaining aspirational? And how can you ensure buy-in from all stakeholders?
Leaders must translate purpose into performance – measurable targets, wired into governance, tracked with the same cadence as financials. Make ESG data visible at board level and link it to incentives. That’s how ambition turns into accountability and impact becomes inevitable.
My bottom line advice is: don’t wait for perfect certainty. Companies are already using ESG data to guide capital allocation, compress risk, and open markets. The ones that are making the shift to ambition to action are the ones who will demonstrate resilience and competitiveness.
Learn more about Position Green at www.positiongreen.com.
