Chart a more sustainable path for your business.

The true climate impact of a product can be way off when it’s built on spend-based data. It’s time to get real—and leave the guessing to crystal balls and coin flips. The Pivot associate Lennart Bjurström writes that we need to make it easy for every team, buyer, and supplier to act on the same trusted numbers, wherever they sit in the value chain. 

I’ve always believed sustainability shouldn’t sit in a corner office or rest on one person’s shoulders. It needs to be woven into how organisations think, decide, and operate. In many ways, transition brokers have always been there - the people quietly bridging ambition and action, making sure strategy becomes reality.

Who truly believes the value chain will reach net zero by 2045? The room was split: two said no, two said yes, and one said “it depends.” This sparked a high-energy panel discussion hosted by The Pivot and Sirona Health Solutions in Almedalen.

In this era of disruption, we’re facing challenges we’ve never encountered before. While no one knows what the future holds, adopting a future focus helps us navigate the unknown for managing risks but also for defining new pathways to value creation and resilience.

Call it a carrot and stick, or push and pull. But transformation to more sustainable economies relies on balancing both incentives for innovation and a call for greater transparency. Right now, we’re drowning in efforts to meet the latter, at the expense of the former.

I spent a good hour watching sea lions soaking up the sun on Pier 39. As one sea lion rolled over, the others on the platform had to radically adjust their positions or risk falling into cold waters. It reminded me of some conversations I had during the week which could fit the pages of John Elkington’s new book, Tickling Sharks.

From food packaging to construction and healthcare, if your sector depends on single-use plastics, your eyes are likely on Busan, South Korea. The city is abuzz, finalizing a global treaty to slash plastic pollution. There’s a lot at stake, with two camps struggling to get their way.

We’re seeing more companies requiring their suppliers to set Science-based targets (SBTs)—a step in the right direction. But are the current levels enough to move the needle on scope 3 reductions? Based on data from some 23,000 companies that disclosed to CDP last year, the CDP / HSBC report, 'Strengthening the Chain' says "not yet."

Creating a double materiality assessment (DMA) process is not a one-size-fits-all exercise.  Our advice? Design a process that’s flexible enough to evolve with your company. Your industry, team maturity, data capabilities, and impact areas are unique, so let your process capture where you stand in its evolution.

With over 70% of healthcare’s climate impact rooted in the supply chain, purchasing is critical to achieving sustainable healthcare. But is public procurement ready to lead this transition? Some regions in Europe are paving the way. Sweden? Not so much says one researcher.

On October 2nd, in Uppsala, Sweden, Cytiva, the global science and technology leader, hosted its first supplier sustainability day, gathering over 100 participants from across Cytiva’s value chain. The energy in the room was electric, and the innovative ideas from supplier partners left us inspired.

Will Sweden’s pharma industry be able to lead the charge? The jury’s out on that one. But maybe with global collaboration, clarity from healthcare procurement, and innovation from across the value chain, it has a fighting chance to meet its net-zero target.

According to the GlobeScan Sustainability Leaders 2024 report, some 500 sustainability experts have crowned Sweden as the top government for sustainable development – but from our front-row seat, it’s not that simple.