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How are the world’s most progressive CEOs pivoting their organizations to a more sustainable future?

Sustainable Leadership: Lessons of Vision, Courage, and Grit from the CEOs Who Dared to Build a Better World is an incisive and comprehensive exploration of how to reimagine your organization and business model to deliver breakthrough sustainability results.

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Lessons for CEOs | Clarke Murphy

Ideas from the world’s most courageous CEOs

Since 2010, Duke Energy has retired 56 units at coal-fired power plants. And as of 2021, it has decreased carbon dioxide emissions by 44%, sulfur dioxide emissions by 98%, and nitrogen oxides emissions by over 83%. Its CEO, Lynn Good, shares how she has pushed sustainability to the heart of business strategy to deliver these stand-out sustainability results.

“There’s a lot of enthusiasm about our clean energy transition because it represents real growth. We can expand the business and feel good about the impact we’re having on our communities and the environment. We are now a part of the green movement. This is . . . us.”

—Lynn Good
CEO, Duke Energy

With the shipping industry responsible for around 2.5% of greenhouse gas emissions, Søren Skou, CEO at Maersk, invested $2bn in 12 full-sized green containerships. The only problem? He didn’t yet know where to find the methanol to power them. He shares why it was important to forge ahead anyway, and how he delivered this epic moonshot.

“All those problems at the start that we thought were so huge we had no idea how to overcome turned out not to be so insurmountable.”

—Søren Skou
CEO, Maersk

Norwegian chemicals company Yara International invested $15m on an autonomous ship, The Yara Birkeland, expected to replace around 40,000 truck journeys each year. But with maritime regulations on autonomous ships yet to be written, the company must still navigate a host of challenges, including legal liabilities in different territories. Hear why Yara’s CEO thinks it was a risk worth taking.

“I’d rather be fired for taking too much of a risk and making a mistake than not acting soon enough.”

—Svein Tore Holsether
CEO, Yara International

In 2016, Adidas worked with environmental nonprofit Parley for the Oceans to launch a small and experimental sneaker line made from recycled ocean plastic. Yet when it launched, the sneaker didn’t sell. Discover how its CEO Kasper Rorsted learned from his mistakes and turned up the volume on his next target, pledging to make 9 out of 10 Adidas products from reuseable materials by 2025.

“Make it simple, make it public, and drive the behavior.”

—Kasper Rorsted
CEO, Adidas

Natura &Co is one of the world’s most sustainable companies on the planet. Hear how João Paulo Ferreira, CEO of Natura &Co Latin America, is making everyone  accountable for Natura’s sustainability goals—from C-suite executives to truck drivers—and securing his company’s legacy for the long-term.

“How can we be sustainable forever? How can we keep this going for generations more? These are the questions that keep me up at night.”

—João Paulo Ferreira
CEO, Natura &Co Latin America