Investment in Sustainability is still seen as a competitive advantage

Business leaders have been navigating a very uncertain policy context – just think on the impact of the tariffs wars, regulatory rollbacks and an overall pushback against climate progress in the US. Still, what we are seeing is also a strong momentum that drives Sustainability practices and innovation through that uncertainty. And that is because… it’s the right thing to do from an economic and business perspective:

1)     - Let’s think about energy generation. “Clean energies have already reached a tipping point that drives innovation costs down and performance upward”, and that means solar and wind are now the cheapest energy sources in most markets. https://fortune.com/2025/03/18/clean-technology-climate-policy-environment/

2)      - A recent survey of CFOs, conducted by BDO, highlighted that over 75% of them are increasing maintaining sustainability investments, as they look at its innovation and new business opportunities as primary and strategic benefits.

3)      - 85% of supply chain executives (on a Prologis study) reported they looked at Sustainability as a core objective, mainly because of its importance on efficiency, energy usage and cost reliability, waste management and access to circular economy benefits (I suspect this is about raw materials’ availability). This reflects the urgent need for future-proof strategies that align environmental goals with operational resilience.

 

So, the momentum around sustainability continues to grow, even amidst policy uncertainty. And that is because it's becoming increasingly clear that sustainability (especially when mixed with innovation) is not just a trend—it’s a strategic advantage.

Get there early!

"Get there early"! Sometimes it is a simple recommendation - "get there early so you can get the best seats in the house", "get there early so you adapt yourself to the context", "get there early so you can have great conversations". We all play this logic in our heads.

But "Get there early!" is also a business statement. "Get there" means an action, a direction, somewhere you want to be, actually a vision or a goal. "Early" means in the right timing, probably before the masses arrive, so you can carve an advantage. So, for businesses, it is a strategy - it is about finding new markets, new products, new customers, ahead of the competition.

When I look at the next ten years, I see the future being driven by technology, sustainability (oh yes, unfortunately, we will be talking a lot about this) and people. For any business, my recommendation would be to start working in that future - "Get there early!" so you can play from a vantage point.

The hour seems dark

The hour seems dark for many. All across the last few weeks, I heard similar questions on the Sustainability meetings I attended. “Is organization X still committed to its ESG targets?”; “How will the Board react to the investors increasing pressure to deliver immediate results vs the longer-term sustainability commitments?”. I read a similar tone in the Women’s Day posts of the past weekend. Good people (some of them the most competent, professional, intelligent I ever met) expressed their concerns, said they feel the world is moving backwards on Women’ Rights. I read all of these, and I nod, I understand.

But I then have a “but”. “But…”. But… these were never short-term fights. But… we always knew these changes take time. But… we need to recognize that progress is made of backs and fore’s. But… we should remind ourselves that we are not alone, we are millions, we are committed.

But… We are not doing it only for ourselves. We are doing it for the ones who depend on our will, on us. The ones who don’t have a voice that is strong enough, that are invisible to the masses, that feel they don’t have any power (but should have). The ones who are balancing between what is right or immediate. The ones… well, the ones that we are raising, that we commit to with everything we have.

But… as Victor Hugo once said “You can’t stop an idea whose time has come”. And these ideas, a better planet for all of us, freedom, the right to be different and voice a different opinion, a different way of doing things, globally. Well, they just sound like, you know, “the future”. That we are all shaping.

P.S- And yes, there is an incredible and proven business value in all I have written. Maybe one just needs the right attitude to unlock it, now and for the future. And shape and grab the opportunities on days to come (and that might be tomorrow, really).

AI Military to Civilian

 From a pacifist, this is a hard thing to say. But the biggest challenge from AI government side investment for the next 10 years is, probably, how to establish partnerships that will allow to generate civil business value from a tsunami investment in the military.

For context, think on how WWII transformed aerial transportation or the space-race shaped computing. That’s probably the way to think on this.

Trust

"Trust". "Trust" is the most important asset in a negotiation. It is the foundation in which any deal is based. If a party doesn't trust the other one, the deal won't happen - it will fall apart and crumble.

Any good salesperson (or any good business person) will tell you this. Yet, sometimes, and nowadays especifically, it seems to be forgotten.