Stepping Off the Corporate Ladder to Tackle Climate and Strategy

This July I stepped out of a full time role to focus on one question:

How do we bring climate into the core of the business agenda?

Since then, I’ve been building and refining a framework that joins up climate with

strategy, financial planning and business transformation. I’m doing it because I believe business has a critical role in the climate crisis, and because I care about the world my daughters are going to live and work in.

A few things have become clear:

1. Climate and resource pressures already shape demand, costs, supply chains and access to capital. They’re here now, not sitting in a risk register for 2035.

   
   

2. Most planning still treats the big uncertainties as purely economic or competitive. That no longer matches reality.

   
   

3. Physical risks, fragile supply chains, carbon prices, policy shifts and customer expectations all change what a business should do, where it invests and how it operates.

   
   

4. Using strategy tools combined with sustainability frameworks can surface growth, efficiency and resilience opportunities that also support decarbonisation.

   
   

5. When regulatory and disclosure needs are embedded into planning - credible transition reporting becomes the output of funded plans, not an additional burden.

Out of this work has come Integrated Value Planning, a business led framework that brings strategy, finance and sustainability into one planning system. However, the real value sits in how the principles and the decision support tools within the framework are focused on real business priorities.

In 2026 I’m looking to work with leaders who are interested in applying these ideas in practice, whether that means using the principles, specific tools or parts of the planning process. I’ll bring the frameworks, diagnostics and insights I’ve been developing and share them openly on an impact-first basis.

And now the real work begins...

Back in July, I stepped off the corporate career ladder to focus full-time on helping businesses tackle climate transition in a way that strengthens performance, resilience, and competitiveness. I’ve spent my career leading transformation and strategy delivery, and I’ve seen how powerful businesses can be when they mobilise around big, complex challenges. But I also know how difficult and confusing this transition can be—especially when the business benefits aren’t immediately clear.

Over the next few months, I’ll be inviting business leaders, transformation directors, sustainability teams, and industry groups to input into the MVPs I’ve been developing. I’m keen to understand what’s working, where the sticking points are, and to learn from those already making progress. Through collaboration, I believe we can crack one of the toughest challenges ahead: aligning business planning with the realities of the climate transition. In return, I’ll share what I’m developing—tools, diagnostics, and insights drawn from my research into transition plans and practical business solutions.

My work centres on re-engineering how organisations plan, so that climate, cost, and competitiveness move in step. The goal is to make climate part of how the business runs, not something managed in parallel.

I’m exploring three practical routes for integrating climate into business planning and transformation:

1. Climate-aware planning. A pragmatic checklist that ensures climate and decarbonisation are considered at each stage of existing planning cycles.

2. Climate overlay. Embedding climate and resource considerations into strategy and operations using tools such as scenario analysis and materiality assessment.

3. Climate built-in by design. Fully integrated planning where climate, finance, strategy, and operations work as one system, focused on opportunities that create business value.

   
   

Alongside this, I’m developing a Climate Transition Plan Diagnostic that applies transformation and change-management principles to identify gaps, risks, and opportunities in existing transition plans. It builds on the strong foundations set by the Transition Plan Taskforce, BSI, and others, but grounds them in how real change happens inside businesses.

Because for most organisations, the hardest part isn’t knowing what to do—it’s how to do it while running the business, I'm also focusing on turning transition theory into practical ways forward by developing tools and guidance to help leaders:

• Evolve existing processes and introduce new metrics or forums without overwhelming teams.

• Manage and get value from fragmentated and variable quality of Scope 3 and even Scope 1 & 2 emissions data so decisions are based on something leaders can trust.

• Move from current commitments and assets toward new models, supply chains, and products, challenging where high-cost, high-risk deep decarbonisation efforts may not immediately deliver long-term value or a positive ROI.

• Manage the evolution of the business through staged transformation while supporting employees through significant change.

• Look beyond the organisation’s walls to the wider environment it operates in (government, industry peers, competitors, supply chains, and local communities) for innovation and collaborations as systems thinking, shared investment, and partnerships may be required to unlock new value.

I’m doing this on a collaborative, impact-first basis—partnering with organisations and industry groups who want to shape and test these approaches, with deeper support available where it’s needed most.

For anyone interested in the detail, I’m happy to talk you through the work I've done including the three routes organisations can take to embed climate into planning and the diagnostic I’m developing to help businesses assess their transition plans.  I’d love to hear your views, success stories, and the challenges you’re facing in bringing climate into strategy, finance, and operations. The more we compare notes, the faster we’ll all move.

Evolving the Way Businesses Plan for the Future: Why Climate-Integrated Planning is Central to Business Transformation.

Business leaders don’t need more sustainability processes; they need the systems that already run the company to evolve so that climate and competitiveness are managed together. That’s how we turn compliance into strategy and pressure into progress.

Businesses have a vital role in tackling the climate crisis, but delivering real impact demands a different kind of planning. Many organisations understand what must be done but are held back by how they plan and make decisions. Net zero is too often treated as compliance, not opportunity but effective compliance should be designed to uncover opportunity, rather than compliance blocking opportunity.

However, the shifts needed to cut emissions - smarter operations, collaborative supply chains, digitised processes - are the very ones that can create long-term value. The opportunity now is to bring strategy, climate transition and adaptation, operations, and commercial goals into one transformation agenda that strengthens resilience and competitiveness. Through this combined lens innovation, efficiency and growth opportunities can be surfaced.

Why Planning Must Evolve

To achieve lasting impact, businesses will need to change how they plan and govern. This isn’t about replacing trusted processes but adapting them. Traditional planning cycles built for predictability no longer fit a world defined by volatility, regulation, resource constraints, investor scrutiny, and physical climate impacts.

History shows that businesses can adapt when the world changes. Globalisation, digitisation, and pandemic shocks all forced companies to evolve. The same is true now. Climate and resource considerations – like water and energy - need to be part of every stage of planning: strategy, budgeting, operations, and investment. When they are, they inform the choices that shape performance and resilience for the decade ahead.

The Barriers in the Way

Leaders understand the challenge, but implementation is difficult. The real barrier isn’t intent, it’s integration. Systems, incentives, and mindsets have been built for stability, not transformation. Planning frameworks are deeply embedded in financial models and incentive systems. Decision forums are tuned for cost and capacity, not carbon, resilience and adaptation. Adjusting metrics, assumptions, and incentives can feel uncomfortable and slow because it means unpicking what has worked for years.

Most leadership teams already have more processes than they can manage. The challenge isn’t adding new ones, but evolving the systems that already run the business so climate and competitiveness are managed together.

And beyond process, there are human realities: habits, time pressure, and a natural bias for the familiar. Every leadership team faces the tension between short-term delivery with long-term transition. Supporting those decisions, especially complex and uncomfortable trade-offs is where progress really starts.

My Focus

My work centres on helping organisations make this shift by re-engineering the rhythm of planning so that climate, cost, and competitiveness move in step. The goal is to make climate part of how the business runs, not something managed in parallel.

After leading business transformation for years, I’ve seen how change only sticks when it feels practical and familiar to those delivering it. That’s why I’m exploring three routes organisations can take:

1. Climate-aware planning: A pragmatic checklist approach that ensures climate and decarbonisation are considered at each stage of existing planning cycles.

2. Climate overlay: Embedding climate and resource considerations into strategic and operational analysis and decision-making, using tools like scenario analysis and materiality assessment.

3. Climate built-in by design: Fully integrated planning where climate, finance, strategy, and operations are managed as one system. This isn’t a rewrite of planning; it’s an upgrade that connects existing business frameworks with sustainability data and insights.

   
   

In parallel, I’m developing a Climate Transition Plan Diagnostic that applies transformation and change-management principles to help organisations identify gaps, risks, and opportunities within their existing transition plans. This draws on excellent work already available in regulatory frameworks, standards, and guidance from bodies like the Climate Governance Initiative, the Transition Plan Taskforce (TPT), and BSI.

The Real Work Ahead

For most organisations, the hardest part isn’t knowing what to do, it’s how to do it while running the business. Success depends on making tough decisions and how leaders introduce change, how choices are sequenced, and how people are brought along.

The challenge is more than just devising ‘better’ planning processes, it’s about:

• Evolving existing processes and introducing new metrics or forums without overwhelming teams.

• Managing and getting value from fragmented and variable quality Scope 3 and even Scope 1 & 2 emissions data so decisions are based on something leaders can trust. (Which will require up-skilling planning, finance, and operational teams to leverage sustainability data and insights effectively.)

• Moving from current commitments and assets toward new models, supply chains, and products (especially difficult as high-cost, high-risk deep decarbonisation efforts may not immediately deliver long-term value or a positive ROI.)

• Managing the evolution of the business through staged transformation while supporting employees through significant change.

• Looking beyond the organisation’s walls to the wider systems it operates in for innovations and collaborations (government, industry peers, competitors, supply chains, and local communities.) as systems thinking, shared investment, and partnerships may be required to unlock new value.

  
  

These are not abstract problems. They’re the daily trade-offs leaders make between cost, risk, growth, and reputation. When organisations build on processes they already trust, progress comes faster and with greater confidence. Climate-integrated planning isn’t a side initiative, it’s the next stage of business transformation.