Mike Barry is one of the world’s leading authorities on sustainability and net zero. Best known for his role as Director of Sustainable Business at Marks & Spencer, he was the driving force behind the company’s award-winning ‘Plan A’ sustainability strategy, which became a global benchmark for corporate responsibility.
With more than two decades of experience, Mike has advised businesses at the highest level, from multinational retailers to pioneering start-ups, guiding them on how to adapt, innovate, and thrive in a rapidly changing world.
Today, as Director of his own consultancy, Mikebarryeco, he continues to support organisations in transforming their operations, embedding sustainability into strategy, and scaling positive change. He also serves as an Advisor on Sustainable Business for Tala Consultancy School, and partners with initiatives such as Kite Insight’s Climate School to build climate literacy across industries.
His influence and insight have earned him widespread respect, making him one of the most sought-after speakers for businesses wanting to understand and embrace net zero.
In this interview for The Sustainability Speakers Agency, Mike shares his views on the urgent changes facing business, the importance of collaboration, and the real meaning of net zero.
Q: What message do you have for businesses that are not already investing in sustainability?
Mike Barry: “I want to be very clear that sustainability is transformational for business. In the next decade, every industrial sector is going to be ripped apart, changed totally in terms of its business model, its products, its services, its value chain, its purpose, its strategy, everything it does in responding to things like the climate crisis, biodiversity crisis, the call for more equality in society. And that’s not done by managing the status quo, the CSR, the ESG of the past. It’s about profound change, and you need to be prepared for that.”
Q: How can businesses communicate their sustainability expectations to their supply chain and stakeholders?
Mike Barry: “Supply chain stakeholders are incredibly important to a business. In the past, sustainability used to be about your own operations. You know, I worked for a retailer, it was about shops, lorries, and warehouses. Of course, that’s obvious. But much more impact comes from the suppliers that make your products and the consumers that use them. Unless you can create a conversation with them as well, you’ll get nowhere in terms of the journey forward.
We call it Scope 3, that’s a bit of a technical term, but actually it’s about engaging those tens of thousands of players, business partners, and millions of consumers, if that’s your business model, to ensure that they are part of the journey. Understand what they need to reduce their impact, but with your support.”
Q: How do you define ‘net zero’ and what does it mean in business?
Mike Barry: “Net zero is a really simple concept. It’s about reducing today’s carbon footprint by 90 to 95%, at least, by 2040 at the latest. Now lots of nations, countries like the UK, countries across Europe, countries across the world, have said we can be net zero by 2050. That’s an entire nation-state.
But we, as individual businesses, we’ve got to do our part by 2040. Not just for what’s called Scope 1 and 2, your own operations, the things that you own, but this thing called Scope 3 as well: your supply chains, the consumer use of your products and services. All that’s got to be 95% less impactful within less than 20 years. Think how much change you need to deliver.”
Q: Does operating globally create extra challenges for achieving net zero in countries with lower standards?
Mike Barry: “One of the great challenges of becoming net zero is operating globally, understanding that you’re operating in different jurisdictions. Clearly in Europe, we have some demanding rules now and coming in in the future that will drive us towards that endpoint.
There are other marketplaces, other countries where you might buy products from, that don’t have those drivers, and you will have to step into that vacuum and drive some of the change yourself. And that’s difficult.
So I would say to anybody: build partnerships with other companies, other organisations facing the same challenge. Eighty percent of this is collaborative, it’s working with your competitors and players to drive the change that we need. Twenty percent is you’re looking for that secret sauce that gives you a point of difference in a competitive marketplace.”
Q: What can businesses learn from your experience leading Marks and Spencer’s sustainability programme?
Mike Barry: “Well, I take three big pieces of learning from delivering Plan A.
The first is business case, ensuring your colleagues, your business, understands the value you’re creating. The cost savings from less energy and waste, the new markets you’re preparing for the future, the motivation for your colleagues, for your employees, building resilience into supply chains that are impacted more and more by extreme weather, preparing for new disclosure rules, new taxes in the future, it’s all about business case.
The second thing is about integration, ensuring that every one of your 83,000 colleagues (this was the case at M&S) are part of this journey, understand what they can do, have the tools to do it, and are recognised and rewarded for a job well done.
And the third thing is about partnership, working with your peers and competitors across your marketplace to try things that you, on your own, can never do. But together, you’re stronger. So those three things, key pieces of learning for me in terms of delivering Plan A.”
This exclusive interview with Mike Barry was conducted by Jack Hayes, Director at The Sustainability Speakers Agency.
