As one of the UK’s most prominent Environment & Sustainability speakers, Dr Sally Uren has dedicated her career to accelerating the shift towards a regenerative future. As Chief Executive of Forum for the Future, she leads pioneering work with businesses, governments, and civil society to transform complex global systems—from food and energy to apparel and finance—through sustainable innovation.
Renowned for her strategic insight and systems-thinking approach, Sally is at the forefront of shaping corporate sustainability agendas. Her work challenges businesses to move beyond incremental change, urging them to embrace bold, future-fit practices that prioritise resilience, equity, and planetary health.
In this exclusive interview, she explores how sustainability is reshaping consumer behaviour, why short-termism remains a critical barrier, and what practical steps organisations must take to drive lasting environmental and social value.
Q: In the wake of the pandemic and increasing public consciousness, how is sustainability now influencing consumer purchasing behaviour—and what long-term trends do you see emerging from this shift?
Sally Uren: “In many different ways, and particularly heightened as a result of the pandemic.
“Heading into the pandemic, awareness and understanding of sustainability was on the rise. What the pandemic has done has really shown us all that sort of deep interconnectivity between our natural system and us as humans—so that link between the health of the planet.
“COVID started with illegal wildlife trading in Wuhan, and actually it started before that. The theory is that illegal deforestation gives rise to these zoonotic viruses that enter our food system and then make us all really sick.
“I think that understanding of the interconnectivity between our natural world and our health and the economy has been heightened by COVID, as has the importance of community—so creating products and services in ways that build community resilience.
“I think that consumers are asking more now than they were before the pandemic in terms of, again, how has this been made, who has made it, and what are the benefits of buying this product for the bigger causes?
“There was a really interesting report that came out recently—a survey by one of the United Nations agencies. They surveyed over, I think it was, 50 million people over 30 countries, and two-thirds said the climate emergency is real and we need to do something about this.
“So I think that these sustainability issues are really shaping consumer sentiment. Also, obviously, the big flare-up around racism that we had in the last few months.
“The million-dollar question is: how is that translating into active purchasing choices? And I think that is beginning to happen, because we’ve shifted from a situation—which was definitely the case—where in the early days of sustainability, brands and retailers tended to drive the prices up of organic products, of sustainable products, and therefore there became a narrative that actually sustainability costs more.
“It actually doesn’t—it saves you money. And so now we are in a situation where we’ve got products that are more sustainable than the one next to them, they’re the same price, and I think that’s going to tip the market.”
Q: Despite growing awareness and urgency, many businesses still fall short in addressing climate challenges. From your perspective, what are the key structural and psychological barriers preventing stronger corporate action?
Sally Uren: “No, they’re not. Nobody is.
“Why not? Partly because of the constraints of the economy that we’re in. Ours is an economy that is fuelled, to a large extent, on short-term profit maximisation. And so whilst there is a really strong business case for sustainability, you may need upfront investment in, for example, solar panels or other renewable types of energy. You may need to enter into long-term contracts with your supplier and actually commit more resource up front as a way of building resilience into your supply chain.
“If you are having to meet really short-term demands on profitability, then that longer-term investment becomes harder—even though you can show the rate of return.
“So one of the biggest barriers is this kind of drive for short-term profit maximisation, which is why it’s really great that investors are beginning to shift on this and realise that actually short-term profit maximisation without a view to long-term value creation is really short-sighted for the long-term prosperity of the market.
“That’s definitely one barrier—the way that capital markets work.
“And then I think there’s another barrier which is much more human, which is I just don’t think we’re ambitious enough. I think we’re just a bit too comfortable that we’ll just tweak things here, tweak things there.
“So I think another barrier is what we would form-call mindset. There’s just a lack of ambition in some quarters and a lack of creativity.
“And so the two big unlocks then are: if we can really mainstream sustainability within the investment community, send the right signals into the market, focus on long-term value creation; if we can be bold and ambitious, then I think you’ll see an acceleration.”
Q: Sustainability policies often fall into generic or surface-level commitments. What actionable strategies should businesses adopt to ensure their policies are genuinely impactful and aligned with their core operations?
Sally Uren: “First of all, focus on your big impact areas.
“Sometimes sustainability policies don’t focus on where you can make the biggest difference. So for retailers, there’s been this kind of preoccupation with the plastic bag. Really, it’s not a material impact area—you know, where and how you’re sourcing raw materials, as I said earlier, really is a much bigger impact area. How you are helping your customers live more sustainable lives through the use phase of products is also much bigger than a carrier bag.
“So focus on those big material impact areas.
“Then the second is: be specific to your business. You see lots of sustainability policies where you could just erase the title and just switch them over—they’re a bit vanilla. So a really good sustainability policy should really be specific to your business.
“Three is: set targets. Put targets in your policy—so science-based targets for climate, other targets for customers reached with new products, for example, or revenue sales from sustainable products.
“And then number four is: be honest and authentic. Use your policy to talk openly and honestly about your progress.
“If you do those four things—focus on the material impact areas, really include targets, make your policy specific, and be honest and open about your progress—I think we’d see a general uptick in performance.”
Q: For organisations ready to embark on a meaningful sustainability journey, where should they begin—and how can they ensure their initial steps are rooted in measurable impact?
Sally Uren: “Yeah. The first thing I would do is—it sounds really boring, and it is a bit—but to do a materiality assessment. Really understand where are your big impact areas, where can you make the biggest positive difference? Just take the time to do that properly.
“Don’t assume where your impact lies, because actually you might not have that right. So just take the time to do a proper materiality assessment, find out where your biggest impacts are and where you can really optimise the contribution that you make to the world around you. Start there.”
This exclusive interview with Sally Uren was conducted by Jack Hayes.
