From slogans to factories: turning sustainability into action
For the past 15 years, sustainability has been everywhere in strategic plans, executive speeches, and marketing campaigns. But the era of slogans is over. Under pressure from regulators, investors, talent, and consumers, sustainability has become a question of execution. Leaders are no longer judged by their promises, but by their ability to make trade-offs, decide, measure, and deliver.
In our article published in September, we highlighted the paradox of Europe’s circular economy: Europe encourages recycling but does not require that this loop be local. The result? A form of “offshored circularity” that meets regulatory requirements but deprives local regions of jobs, skills, and economic value.
This example illustrates a broader issue. Circularity is just one visible symptom of a larger tension that cuts across sustainability as a whole. Beyond regulatory targets, the real question is how leaders turn imperfect frameworks into drivers of competitiveness and lasting value.
When circularity moves offshore
The battery industry illustrates this paradox well. The “black mass” a powder from shredded batteries rich in critical metals collected in Europe can be shipped to Asia for processing, then reimported as part of new components.
And this issue goes far beyond batteries. Across many sectors, sustainability is measured using administrative indicators recycling rates, carbon compliance that overlook one crucial factor: local value creation.
Making decisions despite imperfection
This is precisely where leadership responsibility lies: not waiting for perfect frameworks, but making decisions amid imperfection. Some leaders choose to add a geographical proximity criterion to their procurement, give multi-year visibility to regional recyclers, or strengthen material traceability. Others go further adapting product eco-design to local capabilities or forming intersectoral coalitions within their region, such as public-private partnerships or vertical supply chain alliances.
These decisions, though sometimes demanding in the short term, become strategic in the long run. They prove that sustainability is no longer a statement it’s a set of concrete actions that reduce risk, build stakeholder trust, and anchor the company in its local ecosystem.
Measuring what truly matters
There is no shortage of standards ISO, ESG reporting, European frameworks but they often say little about the value created or lost in local communities.
Executive teams can enrich these frameworks by choosing what they want to measure: the share of recycled materials sourced locally, the distance materials travel, the number of jobs supported in local regions. These indicators don’t replace existing standards but complement them offering a truer picture of a company’s real contribution.
Accelerating execution
The challenge is often not the vision it’s the pace. Leaders now need to prove their ability to execute quickly. In this context, interim management can play a critical role not just to fill a gap, but to inject executional capacity into projects that require high intensity from day one.
Sustainability as a test of leadership
What we see in circularity applies to sustainability at large: beyond the frameworks, it’s leaders who determine whether their choices truly create economic, social, and territorial value.
Advocating for more coherent regulations remains essential but waiting is no longer an option. Leadership means managing inconsistency. Where regulations end, strategy begins.
The leaders who make bold, concrete decisions today even when difficult will turn tomorrow’s regulatory paradoxes into competitive advantage and finally give true meaning to the word sustainability.
To read the original article in French, please click here.
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