Episode 43: Strategy to delivery - Lessons from London Climate Action Week 2026

The transcript highlights below have been edited for clarity 

Mark Lee 

Hi everyone and welcome to this next episode of the Sustainable Connections Podcast. This conversation is going to be about London Climate Action Week. It was the middle of a record-breaking heat wave in the UK and in Europe more broadly. It disrupted infrastructure. There was the terrible irony, of course, that London Climate Action Week events were changed, canceled, delayed. People missed them because of trains, planes, and logistics. But the event went forward with at least 75,000 people. Some of the estimates are now ranging up to 100,000 people. If you don't know the backstory, London Climate Action Week only launched in 2019. It nearly doubled in size this year, truly rivaling New York Climate Week as the biggest annual climate event on the planet.  

I took that as really encouraging, at a time when it feels like there's a lot of backlash and challenge in the sustainability field broadly, and at least varying momentum on the climate agenda. London Climate Action Week reminded us how many people think this agenda is essential and are trying to do something about it. There was a huge range of themes. We can't cover all of them today. ERM had a team on the ground, and we couldn't cover all of them in person either, but we got plugged in on topics like Just Transition, electrification, supply chains, and sustainable products. 

I'm here today with three of my colleagues from ERM who are on the ground in London. We're going to collectively break the story down for you and give some insights into what happened in the UK last week. I've got Irem Yerdelen, who's our partner in charge for London Climate Action Week and our lead for corporate sustainability and climate change in the UK. Anna Jakobson is our lead in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa for social impact and human rights. Finally, Jason Smith is our lead in Europe, Middle East, Africa for sustainable product and supply chain.  

Welcome to all three of you, and thanks for your time here. I want to get a personal perspective first, what stood out for you from the incredible diversity of things that happened last week. Give us a highlight or an insight from last week that's still lodged in your mind. 

Irem Yerdelen 

Thank you Mark for inviting me to this podcast. It's a pleasure. It was an incredible honor and privilege to be the partner in charge for ERM's efforts this year. The most powerful thing was to see the sheer number of people everywhere, despite the heat waves and disruptions that you mentioned. Coming from over 100 different countries, leaders from business, finance, policy, technology, they were all there and hungry to explore the partnerships and innovation needed to accelerate the transition to a net zero economy.  

For years, the focus was on ambition, commitments, and targets. This year in particular, the conversation was much more about the delivery. London again put itself on the map, being the center stage for all these discussions, the convening power of the city was incredible. A personal highlight was seeing our clients appreciate the roundtable-style events that ERM hosted. Because it enables candid conversations and to deep dive into that expert advice there and then. I think when you go to very large events, that might not be possible, so we received a lot of compliments about that. 

Mark Lee 

Yeah, I think you put your finger on what I've found to be the trick at other COPs and Climate Week kind of events, that there's so much power in the numbers. It's amazing and it's inspiring to see that many thousand people come together and people get a little lost. And that roundtable format of giving people almost a safe place, an anchor, a home in the midst of the madness is where really interesting conversations have the opportunity to come forward.  

Anna, did you have a similar experience or different take on the week as a whole? 

Anna Jakobsen 

Some similarities, some differences. Echoing Irem, thank you so much for having me, Mark. It's a pleasure to join. I think a key standout for me was the sheer energy and ambition. The program was so incredibly rich. It was actually hard to select which ones to attend outside of our own events, of course. I think what was clear is also how London is increasingly seen as a global hub for climate debate and action, very much rivaling New York. The week was set to be the largest yet, even with a few cancellations due to the heat.  

I think for me, across the sessions one common thread that I noted was around that implementation point. Irem also mentioned that, whether that be in climate finance, when we talked about insecurity or just transition, companies need to show real, tangible economic, and community returns, and not just the ambition. 

Mark Lee 

When we get deeper in our conversation, I'm going to probe on whether we got evidence of that implementation, because both you and Irem mentioned it. 

Jason, first I want to hear a 30,000 foot take from you.  

Jason Smith 

Thanks Mark and for the invite on this. Adding to those points, what I saw was a huge amount of energy. I think the point that people mentioned around implementation, I completely agree with that, but it was real action. What I saw from the clients that I was speaking to was that they were working with imperfect data and imperfect information, but actually still wanting to progress and go that directional way. So, we are seeing that real drive for change now.  

The other big thing that stood out for me was that our clients are now starting to think more about the wider system. They're collaborating with each other. We're seeing many of them come together. Some of that is down to the way they're backed financially to support these programs, the institutions, and how they lend and borrow money to lean into these ecosystems. For me, it was a real sense of wider collaboration, system thinking, and driving implementation, and all those things were super encouraging for me. It shows that we're getting behind some of this and we're really starting to see the change and manage that change. 

Mark Lee 

Yeah, it sounds like all of you got a real charge of optimism, even from your attendance there this week. I'm going to go a little bit more topic specific now.  

Anna, I'd like to start with you. The topic I want to pull onto the table is the just transition. I think it's fair to say just transition has had an uneven ride over recent years and even as a concept within the climate debate. Sometimes we get very focused on the quantitative environmental and the technological, and we just want to solve the problem. It's not always easy to get people into the center of the conversation. I think it's essential and I believe ERM thinks it's essential.  

We hosted a session and completed some research recently with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) on this topic. With them, we've been trying to advance and push it forward. So, if we take what you said about London Climate Action Week trying to move from principles, and I think the principles of the just transition are quite fully embraced, but the implementation part is hard. What did you see happening to give us evidence that that's moving forward? 

Anna Jakobsen 

I think it’s also worth noting that this session that we hosted together with the WBCSD followed a few that we did last year to launch our Business Leaders Guide for Just Climate Transition. Some of the listeners might be interested to take a look at that. If we focus very much on the practical actions and tools. I'll touch on a few things that stood out to me from the discussion and the event.  

Just Transition is much more effective when it's embedded into existing business processes and when teams are set up to collaborate. So, you can't run it as a separate work stream. It needs to be very central to the way that you run and engage. We saw some of the strongest examples from companies in the room, who mentioned linking it to governance and oversight, to procurement, to HR, to risk, to their investment decisions, and also community engagement rather than treating it as a standalone topic.  

What also became quite clear is that a lot of companies are already doing Just Transition in some shape or form, but they may not call it that. There are a few different phrases being thrown around. But common in terms of upskilling or reskilling, local supplier development, community investment, benefit sharing, and also human rights due diligence, they're often already underway, but they might not be connected under a shared strategy or a shared label umbrella.   

Another thing that came through was the business case, that social factors very much affect the transition speed, the cost, and the resilience. Examples that companies gave were around talent retention, supply chain resilience, regulatory readiness, but also market access. Also, quite a few spoke about the value of early community engagement to then avoid later delays, opposition, which can be very costly financially and reputationally. 

Mark Lee 

Yes, so often that is what stops projects from going ahead, right? It's technical and it's not the skill, it's whether society has accepted this. 

Anna Jakobsen 

Yes and whether the company's engaged early enough and thoroughly enough. You mentioned implementations. I think what came through as well is that it's highly company and context specific. So start by being a generalist. But there were also a few different perspectives shared. One of the companies in the room shared how Just transition is being embedded through governance and investment decision, even when they didn't have a formal roadmap or strategy set out. They mentioned the use of an ESG investment tool to assess new projects across climate, human rights, social and environmental dimensions. And then they had some identified gaps tracked and there was a follow-up process and verification set up. 

Mark Lee 

Irem, I think given the investment focus there, when we see something moving from concept to practice in the corporate space, generally we start to find a money trail. Anna's telling us there's at least one company in the room there, relating the case on their investment decisions. But is that spreading more broadly? Do you see that in your portfolio? Do you see it across industries? Is this gathering momentum at this time? 

Irem Yerdelen 

Yes, certainly. I think I would like to see more of that, to be honest. What I can say on this is investors are recognizing that the success of the low carbon transition depends not only the technological and financial viability, but also how the transition affects workers, communities, customers, and to a degree, supply chains. I think as a result, Just Transition factors are increasingly influencing risk assessment and capital allocation. This is obviously encouraging because investors are now treating climate and social issues much more interconnected. And investors, not only themselves, but alongside insurers, need better ways to distinguish credible transition from aspiration. So, they see social outcomes as a determinant of transition success.  

For me, this is an opportunity for our clients and organizations to position Just Transition, not as a standalone social initiative, but as a critical component of credibility, how to get the capital, and increase long-term enterprise value. I'm sure Anna can add to it as well, but most of ERM clients that we work with take consideration on this basis. They invest in things like workforce reskilling instead of asset closure, selecting industrial decline locations for their new manufacturing facilities, invest in supplier transition rather than replacing the suppliers. So, there's a lot of additional project CAPEX and OPEX directed towards community programs to make sure that local employment influence contractor selection. So, I think these are good examples and we can see this happening more in this implementation era. 

Mark Lee 

Anna, if I loop back on that, part of it is it seems like there's such a range of possible ways for companies to engage the just transition and make it part of their work. When you're starting with folks, are there a few practical steps that create the best foundation to do this? Where should people start? 

Anna Jakobsen 

That's interesting. I think there's a strong demand out there for practical tools and metrics. So, what are those approaches that can help companies map out interconnections? For example, between climate, nature, and social, and making those trade-offs visible from the outset and built in. There was a company in the room that gave an example of having a budget line item to make it really tangible in terms of when you make financial decision making.  

I just wanted to add another thing to what Irem was saying, because I think also we talked a lot about the company remit, but what was also really flagged in our session was that collaboration beyond the company boundary as being essential. Just Transition can't be delivered by individual companies alone working in silos. If we're going to have real progress, coalitions across business, across government, investors, and local stakeholders. 

Mark Lee 

In some ways, that's partly what we're trying to do in the work with WBCSD and that there's a coalition of companies and other partners trying to figure this out collectively, right? We can include a link to the leader's guide on Just Transition that you mentioned before so that we can point people to that and other resources. 

Anna Jakobsen 

Also, if you wanted me to build on the practical steps. I think that mapping of climate, nature, social interconnections, to really understand what are those interlinkages, what are the possible trade-offs, what are some of the nexus points and then choke points between those domains, they are absolutely key to understanding sustainability in operational terms. So we need to look at it as resilience, not to sort of checklist when you do that mapping.  

Mark Lee 

Perfect, I know we could do easily a whole episode on just transition, and we probably should loop back and just dig deeper on the topic.  

Jason, we've been pointing at you, but just keeping you at arm's length in the conversation so far. In your intro and in your colleagues' comments, we've been pointing at your supply chain expertise. This is another way in which coalitions are required, right? Companies are not going to be able to deal with their impacts, climate, and otherwise, especially scope three, unless they're working up and down their value chains. 

It's so much easier to say that than do that. But the urgency of getting the scope three-part pinned down couldn't be clearer as we plow past 1.5 degrees Celsius. I hope you're going to be able to tell me that companies are beginning to engage suppliers differently and more deeply. What in fact are you seeing? How is the scope three challenge playing out in real time? 

Jason Smith 

Definitely, Mark, and looking at a lot of the comments that were mentioned earlier, hopefully I can bring to life with what we're seeing with our clients in those supply chains. But also, some good experience of the clients and discussions we got into at London Climate Week because we are seeing companies shift from that whole compliance and data collection into that mindset of enablement and investment. Some of the things that we discussed earlier in the call, we're seeing those changes through the value chain. We are seeing our clients move from annual surveys to go into digital platforms and partnering with those organizations.  

We led a session with Secaro and AstraZeneca, where we talked about the impact that they could have through their value chain, engaging 500 different suppliers, and lots of practical things around the tiered expectations. They've got some suppliers that are super mature in certain areas and they're really driving those to help them support the targets. But also engaging those less developed suppliers to help them think through, if they're not fully on board with scope three, how they manage their scope two, and then build that into the extended value chain.  

We're also seeing the discussions around tying carbon into their procurement decisions and making sure that whole ecosystem is singing the same song and moving along together. To the point that Anna mentioned earlier, we’re seeing those financial incentives being built in the supply chain. There's reward for those clients and suppliers, that are demonstrating their ability to start to move towards decarbonization. 

As I mentioned at the outset, they're not all chasing perfect data anymore. It's about directional data that can drive some action. The encouraging thing for me is we're seeing change. I mentioned AstraZeneca ran one of the sessions with us, but we've also got growth from that ecosystem. We're working with organizations like Apella and Sanofi, where we're bringing thousands of suppliers in on issues like heat decarbonization and giving them real practical steps as to how they can decarbonize, what that would mean to their business, how it supports their growth, and how it means that they can build into other bigger clients. 

The encouraging thing for me, Mark, is we're definitely seeing the action. We're seeing that investment push down the value chain, but it's practical steps. The great thing for me is we're moving in the right direction. These are global businesses that are not just looking to do this in particular geographies. This is their entire value chain. So super encouraging. 

Mark Lee 

Jason, you mentioned there the financial incentives. Can you talk a little bit about what those look like and whether you think they'll persist? Because I think we've seen premiums attempted in various industries over time, e.g. low carbon steel and responsibly sourced coffee. The experience seems to be that you can offer that for a limited period, but then it has to be that you deliver the higher standard product at the same price. So what does that look like for Scope 3? 

Jason Smith 

In the example I mentioned earlier, that's where they're offering additional work to those clients that are demonstrating that they're putting these measures in place. So, it's a bigger share of the pie in many cases than the current. There's volume, but also what we see from some of our clients, and in consumer markets, is growing demand for more sustainable products. It's been part of that growth as well as getting a bigger portion of the pie. 

Irem Yerdelen 

I want to add something to Jason's point and bring Anna's Just Transition comments earlier. What we saw during all these interactions is that companies that demonstrate a credible pathway to decarbonization while protecting workers, communities, and supply chains are actually being viewed as a lower risk profile. Therefore, they become more investable and better positioned for long-term value creation for their organization. This was very loud and clear in our partnership discussion as well. 

Mark Lee 

Anna, this is pointed back to you in a couple of ways. As we try and manage the energy transition all the way across supply chains, we keep bumping into workers and communities. As we make the kinds of progress that Jason and Irem just described, how are workers and communities being taken into account as we push forward on scope three and other supply chain challenges? 

Anna Jakobsen 

I think at least organizations are increasingly recognizing that the transition is not only a climate challenge, but also a human rights workforce, as you mentioned, a community challenge. I think the focus has shifted from being more like simply, let's create green jobs to ensuring that we have a Just Transition that manages those impacts on workers, suppliers, indigenous peoples, and host communities, while also then maximizing the social benefits. I think that's a really positive development.  

I think in terms of workers, the focus is on minimizing impacts from things like job displacement, investing in workforce reskilling needs, also addressing risks of poor working conditions, migrant worker exploitation, forced labor, unsafe work if you're a new supply chain. I think with regards to community, some of the key concerns we see our clients grapple with is that economic dependence on a declining industry and what your role and accountability is within that community impacts on closures or asset retirements. Also, increasingly in some locations, we're seeing that question of equitable distribution of economic benefits from transition projects being a real issue that communities are very passionate about and local governments. I think there's a lot of learnings that can be gained from extractive industry companies. They've been working on these issues for a long time.  

But I think there's some core elements of good practice that shine through in our engagement with various companies on this topic. I think one is you need to start planning early. So, no reactive responses. You need to have long-term transition planning and engaging, assessing impacts, and then engaging around those from the outset. Also apply human rights due diligence across energy transition supply chains because I think good practice extends beyond direct employees and communities to also contractors and suppliers. I think this also aligns with growing expectations on the United Nations (UN) guiding principles, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) guidelines, and here in the European Union (EU), the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD).  

A last point that I'll make before handing over is around measuring social outcomes, not just climate outcomes. We see organizations increasingly tracking things like, what are jobs created and lost? What does worker satisfaction look like? What's the community well-being and inclusion of vulnerable groups? I think that reflects the broader recognition that a successful energy transition needs to deliver both against environmental objectives but also deliver that social value. 

Mark Lee 

Yeah, and that measurement and bringing forward that evidence is so essential to convincing people in communities that investment in climate transition is worthwhile and that they can have a better quality of life on the other side. 

Anna Jakobsen 

Exactly, and being credible around the actions you're taking and the outcomes you want to deliver. 

Mark Lee 

Irem, I'm going to come back to you. I think for a while, there's been a mantra of electrify everything. It's another easier said than done kind of piece. But there was a re-emphasis on this in London Climate Action Week. A coalition of more than 100 companies called on governments to make it an economic priority. Clearly, if we're going to reduce carbon in supply chains, we need to be able to increase electrification. What is stopping us? What are the obstacles? What are the opportunities to move this forward? 

Irem Yerdelen 

Great question, Mark. Let me give you some context around what happened in London Climate Action Week. In one of the first meetings, the COP31 presidency came out and declared a key target regarding the role of electrification. That was a quite cool moment. That was 35 by 35. 35% of global final energy consumption to be met by electricity by 2035. This is up from just over 20% today. So, I think it is achievable. The expectation is 90% will come from the corporate transition to electrification. I think that accelerates the electrification across transport, buildings, industry, and households. So, there's a lot to be done. The presidency positioned electrification as not just a climate solution, but also an energy affordability and an energy security measure. Given all the energy crises in the world due to various challenges and geopolitical issues, this is now a great place to build on.  

Although electrification sounds cool, it has got its limits. It's accelerating for sure, driven by both cost and security concerns. However, not all industrial heat demand can be electrified with current technology. Also, grid expansion and associated costs are major constraints for data centers and so on. Therefore, one of the key considerations is that cost of delivered electricity, including network charges, is as important as the generation cost itself.  

With that background, ERM hosted an industrial and building energy roundtable. We took the discussion to such a pragmatic view, and perhaps the opportunities that I could highlight are, with energy efficiency plus on-site energy creation and selective electrification, our clients and organizations in general can address cost resilience and emission reduction all simultaneously. I think this is a great place to be and to put money towards. However, the challenge is delivery at scale is constrained by technology. Also, the system's complexity, some institutional barriers, and infrastructure readiness. I think that whole call to government requires a lot more public-private collaboration to now see the scale of movement in that area. 

Mark Lee 

Yeah, and 35 by 35, I thought was one of the exciting announcements out of London last week. You gave us the numbers, but I want to repeat them, 20% today, 35% in 2035 attainable for sure, but nine years and almost double. I don't want anyone to underestimate the scale of effort that's going to be required to drive that essential piece forward.  

Jason, I want to shift gears again. We have this massive event, incredibly broad topic, really a myriad set of topics, and sometimes it helps to break it down. In the midst of all this, one of the sessions you led was on sustainable packaging. We're getting down to a really specific topic. I think often people have seen it as a compliance issue, they've used the materials that they've been allowed to, and now we're seeing a shift to how can sustainable packaging really drive action on climate and carbon reduction. But also, how can it be a broader value creation lever? What evidence did you find for that in the session that you led? 

Jason Smith 

Thanks Mark. Three years ago, I don't think the packaging discussion was too much in vogue. I've been fascinated over the last couple of years at the number of discussions we've got into. If you think about packaging, the external regulatory reporting requirements are now complex and they're evolving. What's interesting for me is packaging is no longer seen as a delivery mechanism for a number of our clients. It's a bit more of a gateway to their brand experience, and they're really focused on this. We've got legislation now, like the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), which focuses on things like hazardous substances, recycled content, minimization, core elements that if you don't comply with or get right, you get limited market access. So, you cannot be supplying your product into the EU or to individual countries. All at once, this has risen right up to a C-suite agenda because it's stopping the growth within those businesses.  

Now what's great is we're helping those clients through the compliance journey, but because of the requirements of PPWR, we're really getting into the interesting side that says, what's your consumer insight that's going to drive growth in your products? How can we redesign your packaging format so that they comply with the legislation, but also create an amazing brand experience? The great thing is that we are working with both sides. We've got designers within the team that are looking at those new concepts, those new designs in more sustainable ways, using the recycled material, using less material, helping those clients comply, but also supporting them through the digital journey that they're going along with this. PPWR is running out over the next five years. There are so many different things that they need to report and change, and it's helping them comply with that, but creating really exciting products.  

So good examples of that, we're working with organizations like Bayer, who are in the consumer health group, we're helping them think through the entirety of their product range, how they can reimagine that packaging based on the incoming legislation. We're building an engine that takes that consumer insight around their products in each of their markets, but also the incoming legislation, and marrying those two together and helping them create really exciting packaging formats, ones that can grow in the market.  

We had one of our speakers, James Prior, who's the CEO of Touch Design speak at the event, and he also spoke about two or three formats that they've helped clients with. One of which was WD-40, creating an application pen rather than a spray can, which saves 700% of the product because most of the product just hits the floor when you spray. Real stuff that from a sustainability perspective is driving change. It's driving increased margin for those businesses that are making it. And the same again, there's formats like Purina in the cat food side. We also discussed Vicks Vaporub, which was also a roll-on applicator. So really thinking about not just how we comply with PPWR, but how do we drive innovation in that whole design process and really grow the market share for those clients. So, it's moved on. In my view, packaging is the new rock and roll at the moment. It's probably about 40% of what I do. So really excited by it and lots to go for. 

Mark Lee 

We could not have a better advocate for the sustainable packaging community, Jason. I love that it's the new rock and roll. But in all  seriousness, I'm with you that sustainability and climate work in a corporate context, especially when they make products better. Not when they just meet a standard, not when they just kind of tick a box. So incredibly important and terrific to hear those examples. Anna, I want to check again on the people part. So, what role do social issues play in sustainable packaging decisions?  

Anna Jakobsen 

I think the social dimension is often overlooked because discussions tend to focus on environmental impacts. Whether that's recyclability, waste reduction, and common footprint. But I think as we're seeing, and also some of the clients that Jason mentioned, considering impacts on people throughout the value chain, from raw material sourcing through to end-of-life management is really key. We see good practice, really integrating considerations for human rights, worker well-being, community development, consumer accessibility, and livelihoods coming from circular economy, taking that into account alongside the more traditional environmental objectives.  

I think another thing we're seeing increasing consideration placed on is accessibility and inclusivity to consumers. Examples include clear labeling, easy-to-open designs, and accessible disposal instruction. Also, does it create value for local communities? So packaging choices can influence local economies and communities. We see companies having policies around local sourcing and procurement, supporting small and medium enterprises, job creation in those recycling, reuse collection systems, and community engagement around those waste management initiatives. I think there are plenty of social dimensions and I'm glad you asked the questions because it doesn't always come up. Sometimes the focus is more on the environment side, but I think there's lots of interconnections. 

Mark Lee 

Irem, I think it's safe to say the financial aspect is always there as well. And all of you have referenced the push towards implementation, the business case efforts that are going on in the field right now. And the sustainable packaging playing a role there as well? Are we seeing it in dollars and cents or pounds and pence if you choose? 

Irem Yerdelen 

Yeah, definitely. For me, it is a classic sustainability business case because sustainable packaging often delivers environmental benefits while simultaneously reducing operating expenditure. Jason already gave these examples, eliminating unnecessary materials, lightweight packaging, and improving the precision packaging. I think these are very innovative and in most of our client examples, the examples include investment in precision packaging technology and purely lower costs. Also, I think the packaging decisions directly influence compliance costs. We discussed that as well because future liabilities, regulatory preparedness, these are all additional costs. We can't just think about it as a material thing.  

I think for me, this is a great example of how sustainability is moving from an environmental initiative to business decision. And if you do it well, sustainable packaging strengthens brands, reputation, reduction of cost, and supply chain resilience. We are really making sure that the clients that we work with are creating the most value by utilizing this opportunity for themselves. 

Mark Lee 

Great to hear those topics were in play, Irem. I'm also wondering, you've been at multiple past climate weeks, how present was the investor and finance community this time? Did they show in force, and were they there to hear these stories directly, or do we still have to get the message to them after the event? 

Irem Yerdelen 

They were very present. In fact, I think given the heat wave, the most discussed topic was adaptation and climate resilience from a physical aspect, but also the finance community was very present when it comes to holistic integration of issues like insurability, resilience of supply chains, energy security, as well as water and nature security. They're basically trying to utilize their money harder when it comes to allocating it to transition finance versus climate finance versus emerging economies. So, they are all up for implementation and utilizing whatever guideline is out there to really channel the money to the right places. 

Mark Lee 

Excellent. Good to hear that they were there and it sounds like they're starting to take those right and necessary steps.  

The time we've had together has gone by quickly. I do want to ask you both to help me predict the future here before we wrap up. So just a couple more questions for Jason and Irem and that's looking ahead.  

London Climate Action Week in some ways almost kicks off a season of climate-related events that will go through New York Climate Week and then through this year's COP31 as well. If a theme here has been the shift towards implementation, tangible progress, business case. Jason, how do you hope the supply chain story carries forward the rest of 2026 so we see ourselves in a significantly better place in terms of supply chain action at the start of 2027? 

Jason Smith 

It's a good question. I think what we need to do is continue and grow with the momentum. The reason I'm encouraged coming out of London Climate Week and speaking to clients and some of our technology partners, is we're forging alliances with technology companies. If I speak about decarbonization, which was the first topic in the supply chain, we're working with technology firms like Secaro and Carbmee and bringing in founding partners that are looking at system wide decarbonization. So, people like Apella, AstraZeneca, and Sanofi have come together with their supply chains. We're now taking thousands of suppliers on this heat decarbonization journey. This is supporting learning through all that ecosystem as well. So, it's not just for the benefit of one. This is genuinely driving that change through those value chains. We're getting new founding members, Mark, every month as part of this coalition.  

My sense is that people want to be part of this. It's now seen as both positive from your sustainability objectives and in terms of your future growth. We're starting to see the bigger corporate organizations galvanize their supply chains around this area and invest in it. We're getting more founding members, the list of others that we know want to join is phenomenal, huge organizations.  

I think that momentum will continue right through, as you said, through New York and the next COP. I’m encouraged because we're creating a community of people that want to manage this change. They're pushing this through their value chains. The other great thing about Climate Week is we spent time with those clients over dinner and had chats, and they’re passionate about this. It is going to happen. It's exciting for us all to work together on this. 

Mark Lee 

Absolutely. That shift is so powerful from supply chain requirements, to supply chain benefit to an invitation instead of an obligation and seeing people seize that and really want to be part of what's happening instead of wondering how they can minimize that kind of activity. It's powerful stuff.  

Irem, how about for you? As you look ahead to the rest of the year into these other upcoming events, what do you expect? 

Irem Yerdelen 

I think this London Climate Action Week really paved the way for a successful COP. And besides the themes that we covered today, there was a lot of chatter around waste, waste management, food systems, methane, and other topics to tackle. I think for me, what stood out is the three topics that we mentioned, and about climate cooperation despite geopolitical fragmentation.

So, climate action is now seen as a collective thing. I mean, it has always been like that, but I think now around delivering scalable solutions and implementation wise, it is all very much around competitiveness, growth, and right investment strategies. So that's why for our clients and our community partners, etc., it's all about demonstrating credible delivery pathways that link decarbonization, resilience, nature, social, and basically creating outcomes for long-term business value. That is to me, the backbone of everything. If I had to summarize the mood heading into COP31 in one sentence, I would say the climate agenda is maturing from ambition to execution, with finance, resilience becoming the key themes through which success will be judged.

Mark Lee 

We'll watch for all those things that are beginning to weave together to link more tightly as the field continues to mature. Thanks so much to all three of you for joining today and sharing your insights and your experience from London this year.  

If you enjoyed Sustainable Connections today, you can find all the episodes on your platform of choice - Apple, Google, Spotify or other. All the episodes are also on ERM.com.  

If you have any feedback for us, we would always love to hear it. Thanks to our listeners, and thanks again to today's speakers. Good luck to everyone with the rest of summer in the northern climate as we move from heat waves in Europe to heat waves in North America. It's this continent's turn this time around, but we've all got tangible evidence of the work that remains to be done. Bye for now.