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Published by Will Richardson
I am trying to change the way we work, the relationship we have our work and the world around us. We live in a complicated world with a lot of noise. But we need to be making decisions now and those decisions will have ramifications for decades. Will we always make the right decisions; no. But are we doing it for the right reasons I would like to say yes to that - speaking from my heart. This is an audible blog on what I am doing and what we as a business are doing. Some could say it is self promotion, it probably is a bit, I am trying to change the world and be a part of the solution BUT it is also my way to articulate where I am and keep a log of it for my future self and maybe others will learn from my mistakes as I am sure there will be loads!!
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The gas plants being built to power AI in the US could undo fifteen years of power-sector emissions cuts by 2030. It's the second week running that AI's emissions bill tops the countdown, and it now sits in almost every company's Scope 3. This is the weekly sustainability news top 10 for sustainability, finance and marketing leaders who need the news to make commercial sense. We cover the UK's Jackdaw approval and £2 billion Energy Wealth Fund, the UN's emissions gap before COP31, the EU's new climate resilience framework, US and EU methane rollbacks, Lula's re-election and deforestation risk, ISSB nature reporting, the GHG Protocol's Scope 2 delay, and the Coca-Cola, Nestlé and Danone recycling claims. You'll leave with one move for this week: list every environmental claim your business makes and write the evidence next to each one. Anything you can't evidence in a sentence gets reworded or cut. Get the written version with every source linked on Substack: https://willsussolved.substack.com/ Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@willsussolved Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sustsolvedbywillrichardson Follow the show, and tell me which of the three facts at the end surprised you most. CLIP MOMENT: “Companies that leaned hardest on pictures of nature and smiling people were less likely to make the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index.” Mentioned in this episode: Sponsorship For Main Podcast Podcast Advertising Keep informed on Sustainability News I'm Will Richardson, Head of Ecosystems at 51toCarbonZero and a sustainability advisor with 25 years in the field. I founded Green Element in 2004 and spent two decades building it into one of Europe's most respected sustainability consultancies before it merged with 51toCarbonZero in November 2025. Climate action is both an obligation and an opportunity, and that's the thread running through everything I write here. I co-created Compare Your Footprint, carbon accounting software recognised as a key player in the Global Carbon Accounting Software Market, and I'm a Fellow of IEMA and a Chartered Environmentalist. Each week, I break down what's actually happening in sustainability: the data, the regulation, the greenwash worth calling out, and the practical steps businesses can take right now. No jargon, no doom-mongering, just clear thinking for people who need to make real decisions. I also host the Sustainability Solved podcast with Charlie Luxton, 200+ episodes and counting, where we talk to the people building the solutions. Based in Scotland. Writing for business leaders who want sustainability to make commercial sense, not just moral sense. My Personal Substack
If you can’t explain net zero in one sentence, neither can your customers. And if they can’t repeat what you stand for on climate, you’re adding noise, not building trust. We start with the sentence that holds up in front of regulators, journalists and buyers: net zero means balancing the greenhouse gases you emit with an equal amount you permanently remove. Then we cover the order most businesses get wrong. You reduce hard first, deal with the small residual last, and never let offsets do the work of reduction. We look at how Patagonia, Tesco, Microsoft and TDC NET put a real number at the heart of their climate story. Boring, specific and checkable beats impressive-sounding. You’ll leave with one test for this week. Write your net zero sentence with one number and one date. Read it to a colleague outside the sustainability team, and ask them to repeat it back tomorrow. If you’d like help turning your net zero statement into something people can remember and regulators can check, book 30 minutes with me: https://tidycal.com/willrichardson/ssbywrpodcast30 Read on Substack: https://willsussolved.substack.com/ Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@willsussolved Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sustsolvedbywillrichardson Follow the show, and send me your one-sentence version. CLIP MOMENT: “That number does work an adjective never can.” Mentioned in this episode: Keep informed on Sustainability News I'm Will Richardson, Head of Ecosystems at 51toCarbonZero and a sustainability advisor with 25 years in the field. I founded Green Element in 2004 and spent two decades building it into one of Europe's most respected sustainability consultancies before it merged with 51toCarbonZero in November 2025. Climate action is both an obligation and an opportunity, and that's the thread running through everything I write here. I co-created Compare Your Footprint, carbon accounting software recognised as a key player in the Global Carbon Accounting Software Market, and I'm a Fellow of IEMA and a Chartered Environmentalist. Each week, I break down what's actually happening in sustainability: the data, the regulation, the greenwash worth calling out, and the practical steps businesses can take right now. No jargon, no doom-mongering, just clear thinking for people who need to make real decisions. I also host the Sustainability Solved podcast with Charlie Luxton, 200+ episodes and counting, where we talk to the people building the solutions. Based in Scotland. Writing for business leaders who want sustainability to make commercial sense, not just moral sense. My Personal Substack Sponsorship For Main Podcast Podcast Advertising
Five tech companies are forecast to emit around 215 million tonnes of CO2e this year. That’s more than most countries, and it lands straight in your Scope 3. This is the Monday countdown: the 10 sustainability stories that got the most coverage this week, ranked and explained in plain English. If you lead sustainability, finance or strategy in a large organisation, or advise one, this is for you. We cover the forecast for hyperscaler emissions and AI’s growing power demand, the ISSB’s proposed nature disclosure rules and TNFD reaching 836 adopters, UNEP’s warning that a 1.5°C overshoot is now unavoidable, California’s 10 November SB 253 reporting deadline, the widening crackdown on green claims, and new research linking climate transition plans to cheaper borrowing. Every story is credited to the publication that reported it, including Trellis, ESG Today, edie and Axios. You’ll leave with one move for this week: take your transition plan to your treasury team and check it for gaps before your next refinancing. Smaller business? Write a one-page plan with a baseline, a target and three costed actions. Stay to the end for three facts that won’t make the headlines, including one about battery storage fires that flips the usual story. For the written version with every source linked, subscribe on Substack: https://willsussolved.substack.com/ Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@willsussolved Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sustsolvedbywillrichardson Follow the show, and tell me which of the ten stories lands hardest for your business. CLIP MOMENT: “On 1.25 billion dollars of debt, that’s about 10 million dollars a year.” (end of story #4; timestamp not known) Mentioned in this episode: Keep informed on Sustainability News I'm Will Richardson, Head of Ecosystems at 51toCarbonZero and a sustainability advisor with 25 years in the field. I founded Green Element in 2004 and spent two decades building it into one of Europe's most respected sustainability consultancies before it merged with 51toCarbonZero in November 2025. Climate action is both an obligation and an opportunity, and that's the thread running through everything I write here. I co-created Compare Your Footprint, carbon accounting software recognised as a key player in the Global Carbon Accounting Software Market, and I'm a Fellow of IEMA and a Chartered Environmentalist. Each week, I break down what's actually happening in sustainability: the data, the regulation, the greenwash worth calling out, and the practical steps businesses can take right now. No jargon, no doom-mongering, just clear thinking for people who need to make real decisions. I also host the Sustainability Solved podcast with Charlie Luxton, 200+ episodes and counting, where we talk to the people building the solutions. Based in Scotland. Writing for business leaders who want sustainability to make commercial sense, not just moral sense. My Personal Substack Sponsorship For Main Podcast Podcast Advertising
In 2005 I had a landfill site, a county council and a CFO happy to fund a community wind turbine. Then one phone call ended it all. This is the story of Wind Element, the community wind co-op I set up straight after my master’s. The idea was simple: put a turbine on an unused Veolia landfill site near Eastleigh and give cheap energy back to the people living on its doorstep. We had nearly everything lined up. Hampshire County Council backed it, Veolia liked the use of the land and the PR, and we had a plan to win over locals by talking to them face to face, the way the best developers did. I even persuaded a managing director friend to drive me to the meeting in his Lotus, so I looked bigger than a one-person band. Then the turbine supplier changed the rules; minimum order, three turbines. Demand had exploded, and a single-turbine co-op no longer made the cut. I also talk about the anti-wind headlines of the early 2000s, the scare stories about birds, noise and flicker, and why newspapers kept printing them even when most readers didn’t agree. Misinformation about renewables isn’t new, and it held community wind back for years. If you’re working on a community energy project, or any good idea that stalled at the last hurdle, there’s something here for you. Local ownership of clean power is both a fairness issue and a business opportunity, and we’re far better placed to deliver it now than we were in 2005. Want to talk through your own project? Book 30 minutes with me: https://tidycal.com/willrichardson/ssbywrpodcast30 Subscribe to Sustainability Solved by Will Richardson for more stories from 25 years of making sustainability work in the real world. Mentioned in this episode: Sponsorship For Main Podcast Podcast Advertising Keep informed on Sustainability News I'm Will Richardson, Head of Ecosystems at 51toCarbonZero and a sustainability advisor with 25 years in the field. I founded Green Element in 2004 and spent two decades building it into one of Europe's most respected sustainability consultancies before it merged with 51toCarbonZero in November 2025. Climate action is both an obligation and an opportunity, and that's the thread running through everything I write here. I co-created Compare Your Footprint, carbon accounting software recognised as a key player in the Global Carbon Accounting Software Market, and I'm a Fellow of IEMA and a Chartered Environmentalist. Each week, I break down what's actually happening in sustainability: the data, the regulation, the greenwash worth calling out, and the practical steps businesses can take right now. No jargon, no doom-mongering, just clear thinking for people who need to make real decisions. I also host the Sustainability Solved podcast with Charlie Luxton, 200+ episodes and counting, where we talk to the people building the solutions. Based in Scotland. Writing for business leaders who want sustainability to make commercial sense, not just moral sense. My Personal Substack
Starbucks says its reusable cup scheme cuts waste. I went looking for the independent study that proves it; there isn’t one. The maths on reusable cups genuinely works, as long as each cup gets used enough times to beat the single-use cup it replaces. Starbucks has published strong return rates from its own controlled pilots. Across its real markets, the return rate isn’t published anywhere, and that gap is the whole story. If you lead sustainability, packaging or marketing in a Food & Beverage business, this is where scrutiny is landing first. New EU consumer rules are now in force, and the UK’s CMA can fine businesses directly for misleading claims. You’ll leave with one exercise for this week. List every reusable, recyclable or sustainable packaging claim you make. Write the number that proves it next to each one. Tighten or pause any claim without a number. If you’d like an honest read on whether your packaging claims would survive scrutiny, book 30 minutes with me: https://tidycal.com/willrichardson/ssbywrpodcast30 Read on Substack: https://willsussolved.substack.com/ Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@willsussolved Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sustsolvedbywillrichardson Follow the show, and tell me which packaging claim you’d most like to see the real data behind. CLIP MOMENT: “Loud on the launch. Quiet on the data.” Mentioned in this episode: Keep informed on Sustainability News I'm Will Richardson, Head of Ecosystems at 51toCarbonZero and a sustainability advisor with 25 years in the field. I founded Green Element in 2004 and spent two decades building it into one of Europe's most respected sustainability consultancies before it merged with 51toCarbonZero in November 2025. Climate action is both an obligation and an opportunity, and that's the thread running through everything I write here. I co-created Compare Your Footprint, carbon accounting software recognised as a key player in the Global Carbon Accounting Software Market, and I'm a Fellow of IEMA and a Chartered Environmentalist. Each week, I break down what's actually happening in sustainability: the data, the regulation, the greenwash worth calling out, and the practical steps businesses can take right now. No jargon, no doom-mongering, just clear thinking for people who need to make real decisions. I also host the Sustainability Solved podcast with Charlie Luxton, 200+ episodes and counting, where we talk to the people building the solutions. Based in Scotland. Writing for business leaders who want sustainability to make commercial sense, not just moral sense. My Personal Substack Sponsorship For Main Podcast Podcast Advertising
I was asked to run masterclasses on the environmental impact of AI, and I paused. My gut feeling is that AI’s environmental impact could dissipate within a year, possibly sooner. In this episode I look at why. People are already building language models on phones. Heavy users like me may have reached the limit of what we need AI to do. And I ask why so many data centres are being built: is it for the cars and technology of the future, or to prove growth to shareholders? Could we end up running our own AI agents at home, powered by our own solar panels? The real answer for organisations: future-proof and risk assess your use of AI now. Read the full article on Substack: https://willsussolved.substack.com/ Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@willsussolved Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sustsolvedbywillrichardson Mentioned in this episode: Keep informed on Sustainability News I'm Will Richardson, Head of Ecosystems at 51toCarbonZero and a sustainability advisor with 25 years in the field. I founded Green Element in 2004 and spent two decades building it into one of Europe's most respected sustainability consultancies before it merged with 51toCarbonZero in November 2025. Climate action is both an obligation and an opportunity, and that's the thread running through everything I write here. I co-created Compare Your Footprint, carbon accounting software recognised as a key player in the Global Carbon Accounting Software Market, and I'm a Fellow of IEMA and a Chartered Environmentalist. Each week, I break down what's actually happening in sustainability: the data, the regulation, the greenwash worth calling out, and the practical steps businesses can take right now. No jargon, no doom-mongering, just clear thinking for people who need to make real decisions. I also host the Sustainability Solved podcast with Charlie Luxton, 200+ episodes and counting, where we talk to the people building the solutions. Based in Scotland. Writing for business leaders who want sustainability to make commercial sense, not just moral sense. My Personal Substack Sponsorship For Main Podcast Podcast Advertising
One planned data centre in Yorkshire could emit nearly twice the CO2 of every Gatwick flight in a year. That is where this week’s sustainability news starts. In this week’s top 10 sustainability news countdown, I take you through the stories business leaders and sustainability professionals need to know. We cover the hidden water cost of AI, the new science-based targets for nature, the Hormuz crisis and the case for clean power, England’s worst harvest on record, California’s 10 November climate reporting deadline and more. Every story comes with who it affects most, smaller companies, larger companies or both, so you can see straight away what matters for your organisation. I finish with three facts you probably won’t see in the headlines, including the waste stream that out-emits the whole aviation industry. If you work in sustainability, carbon accounting or climate strategy and want to turn this kind of insight into client work, take a look at the 51toCarbonZero referral programme: https://www.51tocarbonzero.com/referral/ Subscribe for weekly sustainability news that cuts through the noise, and tell me in the comments which story matters most to your business this week. #SustainabilityNews #NetZero #CarbonAccounting #DataCentres #Biodiversity Mentioned in this episode: Sponsorship For Main Podcast Podcast Advertising Keep informed on Sustainability News I'm Will Richardson, Head of Ecosystems at 51toCarbonZero and a sustainability advisor with 25 years in the field. I founded Green Element in 2004 and spent two decades building it into one of Europe's most respected sustainability consultancies before it merged with 51toCarbonZero in November 2025. Climate action is both an obligation and an opportunity, and that's the thread running through everything I write here. I co-created Compare Your Footprint, carbon accounting software recognised as a key player in the Global Carbon Accounting Software Market, and I'm a Fellow of IEMA and a Chartered Environmentalist. Each week, I break down what's actually happening in sustainability: the data, the regulation, the greenwash worth calling out, and the practical steps businesses can take right now. No jargon, no doom-mongering, just clear thinking for people who need to make real decisions. I also host the Sustainability Solved podcast with Charlie Luxton, 200+ episodes and counting, where we talk to the people building the solutions. Based in Scotland. Writing for business leaders who want sustainability to make commercial sense, not just moral sense. My Personal Substack
I share how helping the B Corp community, rather than selling to it, built Green Element's most robust long-term sales funnel. Subscribe for weekly sustainability intelligence, and tell me in the comments which story matters most to your business. Subscribe to my substack for more insight; https://willsussolved.substack.com/
Local opposition has cancelled 260 billion dollars of US data centre projects this year, and Washington now wants the rest to pay for the grid they need. That's my number one story in this week's sustainability countdown. I take you through the 10 sustainability stories that mattered most to business this week, ranked by how much coverage they got across Trellis, ESG Today, edie, Axios, Bloomberg Green, Semafor and more. We cover big tech's new nuclear deals, the climate liability case at the US Supreme Court, why suppliers say Scope 3 programmes still reward the cheapest unit price, 130 companies asking governments to stop subsidising nature loss, and fresh evidence that sustainability investment pays. Stay to the end for three facts you won't see in the headlines, including the carmaker whose supply chain footprint shrank by up to two thirds once researchers used real supplier data. If you work on Scope 3, carbon accounting or net zero strategy, that one is worth your time. At 51toCarbonZero our platform and advisory team helps organisations get to supplier-specific data and turn it into action: https://www.51tocarbonzero.com If you advise organisations on sustainability yourself, take a look at our referral programme: https://www.51tocarbonzero.com/referral/ Subscribe for weekly sustainability intelligence, and tell me in the comments which story matters most to your business. #Sustainability #NetZero #Scope3 #CarbonAccounting #ClimateRisk Mentioned in this episode: Keep informed on Sustainability News I'm Will Richardson, Head of Ecosystems at 51toCarbonZero and a sustainability advisor with 25 years in the field. I founded Green Element in 2004 and spent two decades building it into one of Europe's most respected sustainability consultancies before it merged with 51toCarbonZero in November 2025. Climate action is both an obligation and an opportunity, and that's the thread running through everything I write here. I co-created Compare Your Footprint, carbon accounting software recognised as a key player in the Global Carbon Accounting Software Market, and I'm a Fellow of IEMA and a Chartered Environmentalist. Each week, I break down what's actually happening in sustainability: the data, the regulation, the greenwash worth calling out, and the practical steps businesses can take right now. No jargon, no doom-mongering, just clear thinking for people who need to make real decisions. I also host the Sustainability Solved podcast with Charlie Luxton, 200+ episodes and counting, where we talk to the people building the solutions. Based in Scotland. Writing for business leaders who want sustainability to make commercial sense, not just moral sense. My Personal Substack Sponsorship For Main Podcast Podcast Advertising
Since 27 September 2026, calling a product “carbon neutral” on the back of offsets has been banned across the EU. Most of the businesses I speak to haven’t noticed yet. Tesla, Apple and McDonald’s have all made big environmental promises. Each one now has a crack in it: a battery carbon debt, a German court ruling on the Apple Watch, and value chain emissions that barely moved while restaurant emissions fell. None of them broke the law by trying. What has changed is who is checking. We look at the EU’s new consumer rules, the UK CMA’s power to fine directly, and why responsibility now runs along the whole supply chain, so a supplier repeating a green claim carries the risk too. You’ll leave with three checks for this week. Search your website, packaging and recent tenders for “eco-friendly”, “sustainable” and “carbon neutral”. Separate what you’ve reduced from what you’ve offset. Ask sales which buyers have requested emissions data. If you’d like an honest read on whether your claims would survive a proper look, book 30 minutes with me: https://tidycal.com/willrichardson/ssbywrpodcast30 Read on Substack: https://willsussolved.substack.com/ Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@willsussolved Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sustsolvedbywillrichardson Follow the show, and tell me which of the three brands surprised you most. CLIP MOMENT: “Most green claims are not lies. They are half-truths.” Mentioned in this episode: Sponsorship For Main Podcast Podcast Advertising Keep informed on Sustainability News I'm Will Richardson, Head of Ecosystems at 51toCarbonZero and a sustainability advisor with 25 years in the field. I founded Green Element in 2004 and spent two decades building it into one of Europe's most respected sustainability consultancies before it merged with 51toCarbonZero in November 2025. Climate action is both an obligation and an opportunity, and that's the thread running through everything I write here. I co-created Compare Your Footprint, carbon accounting software recognised as a key player in the Global Carbon Accounting Software Market, and I'm a Fellow of IEMA and a Chartered Environmentalist. Each week, I break down what's actually happening in sustainability: the data, the regulation, the greenwash worth calling out, and the practical steps businesses can take right now. No jargon, no doom-mongering, just clear thinking for people who need to make real decisions. I also host the Sustainability Solved podcast with Charlie Luxton, 200+ episodes and counting, where we talk to the people building the solutions. Based in Scotland. Writing for business leaders who want sustainability to make commercial sense, not just moral sense. My Personal Substack
"It is not the critic who counts." Theodore Roosevelt's words sum up 25 years of helping organisations with sustainability better than anything I could write. In this episode of Sustainability Solved, I explain why the companies growing their bottom line and cutting their emissions are the ones that tried early, failed, and tried again. We look at what Science Based Targets changed, why boards get fixated on the target and miss the actions, and why a transition plan matters more than any percentage. Then I set you a challenge: write down your organisation's top three failures in adapting to climate change, and celebrate them. Those failures are wins. If this sparks something, subscribe, share it with a colleague who's in the arena, and send me your three. We’ve constantly adapted, evaluated, and listened to our stakeholders, of which you are one of them. It’s really important to us that you are gaining insight, gathering information, and enhancing your professional life when listening to any of our Sustainability Solved podcasts. This form has been designed with that in mind. We’re looking for help and guidance from you, our listener. (1) Sustainability Solved Podcast Feedback Form Sustainability Solved by Will Richardson. Mentioned in this episode: Keep informed on Sustainability News I'm Will Richardson, Head of Ecosystems at 51toCarbonZero and a sustainability advisor with 25 years in the field. I founded Green Element in 2004 and spent two decades building it into one of Europe's most respected sustainability consultancies before it merged with 51toCarbonZero in November 2025. Climate action is both an obligation and an opportunity, and that's the thread running through everything I write here. I co-created Compare Your Footprint, carbon accounting software recognised as a key player in the Global Carbon Accounting Software Market, and I'm a Fellow of IEMA and a Chartered Environmentalist. Each week, I break down what's actually happening in sustainability: the data, the regulation, the greenwash worth calling out, and the practical steps businesses can take right now. No jargon, no doom-mongering, just clear thinking for people who need to make real decisions. I also host the Sustainability Solved podcast with Charlie Luxton, 200+ episodes and counting, where we talk to the people building the solutions. Based in Scotland. Writing for business leaders who want sustainability to make commercial sense, not just moral sense. My Personal Substack Sustainability Solved Survey We’ve constantly adapted, evaluated, and listened to our stakeholders, of which you are one of them. It’s really important to us that you are gaining insight, gathering information, and enhancing your professional life when consuming information on any of our Sustainability Solved platforms. This form has been designed with that in mind. We’re looking for help and guidance from you, our friend and fellow sustainability professional. Sustainability Solved Survey
The EU's new green claims rules went live on 27 September, and they change what every business selling into Europe can say about sustainability. In this week's countdown I take you through the 10 sustainability stories that mattered most to business, ranked by how much coverage they got across Trellis, ESG Today, edie, Bloomberg Green, Semafor and more. We cover why Climate Week NYC sold climate as energy security, the FCA's comply-or-explain shift on UK sustainability reporting, ISO's net zero standard going back for revision, El Niño's hit on food and commodity prices, fashion's new plan for secondhand clothes, and the first tools to measure the carbon footprint of AI. Stay to the end for three facts you won't see in the headlines, including where the world's spare calories really go. If you work on net zero strategy, carbon accounting or Scope 3 reporting, this is the week to check your green claims against the evidence behind them. Come and talk to me here - https://tidycal.com/willrichardson/ssbywrpodcast30 If you advise organisations on sustainability yourself, have a look at our referral programme: https://www.51tocarbonzero.com/referral/ Subscribe for weekly sustainability intelligence, and tell me in the comments which story matters most to your business. #Sustainability #NetZero #CarbonAccounting #Greenwashing #ESG Mentioned in this episode: Sustainability Solved Survey We’ve constantly adapted, evaluated, and listened to our stakeholders, of which you are one of them. It’s really important to us that you are gaining insight, gathering information, and enhancing your professional life when consuming information on any of our Sustainability Solved platforms. This form has been designed with that in mind. We’re looking for help and guidance from you, our friend and fellow sustainability professional. Sustainability Solved Survey Keep informed on Sustainability News I'm Will Richardson, Head of Ecosystems at 51toCarbonZero and a sustainability advisor with 25 years in the field. I founded Green Element in 2004 and spent two decades building it into one of Europe's most respected sustainability consultancies before it merged with 51toCarbonZero in November 2025. Climate action is both an obligation and an opportunity, and that's the thread running through everything I write here. I co-created Compare Your Footprint, carbon accounting software recognised as a key player in the Global Carbon Accounting Software Market, and I'm a Fellow of IEMA and a Chartered Environmentalist. Each week, I break down what's actually happening in sustainability: the data, the regulation, the greenwash worth calling out, and the practical steps businesses can take right now. No jargon, no doom-mongering, just clear thinking for people who need to make real decisions. I also host the Sustainability Solved podcast with Charlie Luxton, 200+ episodes and counting, where we talk to the people building the solutions. Based in Scotland. Writing for business leaders who want sustainability to make commercial sense, not just moral sense. My Personal Substack
The planet just had its annual check-up, and seven of the nine planetary boundaries that keep Earth liveable are now breached. In this episode I walk through what the 2026 Planetary Health Check actually tells us, in plain language, and what it means for business. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/9-boundaries-keep-earth-livable-weve-breached-7-of-them/ We look at CO2 hitting a record 426 parts per million, ocean acidification becoming the seventh boundary to go, and the two boundaries hiding in almost every food and packaging supply chain: fertiliser run-off and the chemicals and plastics building up in nature. Then we turn to the good news. The ozone layer is recovering, and it shows us exactly how collective action brings a boundary back. I also pick out the business signals from Climate Week NYC: China's first absolute emissions target, the green premium becoming a security premium, rising scrutiny of green claims, and why Scope 3 supplier data is still the practical headache underneath it all. If you lead sustainability, finance or marketing in a Food & Beverage or Media, Marketing & Advertising business, you'll come away with one clear action from this episode. Find out more about how I help organisations act on this at https://willsussolved.substack.com/ Subscribe, share with a colleague who needs to hear it, and tell me which boundary sits closest to your business. #PlanetaryBoundaries #Sustainability #NetZero #Scope3 #CarbonAccounting Mentioned in this episode: Keep informed on Sustainability News I'm Will Richardson, Head of Ecosystems at 51toCarbonZero and a sustainability advisor with 25 years in the field. I founded Green Element in 2004 and spent two decades building it into one of Europe's most respected sustainability consultancies before it merged with 51toCarbonZero in November 2025. Climate action is both an obligation and an opportunity, and that's the thread running through everything I write here. I co-created Compare Your Footprint, carbon accounting software recognised as a key player in the Global Carbon Accounting Software Market, and I'm a Fellow of IEMA and a Chartered Environmentalist. Each week, I break down what's actually happening in sustainability: the data, the regulation, the greenwash worth calling out, and the practical steps businesses can take right now. No jargon, no doom-mongering, just clear thinking for people who need to make real decisions. I also host the Sustainability Solved podcast with Charlie Luxton, 200+ episodes and counting, where we talk to the people building the solutions. Based in Scotland. Writing for business leaders who want sustainability to make commercial sense, not just moral sense. My Personal Substack Sustainability Solved Survey We’ve constantly adapted, evaluated, and listened to our stakeholders, of which you are one of them. It’s really important to us that you are gaining insight, gathering information, and enhancing your professional life when consuming information on any of our Sustainability Solved platforms. This form has been designed with that in mind. We’re looking for help and guidance from you, our friend and fellow sustainability professional. Sustainability Solved Survey
After more than 220 episodes, Sustainability Solved is changing. Weekly instead of monthly, with guest hosts running their own mini-series in their own fields. The final part of seven. In this episode: Seb Munden on food, drink and packaging, Ben Tolhurst on why businesses find it so difficult to speak out, Live Frankly on thinking big and small, Sophie Taysom on climate risk and insurance, and the communications reason behind every part of it. First episode of the new format on 28 September. Read the written version: https://willsussolved.substack.com Subscribe for weekly sustainability intelligence that actually moves the needle. Mentioned in this episode: Sustainability Solved Survey We’ve constantly adapted, evaluated, and listened to our stakeholders, of which you are one of them. It’s really important to us that you are gaining insight, gathering information, and enhancing your professional life when consuming information on any of our Sustainability Solved platforms. This form has been designed with that in mind. We’re looking for help and guidance from you, our friend and fellow sustainability professional. Sustainability Solved Survey Keep informed on Sustainability News I'm Will Richardson, Head of Ecosystems at 51toCarbonZero and a sustainability advisor with 25 years in the field. I founded Green Element in 2004 and spent two decades building it into one of Europe's most respected sustainability consultancies before it merged with 51toCarbonZero in November 2025. Climate action is both an obligation and an opportunity, and that's the thread running through everything I write here. I co-created Compare Your Footprint, carbon accounting software recognised as a key player in the Global Carbon Accounting Software Market, and I'm a Fellow of IEMA and a Chartered Environmentalist. Each week, I break down what's actually happening in sustainability: the data, the regulation, the greenwash worth calling out, and the practical steps businesses can take right now. No jargon, no doom-mongering, just clear thinking for people who need to make real decisions. I also host the Sustainability Solved podcast with Charlie Luxton, 200+ episodes and counting, where we talk to the people building the solutions. Based in Scotland. Writing for business leaders who want sustainability to make commercial sense, not just moral sense. My Personal Substack
Data centres are about to get a sustainability label, and most businesses have no idea which ones they rely on. That's where this week's countdown lands, and it's the second week running they've taken the top spot. I've spent more than 25 years in sustainability, and I've rarely seen energy dominate a week the way it did during Climate Week NYC. In this video I count down the ten stories that mattered most for net zero strategy, carbon accounting and Scope 3 emissions, ranked by how often they appeared across the newsletters I read. We cover the EU's proposed mandatory labels for data centres, the COP31 push for 35% electrification by 2035 and the IEA's new special report, RE100's warning that there isn't enough clean power to buy, ISO's net zero standard failing its vote, a shrinking carbon removal market, nature disclosures doubling, food supply chains and regenerative agriculture, the final revised ESRS, Germany's 2045 fossil fuel exit and Bain's finding that 85% of consumers are worried again. Stay to the end for three facts, including one about farmland the size of Germany. Something personal to share too. From 28 September, Sustainability Solved goes weekly, after eight years of monthly episodes. One of the first guest-host series is with Dr Sophie Taysom on climate risk, property and insurance, which ties straight into this week's data centre insurance story. Worth a follow if net zero strategy is part of your day job. If your organisation wants to turn a net zero strategy into real reductions, speak to me here - https://tidycal.com/willrichardson/ssbywrpodcast30 If you advise businesses on climate and want to add carbon accounting and decarbonisation to your practice, our referral programme is here: https://www.51tocarbonzero.com/referral/ Subscribe for weekly sustainability intelligence, and tell me in the comments which story you'd like me to go deeper on. #Sustainability #NetZero #CarbonAccounting #DataCentres #Electrification Mentioned in this episode: Sustainability Solved Survey We’ve constantly adapted, evaluated, and listened to our stakeholders, of which you are one of them. It’s really important to us that you are gaining insight, gathering information, and enhancing your professional life when consuming information on any of our Sustainability Solved platforms. This form has been designed with that in mind. We’re looking for help and guidance from you, our friend and fellow sustainability professional. Sustainability Solved Survey Keep informed on Sustainability News I'm Will Richardson, Head of Ecosystems at 51toCarbonZero and a sustainability advisor with 25 years in the field. I founded Green Element in 2004 and spent two decades building it into one of Europe's most respected sustainability consultancies before it merged with 51toCarbonZero in November 2025. Climate action is both an obligation and an opportunity, and that's the thread running through everything I write here. I co-created Compare Your Footprint, carbon accounting software recognised as a key player in the Global Carbon Accounting Software Market, and I'm a Fellow of IEMA and a Chartered Environmentalist. Each week, I break down what's actually happening in sustainability: the data, the regulation, the greenwash worth calling out, and the practical steps businesses can take right now. No jargon, no doom-mongering, just clear thinking for people who need to make real decisions. I also host the Sustainability Solved podcast with Charlie Luxton, 200+ episodes and counting, where we talk to the people building the solutions. Based in Scotland. Writing for business leaders who want sustainability to make commercial sense, not just moral sense. My Personal Substack
I was told I did not have the academic ability to finish my masters in a year. I finished in a year, with good results. Part six of seven on why Sustainability Solved is changing format. In this episode: the one person who could say that sentence and get the result she wanted, why the messenger is half the job, and why we are going three episodes deep instead of one. Read the written version: https://willsussolved.substack.com Subscribe for weekly sustainability intelligence that actually moves the needle. Mentioned in this episode: Sustainability Solved Survey We’ve constantly adapted, evaluated, and listened to our stakeholders, of which you are one of them. It’s really important to us that you are gaining insight, gathering information, and enhancing your professional life when consuming information on any of our Sustainability Solved platforms. This form has been designed with that in mind. We’re looking for help and guidance from you, our friend and fellow sustainability professional. Sustainability Solved Survey Keep informed on Sustainability News I'm Will Richardson, Head of Ecosystems at 51toCarbonZero and a sustainability advisor with 25 years in the field. I founded Green Element in 2004 and spent two decades building it into one of Europe's most respected sustainability consultancies before it merged with 51toCarbonZero in November 2025. Climate action is both an obligation and an opportunity, and that's the thread running through everything I write here. I co-created Compare Your Footprint, carbon accounting software recognised as a key player in the Global Carbon Accounting Software Market, and I'm a Fellow of IEMA and a Chartered Environmentalist. Each week, I break down what's actually happening in sustainability: the data, the regulation, the greenwash worth calling out, and the practical steps businesses can take right now. No jargon, no doom-mongering, just clear thinking for people who need to make real decisions. I also host the Sustainability Solved podcast with Charlie Luxton, 200+ episodes and counting, where we talk to the people building the solutions. Based in Scotland. Writing for business leaders who want sustainability to make commercial sense, not just moral sense. My Personal Substack
A travel agent sold me a round the world ticket in ten minutes. A thesis on snowboarding in the Cairngorms quietly built the rest of my career. Part five of seven on why Sustainability Solved is changing format. In this episode: three students selling me their cities, why the best-told pitch always wins, and how to use what people are genuinely interested in. Read the written version: https://willsussolved.substack.com Subscribe for weekly sustainability intelligence that actually moves the needle. Mentioned in this episode: Sustainability Solved Survey We’ve constantly adapted, evaluated, and listened to our stakeholders, of which you are one of them. It’s really important to us that you are gaining insight, gathering information, and enhancing your professional life when consuming information on any of our Sustainability Solved platforms. This form has been designed with that in mind. We’re looking for help and guidance from you, our friend and fellow sustainability professional. Sustainability Solved Survey Keep informed on Sustainability News I'm Will Richardson, Head of Ecosystems at 51toCarbonZero and a sustainability advisor with 25 years in the field. I founded Green Element in 2004 and spent two decades building it into one of Europe's most respected sustainability consultancies before it merged with 51toCarbonZero in November 2025. Climate action is both an obligation and an opportunity, and that's the thread running through everything I write here. I co-created Compare Your Footprint, carbon accounting software recognised as a key player in the Global Carbon Accounting Software Market, and I'm a Fellow of IEMA and a Chartered Environmentalist. Each week, I break down what's actually happening in sustainability: the data, the regulation, the greenwash worth calling out, and the practical steps businesses can take right now. No jargon, no doom-mongering, just clear thinking for people who need to make real decisions. I also host the Sustainability Solved podcast with Charlie Luxton, 200+ episodes and counting, where we talk to the people building the solutions. Based in Scotland. Writing for business leaders who want sustainability to make commercial sense, not just moral sense. My Personal Substack
We spent thirty years cleaning up the air over Europe. It worked, and new analysis says it has made the warming faster. That is the fact I could not stop thinking about this week, and it is waiting for you at the end of this video. I founded Green Element in 2004 and spent twenty years helping organisations measure what they had never measured before. I have now recorded more than 220 episodes of the Sustainability Solved podcast. In all that time I am not sure I have seen a single week reshape as many assumptions as this one. Here is what we cover. Data centres are now the biggest story in energy, with Google putting 13 billion euros into Finland behind a 22-year nuclear contract, Massachusetts forcing new sites to bring their own clean power, Scotland mandating environmental impact assessments, and the US House passing the Ratepayer Protection Act by 417 votes to 3. The EPA has repealed greenhouse gas limits on coal and gas power plants, with its own projection of 123 million additional tonnes of carbon. The EU rewrote its sustainable finance and CBAM rulebooks in a single week. And research from the LSE put one week of British heat at £1.15 billion of lost output. If you run net zero strategy, carbon accounting or Scope 3 emissions at a large organisation, this is the twenty minute version of the week that would otherwise cost you a day of reading. Chapters follow the countdown from 10 to 1, then the three facts at the end. Subscribe here for my substack that whittles down over 35 years of knowledge into bitesized chunks; Will Richardson | Substack Subscribe for weekly sustainability intelligence that actually moves the needle, and tell me in the comments which of the three facts surprised you most. #Sustainability #NetZero #CarbonAccounting #Scope3 #DataCentres Mentioned in this episode: Sustainability Solved Survey We’ve constantly adapted, evaluated, and listened to our stakeholders, of which you are one of them. It’s really important to us that you are gaining insight, gathering information, and enhancing your professional life when consuming information on any of our Sustainability Solved platforms. This form has been designed with that in mind. We’re looking for help and guidance from you, our friend and fellow sustainability professional. Sustainability Solved Survey Keep informed on Sustainability News I'm Will Richardson, Head of Ecosystems at 51toCarbonZero and a sustainability advisor with 25 years in the field. I founded Green Element in 2004 and spent two decades building it into one of Europe's most respected sustainability consultancies before it merged with 51toCarbonZero in November 2025. Climate action is both an obligation and an opportunity, and that's the thread running through everything I write here. I co-created Compare Your Footprint, carbon accounting software recognised as a key player in the Global Carbon Accounting Software Market, and I'm a Fellow of IEMA and a Chartered Environmentalist. Each week, I break down what's actually happening in sustainability: the data, the regulation, the greenwash worth calling out, and the practical steps businesses can take right now. No jargon, no doom-mongering, just clear thinking for people who need to make real decisions. I also host the Sustainability Solved podcast with Charlie Luxton, 200+ episodes and counting, where we talk to the people building the solutions. Based in Scotland. Writing for business leaders who want sustainability to make commercial sense, not just moral sense. My Personal Substack
At nineteen I was offered the chance to be the youngest pub manager in the UK. I turned it down because of who told me to. Part four of seven on why Sustainability Solved is changing format. In this episode: managing staff at nineteen, the offer with the title and the money losing to the couple I actually trusted, and the sentence that is the whole reason Sustainability Solved Podcast is changing. Read the written version: https://willsussolved.substack.com Subscribe for weekly sustainability intelligence that actually moves the needle. Mentioned in this episode: Keep informed on Sustainability News I'm Will Richardson, Head of Ecosystems at 51toCarbonZero and a sustainability advisor with 25 years in the field. I founded Green Element in 2004 and spent two decades building it into one of Europe's most respected sustainability consultancies before it merged with 51toCarbonZero in November 2025. Climate action is both an obligation and an opportunity, and that's the thread running through everything I write here. I co-created Compare Your Footprint, carbon accounting software recognised as a key player in the Global Carbon Accounting Software Market, and I'm a Fellow of IEMA and a Chartered Environmentalist. Each week, I break down what's actually happening in sustainability: the data, the regulation, the greenwash worth calling out, and the practical steps businesses can take right now. No jargon, no doom-mongering, just clear thinking for people who need to make real decisions. I also host the Sustainability Solved podcast with Charlie Luxton, 200+ episodes and counting, where we talk to the people building the solutions. Based in Scotland. Writing for business leaders who want sustainability to make commercial sense, not just moral sense. My Personal Substack Sustainability Solved Survey We’ve constantly adapted, evaluated, and listened to our stakeholders, of which you are one of them. It’s really important to us that you are gaining insight, gathering information, and enhancing your professional life when consuming information on any of our Sustainability Solved platforms. This form has been designed with that in mind. We’re looking for help and guidance from you, our friend and fellow sustainability professional. Sustainability Solved Survey
I walked into hundreds of pubs before one offered me a job, on condition I dressed up as a chicken. It is still the best lesson in communication I have ever had. Part three of seven on why Sustainability Solved is changing format. In this episode: why they tested the chicken suit and not my CV, how I was sacked repeatedly without ever being told, and why people have switched off from climate messaging. Read the written version: https://willsussolved.substack.com Subscribe for weekly sustainability intelligence that actually moves the needle. Mentioned in this episode: Keep informed on Sustainability News I'm Will Richardson, Head of Ecosystems at 51toCarbonZero and a sustainability advisor with 25 years in the field. I founded Green Element in 2004 and spent two decades building it into one of Europe's most respected sustainability consultancies before it merged with 51toCarbonZero in November 2025. Climate action is both an obligation and an opportunity, and that's the thread running through everything I write here. I co-created Compare Your Footprint, carbon accounting software recognised as a key player in the Global Carbon Accounting Software Market, and I'm a Fellow of IEMA and a Chartered Environmentalist. Each week, I break down what's actually happening in sustainability: the data, the regulation, the greenwash worth calling out, and the practical steps businesses can take right now. No jargon, no doom-mongering, just clear thinking for people who need to make real decisions. I also host the Sustainability Solved podcast with Charlie Luxton, 200+ episodes and counting, where we talk to the people building the solutions. Based in Scotland. Writing for business leaders who want sustainability to make commercial sense, not just moral sense. My Personal Substack Sustainability Solved Survey We’ve constantly adapted, evaluated, and listened to our stakeholders, of which you are one of them. It’s really important to us that you are gaining insight, gathering information, and enhancing your professional life when consuming information on any of our Sustainability Solved platforms. This form has been designed with that in mind. We’re looking for help and guidance from you, our friend and fellow sustainability professional. Sustainability Solved Survey
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