Sustainability
From planetary foundations to corporate action: understanding the full system.
Sustainability isn't one thing. It's a complex system of science, standards, regulations, markets, and actors, all interconnected. Environmental, social, and governance challenges don't exist in silos. Neither should your strategy.
Seeing the whole picture is what turns complexity into opportunity.
Understanding where you need to go is the first step. Building the capability to get there is the second.
Navigating Sustainability
Everything in sustainability sits on a foundation. Remove the foundation, and the layers above collapse. Our framework maps this reality.
L5: CORPORATE ACTION
Where strategy becomes reality
The decisions and actions organisations take: setting targets, developing transition plans, allocating capital, changing operations, engaging stakeholders.Environmental management systems (ISO 14001, compliance, operational controls) sit here – the practical implementation of sustainability at organisational level.
This is where most organisations start. But effective corporate action requires understanding all the layers below. A target without understanding the landscape is just a number.
L4: POLICY & GOVERNANCE
The rules of the game
Mandatory: CSRD (EU), ISSB (global), national regulations
Voluntary: SBTi, SBTN, TNFD, CDP, GRI
Global framework: UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Underpinning principles: Polluter Pays, Precautionary Principle, Lifecycle Thinking, Waste Hierarchy, Producer Responsibility, Best Available Technique.
The goalpost is moving fast. What was voluntary (TCFD) becomes mandatory (CSRD). Understanding where governance is heading determines whether you're ahead or behind.
L3: ECOSYSTEM SERVICES & VALUE CHAINS
How landscapes generate value for economy and society
Supporting: Foundation services (nutrient cycling, soil formation, water cycling, primary production). Enables all other services; emerging direct valuation through soil health payments and regen ag premiums.
Provisioning: Natural resources (food, freshwater, fibre, fuel). Raw materials flowing through supply chains. Coffee from farm to cup. Timber from forest to building.Circular economy principles – resource efficiency, waste reduction, material reuse – transform how provisioning services flow through the economy.
Regulating: Process regulation (climate, water purification & flow, pollination, flood control). Value captured through carbon credits, biodiversity credits, watershed payments, PES.
Cultural: Intangible benefits (recreation, aesthetic, spiritual, educational). Some monetized (ecotourism, heritage tourism), others provide non-financial value (sacred sites, wellbeing, identity).
Most sustainability work focuses only on provisioning (supply chains). The other three service types represent significant untapped value. Few organisations see all four.
These four ecosystem services represent natural capital in motion (one of the Five Capitals: Natural, Social, Human, Manufactured, Financial) – how the stock of natural resources generates flows of value to economy and society.
L2: LANDSCAPES & JURISDICTIONS
Where planetary systems meet human activity
Specific geographies where ecosystems, communities, and economies intersect. Forests, farmland, watersheds, coastlines. The places where environmental outcomes actually happen.
Social sustainability lives here: community engagement, just transition, local livelihoods, human rights in supply chains. Environmental and social impact assessment (EIA/SIA) happens at landscape level.
Global targets mean nothing without local action. This is where MRV happens: the evidence base for everything above.
L1: PLANETARY FOUNDATIONS
The biophysical systems that underpin everything
The nine planetary boundaries define the safe operating space for humanity. This framework, developed by Johan Rockström and colleagues at the Stockholm Resilience Centre, maps the Earth systems that make human activity possible.
Crossed: Climate change, biosphere integrity, biogeochemical flows (nitrogen/phosphorus), land-system change, novel entities, freshwater change.
Within safe limits: Stratospheric ozone, ocean acidification, atmospheric aerosols.
This is not abstract environmentalism. This is the operating system of the economy.
What Moves Through the System
The five layers are horizontal strata. But value and information also flow vertically through the system:
FINANCE FLOW
Capital moving through the system
- IN: Green bonds, sustainability-linked loans, ESG funds, blended finance
- THROUGH: Premiums for sustainable sourcing, supply chain investments
- OUT: Carbon credit revenue, biodiversity credits, PES payments
Finance isn't a layer; it's a flow that connects everything.
DATA FLOW
Evidence moving up through the system
- From landscapes: MRV data, satellite monitoring, ground-truth verification
- Through chains: Traceability, chain of custody, impact measurement
- To governance: Disclosure data, audit trails, assurance evidence
Data types: Quantitative (numbers) & Qualitative (descriptive); Absolute (totals) & Normalised (per unit, e.g., emissions per product).
Every claim at L4-L5 depends on data from L1-L3.
Cross-Cutting Enablers
Beyond the layers and flows, there are systems that span everything – enabling the whole framework to function.
The Connective Tissue
Science & Academia generates the evidence base. Standards & Methods define how we measure. Certification bodies verify claims. Social sustainability – just transition, community rights, labour standards – spans all layers. Actor coordination aligns diverse stakeholders toward shared outcomes.
These systems don't sit at any single layer – they connect producers, corporates, investors, and regulators. Understanding them helps you see how different actors work together.
Explore cross-cutting systems →Actors Across Layers
Different actors operate at different layers. Understanding where you sit, and who else operates around you, is the first step to effective strategy.
CORPORATE
Demand-side actors
Brands, retailers, manufacturers
Layers: L3-L5
Do you understand your full exposure?
INVESTOR
Capital providers
DFIs, impact funds, ESG funds, commercial banks
Layers: L4-L5
Where is your capital creating impact?
CONSULTANCY
Commercial advisory
ERM, Anthesis, Carbon Trust
Layers: L4-L5
Where do you add most value?
STANDARD SETTER
Defining frameworks
Verra, SBTi, SBTN, Gold Standard
Layers: L4
How does your standard connect to outcomes?
CERTIFIER & VERIFIER
Validating claims
Soil Association, SGS, audit firms
Layers: L3-L4
What trust do you enable?
INDUSTRY BODY
Professional networks
ISEP, IEMA, UKSIF, NFU
Layers: L4-L5
How do you shape sector practice?
TECHNOLOGY & DATA
MRV & platforms
Sylvera, registry platforms, MRV tech
Layers: L2-L4
What gaps do you fill in the data chain?
INTERMEDIARY
Market facilitators
Carbon brokers, aggregators, landscape coalitions
Layers: L2-L3
How do you connect supply to demand?
REGULATOR
Mandatory requirements
EU Commission, FCA, Defra
Layers: L1-L4
How do you drive real outcomes?
RESEARCH & ACADEMIA
Knowledge generators
Universities, UNEP-WCMC, think tanks
Layers: L1-L4
How does your research reach practice?
NGO
Non-profit advocacy
FFI, WWF, Conservation International
Layers: L1-L3
How do you translate mission to action?
GUARDIANS, CUSTODIANS & PRODUCERS
Stewards of land, water, resources & traditional knowledge
Indigenous communities, traditional land managers, farmers, foresters
Layers: L1-L3
Are you capturing value from all service types?
Why Sustainability Is Hard to Navigate
Every organisation entering sustainability faces the same problem: where do you start?
The terrain is overwhelming:
- •Dozens of frameworks: CSRD, TNFD, SBTi, SBTN, CDP, GRI, ISSB...
- •Competing priorities: climate vs nature vs social vs governance
- •Multiple stakeholders: investors want one thing, regulators another, customers another
- •Rapidly evolving: what was voluntary becomes mandatory; what was best practice becomes baseline
Most sustainability advice focuses on individual frameworks or compliance requirements. But compliance isn't strategy. Ticking boxes doesn't create value.
To act strategically, you need to see the whole system – and have the capability to act on it.
Navigate + Build
Understanding the system is essential, but it's only the beginning. We use this framework in everything we do: to navigate where you are, advise on strategy, and build the systems you need to act effectively.
Not sure where to start? Book a discovery session. No commitment, no pitch.
Everything we do is grounded in Layer 1. Protecting and restoring the natural systems that underpin everything else isn't just good ethics – it's the foundation of a functioning economy.