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Sustainability is referenced endlessly, yet in 2025, its meaning remains elusive. There is a natural starting point in getting through the noise and that is John Elkington, a.k.a “the godfather of sustainability”.
In 1994, John Elkington introduced the Triple Bottom Line, "People, Planet, Profit" as a challenge to the traditional corporate focus on profit alone. As he explained, “The TBL wasn’t designed to be just an accounting tool. It was supposed to provoke deeper thinking about capitalism and its future, but many early adopters understood the concept as a balancing act, adopting a trade-off mentality.”
At its core, the Triple Bottom Line aimed to drive systemic change, redefining what businesses should prioritise and their purpose in the ecosystem. But looking back, Elkington believes many companies missed the point. When we spoke this week, he admitted he wasn’t introducing anything radically new—just “trying to sort of put a business-friendly wrapping around” what the Brundtland Report had introduced. Instead of embracing real transformation, he thinks many businesses adopted the language of sustainability without systemic integration of its principles.
Sustainability first gained prominence when the 1987 Brundtland Report, Our Common Future’ was released. The report emphasised multilateralism and the interdependence of nations, aiming to create a unified approach to sustainability. It defined sustainability as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. This definition remains in use by the United Nations and forms the foundation of the Sustainable Development Goals.
By the early 2000s, businesses had started to embrace the idea of sustainability, weaving it into their agendas. Corporate social responsibility gained prominence as companies placed greater emphasis on their impact on society and the environment. As business leaders adopted the term, its meaning expanded to encompass economic and social dimensions, reflecting a broader commitment to sustainable growth. It coincided with the growing pressure of climate change. In 2007, scientific consensus confirmed that human activity was a major driver of climate change. That year, the IPCC's Fourth Assessment Report marked a turning point, reinforcing the idea that sustainability was no longer optional but was to become an essential consideration for governments and businesses alike.
The role of big business in the transition to sustainability remains an open question. In the last decade there have been highs and lulls in responsibility. John Elkington contends that the coming years promise unprecedented, and resisted, transformation. The biggest change potentially being a move away from the grips of fossil fuel giants.
"I think the next 10 to 15 years are going to be seeing change across the sorts of sectors and applications and technologies and business models to an almost unimaginable degree. And one of the reasons why we've got Trump again is because the fossil fuel sectors feel this in their bones. They know their end. You know, it's an end time for the energy dinosaurs, and they've tried. Well, like the dinosaurs, some of them became the birds on our telegraph wires or whatever, but most of them will disappear”, Elkington tells me.
Elkington argues that paradigm shifts take around 80 years, the time it takes for one generation’s beliefs, and those they pass down, to fade. If we consider the onset of this sustainability transition as having started in the 1980s, we are about 45 years in, with another 35 to go.
Last week, the Sustainability Expo in London exemplified the diversity of approaches to sustainability. Tom Crawford, Head of Sustainable Business at Vodafone. Formerly Global Director of Sustainability at Dyson. Was the Day 1 Chair at the Sustainability Expo. I asked him, “What does sustainability mean in 2025?" It took Crawford some time to formulate his ideas.
“Holistically, it is about social environment and wellbeing, and the governance that goes alongside that. Sustainability is always going to mean many different things to many different people…you’re never going to get one answer… and nor should you because you have to take that and translate that down to the area of impact for the individual or business”.
Whilst touching base on all key terminology it ultimately feels vague. The suggestion that each company should define sustainability for itself raises the question—how much time is being spent debating its meaning rather than taking meaningful action? Certainly, in the sustainable startup space, companies that clarify and act on their sustainability goals are more able to communicate their value to investors
Elkington agreed with Crawford, noting that sustainability is fluid in its meaning, evolving over time, and that this flexibility is something we must accept. “Think of sustainability as a concept, as a sort of North Star, as a compass point”, he explained to me. “It'll still be, in 100 years from now, central to people's thinking. But by then, you have to hope that some of their fundamental principles and priorities will have been absorbed and integrated into what companies do.”
In a further talk at the expo Ben Stone, Head of Environmental Sustainability at Kier, highlighted education as the biggest obstacle to companies adopting more sustainable practices. He conducted a double materiality assessment at Kier, identifying changes that would drive the greatest impact. He jokingly said “we could introduce sustainable tea bags and feel proud of ourselves”, but this is not the scope of change that is necessary.
When he went to his teams he realised that it wasn't that people weren’t on board with changing it was that they didn’t know or understand it. “People are often scared to ask questions because they think that they should know more than they do about sustainability”. He emphasised that understanding must widen,“Sustainability isn’t just carbon. Having carbon tunnel visions isn’t going to get us anywhere”. This suggests that companies that invest in sustainability training and are proactive about addressing these gaps are likely to have longer-term success in the sustainability space.
Elkington argued that while companies have become proficient at reporting, they are not necessarily effective at using the information. “I spent 40 years trying to get companies to report. What we see now, though, is that the supply side has raced far ahead of the demand side.” For sustainability to hold real meaning in 2025, those dedicating time to it must ensure their insights inform and drive action across the board.
As January marked the 18th consecutive month of temperatures exceeding 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels, many emphasised the need to rethink the concept of "sustainability" and push beyond merely maintaining the status quo. Freddie O’Shea from Blue Earth Summit explained to me that the term "sustainability" can sometimes feel too reductive, implying that we simply need to sustain what exists, when in reality, we need to restore, replenish, and actively improve the systems we rely on.
“I see sustainability as something that needs to be grounded in three core pillars, Ecological – It must protect and restore the natural world, not just reduce harm. Economic – It must be commercially viable and scalable to truly drive impact. Social – It must support and uplift communities, ensuring shared benefits. I think it's at the intersection of these three is where real change happens, and where we see the biggest opportunities for businesses, investors, and policymakers to work together.”
Returning to Elkington’s opening line, when I asked what sustainability is in 2025, he put it simply, “I think sustainability is fundamentally about giving adequate timely thought to the system”. Everyone touched on a systems-thinking approach, viewing sustainability as a word that reflects a broader ecosystem. Perhaps the lack of a clear definition is the most accurate reflection of its complexity.
Over the next decade, sustainable technologies are set to boom, creating opportunities in renewable energy, green tech, and low-carbon solutions. As sustainability becomes a central focus, companies embracing green innovation will be well-positioned for growth, making them appealing to forward-thinking investors. Any company or founder who is able to simplify the complexity of sustainability is set for exponential growth.
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