How can collaboration and imagination help build a preferable future?

EY teams and EY Doberman participated at the S-HUB Summit and Katapult Future Fest to join conversations on the future of sustainability. 

Sustainability. It's a word that has reverberated through corporate boardrooms and everyday conversations alike in recent years. As our planet battles rising temperatures, cities suffocate under a cloud of emissions and once-vibrant landscapes succumb to barrenness, the urgency of the sustainability imperative has never been clearer. But now, the stakes are higher — we are also faced with an urgency that comes armed with conscious regulatory frameworks that push businesses to take their sustainability efforts to the next level — making it everybody’s business.

From 31 May to 2 June, in the heart of Oslo, Norway, two remarkable events — the Katapult Future Fest (KFF) and the S-HUB Summit — brought together sustainability leaders from around the globe. These gatherings served as catalysts for change, providing a platform for collaboration and discussions on pressing issues of our time. EY and EY Doberman teams participated in the events, united by a shared vision of building a more sustainable future.

Our participation in these events revolved around three core pillars: the immersive "Window to the Future" concept showcased at KFF, the Forest Walkshop that delved into the uncharted territories of the sustainability profession and the thought-provoking discussions at the S-HUB Summit focusing on sustainability reporting and more.

The Forest Walkshop: Where is corporate sustainability headed?

The past few years have seen a surge in sustainability activity. For sustainability professionals, it is crucial to pause and ask: What are the most significant concerns we face as sustainability professionals? And what can we learn from each other?

The Forest Walkshop organized by the EY Climate Change and Sustainability Services (CCaSS) team on the eve of the S-HUB Summit at Sentralen, Oslo aimed to discuss these questions. Attended by sustainability leaders, the Walkshop — a literal and metaphorical walk through a beautiful forest — created a space for meaningful conversations about the future of corporate sustainability.

During the walk, participants challenged themselves to evaluate their individual and professional effort toward sustainability. The conversations uncovered two key takeaways:

• Change the hearts and minds of decision-makers, to ensure sustainability remains a priority: A tipping point has been reached In the sustainability realm, necessitating a shift in the mindset of decision-makers to embrace sustainability as a fundamental aspect of life and business. Merely presenting numbers is insufficient; stories and immersive experiences are needed to establish a meaningful connection between decision-makers and sustainability. Workshops conducted in natural settings, such as the walkshop, can facilitate the essential shifts in perception required to drive swift and positive change.
• Foster a feeling of collective responsibility and collaboration: When an emotional appeal is combined with strategic thinking and collaboration, collective goals can be achieved, leading to a significant impact on sustainability efforts. This highlights the shared responsibility of addressing sustainability challenges and emphasizes the significance of collaboration within the sustainability community.

Window to the future: Is an imagination crisis holding us back on our sustainability journey?

In a world grappling with escalating climate consequences and urbanization challenges, the need for imaginative solutions has never been more pressing. At KFF, EY Doberman's future manifestation lab, SALLY, collaborated with White Arkitekter to develop a ground-breaking concept called “Window to the Future.” This concept is built on immersive augmented reality experiences and explore transformative aspects of a preferable, sustainable future city through three windows: the Walkable City, the Symbiotic City and the Rewilded City. 

The Walkable City challenges the dominance of privately owned cars and promotes a network of micro-mobility hubs, while the Symbiotic City establishes closed-loop systems for efficient resource utilization. The Rewilded City embraces coexistence with nature, creating habitats that foster biodiversity and reconnect humans with the natural world. Following were  few key insights represented by the “Window to the Future” concept.

• Capitalize on the ability to imagine and envision a radically better future: In the face of interconnected ecological breakdowns and climate collapse, the key to finding sustainable solutions lies in humanity's ability to imagine and envision a different future. By working backward from that future, a roadmap can be created to guide present decision-making. Envisioning preferable futures and questioning what success would look like in critical areas such as climate action, AI and economic justice, is crucial. Through vivid illustrations of thriving cities and sustainable lifestyles, people can be inspired to strive towards those visions and take action.
• There is an imminent need for bold, transformative changes: Humanity is facing a time constraint, but it is never too late to take action. The climate crisis demands bold and transformative changes that surpass incremental improvements. Leaders must challenge the prevailing norms, question existing economic models and imagine alternative futures that prioritize sustainability and well-being. Urgency, courage and collective action are indispensable to reshaping the relationship with nature. This represents the opportunity to make a substantial impact and embark on a regenerative reconstruction that revolutionizes our planet and society for the greater good.

The sustainability reporting landscape: a challenge or an opportunity?

The S-HUB Summit gathered thought leaders, investors, companies, entrepreneurs and experts from around the world to be courageous, take action and explore what's on the next horizons, guided by the slogan “How can we together envision and build positive, thriving futures?” Sustainability reporting and regulations were topics of discussion at the summit, with a focus on reporting standards such as the ESRS (European Sustainability Reporting Standards) and CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive).

The discussions at the S-HUB Summit revealed that it is crucial to discuss pains and gains along the way, building trust in sustainability reporting to resolve the sustainability issues at hand. Here are two outstanding perspectives from the summit:

• Sustainability efforts must be accelerated with a long-term perspective: Encouraging leaders to formulate ambitious strategies that consider long-term perspectives and the associated risks is crucial. Often, short-term strategies neglect the considerations of climate, nature and people. By adopting a longer-term outlook, the inevitable impacts of climate change and societal transformations become impossible to ignore. This broader perspective makes sustainable practices a sensible business choice, aligning with the understanding that sustainability is not just an ethical imperative, but also a strategic imperative for businesses. 
• Understanding the opportunities presented by a complex regulatory landscape: With the regulatory landscape evolving, companies are compelled to take more action in areas such as reporting, transparency and sustainability transformation. This shift can create challenges for companies as they may need to prioritize actions that they don't see as immediately valuable. However, this also presents an opportunity to delve deeper into sustainability considerations. Metrics such as emissions must be connected to broader thresholds and benchmarks to ensure that companies operate within the limits necessary to stay within the boundaries of what the planet can sustain. 

The urgency of the climate crisis demands big-scale, transformative and systemic changes. It's no longer enough to tinker around the edges of broken systems. There is a need to think differently, challenge the status quo and dream bigger. Change is inevitable, but the critical question is whether it will be the result of a chaotic breakdown or a deliberate and transformative reconstruction process.