In this special series, co-host Sarah Howard takes the Track Two Podcast on the road doing interviews with leaders from various industries about this fast-growing term: ESG. It was a headline topic at the annual gathering, as climate change and social issues continue to rise in the agenda of leadership conversations everywhere.

In this episode, Sarah speaks with Harald Neidhardt, the founder and CEO of Futur/io, a think tank and leadership learning institute based in Germany.

Their conversation explores the leadership role of the EU when it comes to compliance and discloses for ESG reporting following the adaption of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, which supports the EU Green Deal a set of policy measures intended to combat the climate crisis by transforming the EU into a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy, with no net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050. The directive is part of the bigger Sustainable Finance package enabling the Green Deal by helping to channel private investment behind the transition to a climate-neutral economy.

There are three primary takeaways from their conversation:

First, the role of collaboration and cross-sector learning. The challenges we are facing in the world today and complex and intersectional. Bringing together a diversity of experience and perspective has the potential to unlock insights that otherwise we don’t have access to when operating within silos.

Second, the need for new narratives. As conveners, Sarah & Harald instinctively understand that the language we use is the foundation for building new shared narratives of what is possible. When it comes to the future, climate change, social stability, and digital lives, we all need more imagination to begin shaping what that future can look like.

And finally, the policies being passed in Europe are on the front edge of what is coming to the rest of the world. We are in the early stages of systems change when it comes to how business is conducted. We are certainly not out of the woods yet, it will require commitment, vision and political will to bring forward the kind of transformation needed for a sustainable and just future for all.