Thought Leadership Catalogue

Explore thought leadership pieces from across our work.

2022

December

Sustainable Brands: Holding both hope and despair as we fight for every 0.1C Dr Sally Uren reflects on the outcomes of COP27.

November

Dr Sally Uren considers whether we can re-imagine advertising in comment for The Drum, and shares reflections on how companies can translate sustainability strategies into action for BusinessGreen.
Sustainable Brands: Climate Change in the Divided States: Why polarization should be sustainability’s most important issue. An exploration on polarization in the US by Sandra Seru.

October

The Sustainability Mafia: Interview with Anna Warrington. Forum's Associate Director - India, Anna Biswas was interviewed as part of The Sustainability Mafia’s Sustalk series on the topic ‘How might entrepreneurs realize the next frontier of sustainable business?’.
The Business Times: Fixing the solutions that dwell in the shallows. Forum’s Associate Director (APAC) Sumi Dhanarajan shares how Forum’s work in the region seeks to enable deep transformations in sustainability.

September

The Business Times: Data meets fashion and falls short. Forum's Senior Sustainability Strategist, Karen Sim, reflects on the Higg Index (article behind a paywall).
The Business Times: Go for deep transformation, beyond shallow transition. Forum's Director of Global Programmes, Caroline Ashley, reflects on shallow vs. deep transformation, as part of our strategy launch.
edie: Discontinuity, complexity and competing priorities: Today’s sustainability trends and challenges. Hannah Pathak, Forum’s Director of UK/Europe, analyses the key sustainability trends disrupting society right now, and how businesses can respond to them.
BCTI: Time to think and act differently to create a ‘just and regenerative’ future and tackle inequality. Forum's CEO Dr Sally Uren reflects on the how and why behind building a just and regenerative future.

August

Sustainable Brands: Four things we must get right to truly transform the US agriculture system. Forum's Director of Global Systems Change Programmes, Caroline Ashley, writes about our work on Growing our Future USA.
BusinessGreen: Making the most of a crisis: reinventing value chains. Forum's Associate Director of Sustainable Value Chains and Livelihoods, Charlene Collison, explores how companies can improve theresilience of their value chains in preparation for a volatile climate.

July

Intergenerational Foundation: Becoming good ancestors. In this opinion piece, Forum’s co-founder, Jonathon Porritt, shares what it takes for today's generation to become better ancestors.

June

Hindustan Times: Why RE must try to be responsible energy too. In this opinion piece, Forum’s Associate Director – India, Anna Biswas, and Bharath Jairaj from the World Resources Institute, share insights from the Responsible Energy Initiative India.
BusinessGreen: In her latest column, Forum’s Chief Executive, Dr Sally Uren, explores why a shift in mindsets is needed to build a just and regenerative future.

May

Asian Agribiz: Forum's Associate Director Lesley Mitchell speaks on Protein Challenge Southeast Asia, touching on a wide range of issues including:
Channel NewsAsia: Green Plan Challenge - Episode 5 Green Economy. What can Singaporeans do to help bolster the green economy? Ariel Muller, Forum’s Managing Director in Asia, shares her expertise with aspiring changemakers in this hackathon.
Eco-Business: Amid frenzied competition in alternative protein sector, hemp-based meat startup claims soy gives men 'man boobs'. Forum's Principal Sustainability Strategist Madhumitha Ardhanari gives her take on what it takes for a transition to plant-based diets to be truly resilient in the long-term.

April

The Daily Climate Show: Carbon capture, heatwaves, and how net-zero could impact Russia's war machine. Forum’s Chief Executive, Dr Sally Uren interviewed on climate action (interview from 12:26 onwards).
TIME Magazine: In the face of a climate crisis, there's a better way to farm. Dr Sally Uren writes about the potential of regenerative agriculture and Forum’s Growing Our Future initiative. Sally recently joined TIME magazine’s Project 2030 Committee, a decade-long project marking progress towards a sustainable and equitable world.
iBAN: With a narrow window for innovation, will our food systems transform or unravel? by Forum’s Associate Directors Lesley Mitchell and Charlene Collison.
BusinessGreen: Why a truly just transition needs to start with local community engagement. Forum's Senior Change Designer, Charlie Thorneycroft, writes about Forum's local community engagement project, Our Zero Selby.
Core77: Alisha Bhagat explains how looking back in time could lead us to brighter, more regenerative futures. Forum's Futures Lead, Alisha Bhagat, discuss futures thinking, climate change, and more.

March

Forbes: How Forum For The Future Instigates Change At Scale While We Still Have Time. Interview with Dr Sally Uren about the key systems that need deep transformation and how theCompass for Just and Regenerative Business can help.
Reconsidered: 5 Questions With: James Payne, Associate Director, Transformational Strategies At Forum For The Future.
BusinessGreen: Are We Asking the Right Questions? Why We Need to Reframe the Food Challenge. Roberta Iley and Carrie Bewick reflect on questions we need to pose in order to shift to just and regenerative food systems.
GreenBiz: Innovative Business Models Could Transform Cotton Supply Chains. Joint article by Forum and WRI on creating a resilient, just and regenerative cotton supply chain.

February

Flourish Systems Change Podcast: An interview with systems thinkers Sumi Dhanarajan and Anna Biswas. Sumi Dhanarajan, Forum’s Associate Director - APAC, and Anna Biswas, Forum’s Associate Director - India, talk about system change.
Sustainable Brands: The 3 vital perspectives sustainability leaders need for the 2020s. Article by Caroline Ashley, Forum’s Global Programmes Director, outlining three key insights for sustainability leaders.

January

BusinessGreen: Over 30 years of sustainability efforts have not delivered the change we need - why? by Forum’s CEO, Dr Sally Uren.
South China Morning Post: Asia in 2022: China’s reopening after Omicron, elections in thePhilippines, inflation and climate change. Projections of 2022 trends by Ariel Muller,ManagingDirector - Forum Asia Pacific.
FoodNavigator-USA: Soup-To-Nuts Podcast: 4 ways to tap into the full potential of regenerative agriculture’s benefits.Forum’s Principal Strategist, Mary McCarthy, shares how regenerative agriculture can improve not only the environment but social equity and public health as well.
Asian AgriBiz: Achieving resilience and sustainability for SE Asia’s animal protein sector. An interview with Lesley Mitchell - Forum’s Associate Director, Sustainable Nutrition.
Asia Food Journal: Going beyond supporting sustainability in alternative protein (pg. 18-19). Insights gathered from Sumi Dhanarajan,Associate Director - Forum Asia Pacific, on the social impacts brought on by alternative proteins.

Latest

Climate and Health Coalition Food Cluster: Enabling Private Sector Action and Collaboration Around Climate, Health and Food

Britvic, SIG and Waitrose join the Climate and Health Coalition's food cluster to work on enabling and accelerating the transformation of our food and agricultural systems towards outcomes that deliver health benefits for both people and planet.
Beyond Growth: Center for Redefining Business Models

Building on initial grant-funded work, and three decades of business engagement, through convenings and programmes, BSR and Forum for the Future are looking to join forces, and collaborate with other key stakeholders in the sustainable business ecosystem, to shape a future-oriented economy, by accelerating implementation of new business models that generate value for all and ways of living that are resource efficient, aspirational and equitable. 
Powerful Futures: Practitioner Insights on the Just Transition to Renewable Energy

Powerful Futures: Practitioner Insights on the Just Transition to Renewable Energy is a guide by practitioners for practitioners who are committed to ensuring that the global shift to renewable energy is equitable and inclusive.
Policy as a Route to Cleaner Air: Why a Systemic, Cross-Sector Approach Matters

This report – commissioned by the Clean Air Fund and produced by Forum for the Future in partnership with iovoli pharmaceutical consulting - calls for more integrated environmental and health policy mechanisms that prevent and reduce outdoor air polluting emissions.

The Five Capitals - a framework for sustainability

The Five Capitals Model provides a basis for understanding sustainability in terms of the economic concept of wealth creation or ‘capital’. Any organisation will use five types of capital to deliver its products or services. A sustainable organisation will maintain and where possible enhance these stocks of capital assets, rather than deplete or degrade them.
Jobs

We are a growing organisation and we are regularly on the look out for new recruits to join our teams around the world.
For a just and regenerative future

Forum for the Future is a leading international sustainability organisation running out of offices in the UK, US, India and Singapore.
Growing our Future US

Working together to accelerate the transition to a just and regenerative agriculture system in the United States.
Sustainability and system change

Climate change, malnutrition, inequality, poverty, ecological degradation. The global challenges we face are so urgent and tricky that we need a solution to match their scale and complexity. This is where system change comes in. We use systems thinking to understand the web of interrelations that create complex problems, anticipate unintended consequences, and identify how and where to take action to meet the SDG goals.
What is Net Positive?

We reinvent strategies for a 1.5°C world. Our Net Positive approach helps business put back more into society and environment than it takes out. Unilever’s pioneering commitment to eliminate fossil fuels from its operations and directly support the generation of more renewable energy than they consume was driven behind the scenes by Forum.
Transport or Mobility: What’s the difference and why does it matter?

Recently, the word transportation is being replaced with mobility. Why is this happening? What’s the difference between them? And why should we care about this change?
6 ways Unilever has achieved success through sustainability - and how your business can too

A year ago this week, Unilever launched its Sustainable Living Plan (USLP), one of the most ambitious strategies that a global company has ever embarked on. Pioneering a bold new business model, the company pledged to double in size at the same time as halving its environmental footprint.
Transforming the Purpose of Business

More and more businesses like are setting ambitious targets for positive impact on their operations, value chains and wider operating context. For more than 25 years we have partnered with businesses to navigate this complexity and design impactful solutions that deliver the deeper change that’s needed. Why not get in touch to find out more?
Become a system change agent

Learn more about upcoming system change programmes and express your interest.