Two Steps Forward — Sustainability Meets Business Reality
Episodes
Why the music industry holds sustainability’s biggest untapped lever
02 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Recorded live at the GreenBiz 26 conference in February, this episode of Two Steps Forward features Dylan Siegler, head of sustainability at Universal...
What Interface still gets right about sustainability
16 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
For much of the past decade, corporate sustainability has been absorbed into the machinery of management — metrics, disclosures, target-setting and ...
The biggest climate myth right now isn’t denial. It’s silence.
02 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
For all the noise surrounding climate — the backlash, the culture wars, the political theatrics — here’s an uncomfortable truth: most Americans ...
Story as strategy: What writing climate fiction teaches us about communicating sustainability
18 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we talked about Solitaire's remarkable new novel — but the most useful part of the conversation wasn’t about the book’s alt...
Sustainability Journalism: Reflecting on the Past, Navigating the Future
05 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In the first episode of our Two Steps Forward podcast for 2026, we reflect on the evolution of sustainability journalism. The occasion: Marking 25 y...
The unsustainable world of sustainability thought leadership
15 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What does it mean to be a corporate sustainability thought leader these days?In this episode Joel Makower and Solitaire Townsend delve into that quest...
Siemens' Eva Riesenhuber on competing in an age of transition
01 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The sustainability landscape is littered with bold claims, ambitious targets and a widening gap between rhetoric and reality. Against that backdrop, S...
Is COP30 a game-changer?
17 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What's going on at COP30? You wouldn't know much by reading the mainstream media, other than the relatively mild protests and the usual infras...
Companies need a new way to measure impact. “Spheres of Influence” may be it
10 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when the world’s dominant measurement system for corporate climate impact no longer reflects the world we’re operating in? And what s...
IKEA's CEO on why the C-suite still matters in the climate fight
28 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
At this year’s Climate Week in New York City, amid the 1,000-plus events and 100,000 attendees crowding the streets and stages, one theme stood out:...
The trouble with 'carbon neutral' — and what comes next
08 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Solitaire Townsend and Joel Makower dive deep into the messy, confusing and often misleading world of corporate carbon claims. “Carbon neutral” on...
Why creative people may make better sustainability professionals
28 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What is the connection between creativity and sustainability? That's the topic of the conversation between Joel and Soli this episode.To be clear, thi...
Raz Godelnik – What future CSOs need to understand
14 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Godelnik’s critique of current corporate efforts calls for moving beyond incrementalism and into systems-level transformation that prioritizes value...
Live from London: Unilever’s CSO on moving from vision to execution
30 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How does a corporate sustainability professional meet the moment?That’s one of the questions we posed to Unilever’s chief sustainability and corpo...
Inside Colgate’s quest for a circular supply chain
15 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How much circularity can one company squeeze out of a toothpaste tube?That’s the mouthwatering challenge taken on by Colgate Palmolive, the iconic 2...
Mastercard CSO: ‘Making more sustainable choices is a megatrend’
02 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Financial services is high on the list of the most fascinating and challenging sectors for sustainability. Ellen Jackowski, Chief Sustainability Offic...
Paul Hawken: We have basically isolated and objectified carbon
19 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Hawken's latest book, “Carbon: The Book of Life,” explores carbon's role in living systems, not just an evil gas contributing to climate change. H...
Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr.: Let's Turn Cancer Alley into Opportunity Alley
05 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
“I'm excited for this moment,” Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr., president and CEO of the Hip Hop Caucus, an advocacy group that works for racial, eco...
Google CSO Kate Brandt: This is a ‘once-in-a-career’ moment
02 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The tech giant’s chief sustainability officer reflects on how she’ll make the most of this critical time in the two decades since she’s been wor...