Stories don’t get funded. Evidence does.
Boards don’t fund ambition. They fund proof—evidence that holds up under scrutiny, links to P&L, and can be governed with discipline.
In Sustainable Strategy Brief Live – Episode 2 – Turning sustainability growth ambition into credible business cases, my guest Allen Cedeno ESG and sustainable finance expert, and I tested a tricky question:
What does a Board /Investment Committee need to see to fund sustainability as growth, not as narrative?
In this blog, I will use the analogy: run sustainability execution like a clinical trial, not a campaign.
Why? Clinical trials succeed based on four fundamental elements: baseline, controls, downside, and stop/go decisions.
Consider taking the One-minute Investment Committee Readiness Self-Test:
- Baseline: Has Finance signed off on the baseline, data verification, and the assumptions register?
- Controls: Is the pilot designed with controls and attribution to ensure tangible impact?
- Downside: Have you modelled scenarios, sensitivities, and failure models, not just upside?
- Stop rules: Are explicit stop/scale thresholds written up-front with decision rights?
Should you find yourself answering “no” to two or more, please anticipate that the IC may pause funding until the case is de-risked. A simple 30/60/ 90-day proof sprint (no theatre) will help.
If you want to reset your sustainability business case quickly, consider delivery cadence:
- Days 1–30: finance-owned baseline + 3–5 board-relevant KPIs.
- Days 31–60: controlled pilot design + downside model + data capture plan.
- Days 61–90: run the pilot + cockpit governance + scale/stop decision on evidence.
The Strategic Punchline
So the traditional approach to sustainability business cases is fundamentally broken. Organisations that persist in playing the old game will face rejection or stagnation. New games require new rules, and new rules require new skill sets. To learn more, subscribe now at Sustainable Strategy Brief Live.