Post by Francis Porter, MSc

There are a lot of changes occurring in sustainability right now, so here are a few of my beliefs which are unchanging: 1. That our businesses and cities still need to lean into the long-term competitive advantages of healthy, social, resilient projects built more around nature-based solutions. 2. There is still a strong need for sustainability dedicated professionals who can push for tangible outcomes, while navigating through funding, reporting and design systems. 3. While it feels that climate has dropped off the priority focus at the moment - that watering down decarbonisation efforts will backfire. So why this somewhat uncharacteristic reflection? Because after several years with my head down delivery large projects I’m out looking for opportunities, meeting people and reading (probably too much of Linkedin!) and these are the trends found: A. The sustainability space is increasingly more outcomes focused. Developers want better storytelling around livability and resilience benefits. Dedicated sustainability role functions are increasingly combined. Advice on CVs is to remove the word “sustainability” and pull in achievements within broader business terminology. Feels like a challenge to rise to. B. From the GCC built environment projects awards it feels like a prolonged calm before the storm. Even now some established companies that have had all senior sustainability team members go (multiple life event reasons) are not rushing to replace. Now is an opportunity for networking. C. AI impacts are being seen everywhere, including sustainability analysis and reporting. New powerful tools which provide greater scale and speed will always have a place but making change actually happen requires accountability, value judgements and acceptability from actual people. I’m really interested to see the most traction – by those who have industry experience to leverage or the more agile (hopefully both). I’m also maturing my own use – from fast but bewildering AI mutated covering letters to slower, more complex proactive solutions. All these trends would have changed how I completed my project highlights to date - from national aviation GHG strategy, 2070 climate resilience city plan to portfolio ESG strategies. None of these trends alter my core beliefs. So I hope you keep your beliefs front and center - and lean into and discuss current trends actively with others. What other sustainability trends would you include?