April 2026

There’s been both a pullback on ESG and increased scrutiny around greenwashing, how should boards navigate that tension between doing less, but doing it more credibly?

I think it’s completely understandable that boards and leadership teams reached a point of fatigue. The ESG landscape became incredibly broad and overwhelming very quickly, with an exhausting number of components, shifting concepts, and overlapping reporting requirements and data requests. Getting that wrong and then being accused of ‘greenwashing’ (or more often the fear of being accused) was somewhat inevitable.

The way to navigate that tension now is to return to the fundamentals: good governance, a resilient workforce and supply chain, and a clear understanding of where environmental exposure will impact the business. At its core, ESG should be about ensuring a company is well-governed, caring for its workforce and the communities in which it operates, and being mindful of its environmental impact.

The key to credibility is ensuring your strategy is commercially focused, pragmatic and linked to tangible business outcomes. Regulatory reporting thresholds are often the necessary ‘floor’, but they shouldn’t be the driver. By focusing on the metrics that actually move the needle for your specific business - and getting the data behind them right - you move from "compliance" to genuine, bottom-line value.

What was the moment or experience that made you think, 'there's got to be a better way to do ESG' that led you to start Addidat?

It was born out of a desire to solve a problem I saw repeatedly. I’ve spent over 20 years working at Executive and Non-Executive levels for UK- quoted and high-growth businesses, and I kept seeing the same issue. Leadership teams were having circular conversations based on patchy, interpretive data and knowledge gaps - because the concepts were so new and often misunderstood.

This naturally led to some overengineered and inflated responses as everyone tried to find their footing. I realised that the ‘spreadsheet fatigue’ we were seeing was actually an essential turning point. It was the moment that allowed companies to stop and realise they need a strategy linked to tangible business outcomes, not just a reporting cycle. I started Addidat to move away from ‘creative writing’ and give boards a ‘golden source’ of truth, based on actual data that can then drive a right-sized, pragmatic and commercially focused ESG strategy.

When you look at how companies approach ESG today, what are the most common mistakes you still see boards making?

The biggest mistake is either letting regulation drive the strategy, or attempting to ‘muddle through’ on an annual basis with no clear strategy in place at all. In either scenario a company then often finds itself firefighting and having to react to unexpected external stakeholder needs or demands. If your ESG strategy isn't clearly defined, right-sized and commercially focused, it’s just a compliance tax that will also come back to bite you when, lets say, that new government contract lands on your desk and you have no idea how to respond to their ESG supply chain questions.

The other enemy is Group Think. Without diverse perspectives and relevant, peer-benchmarked data to challenge the status quo, boards miss emerging risks. I also see a lot of rear-view mirror reporting, looking at what happened eighteen months ago. You wouldn’t run your sales team on data that old, so why are we doing it with metrics that may well affect long-term business success? If you aren't challenging your own narrative with objective data linked to tangible business outcomes, you’re kind of just shooting in the dark and likely wasting time and resources on the wrong things.

If we fast-forward say, five years, what do you think ESG will look like in practice for listed companies, and do you think that there will be anything that might surprise us

In five years, ‘ESG’ may well not survive as a term. Everyone is fed up with it!

However, the concepts contained within it - governance, sustainable growth, employee welfare, environmental impacts - will be as fundamental as having an audited P&L. The alphabet soup and every expanding set of regulations will (hopefully!) have settled, but the companies that thrive will be those who realised early on that ESG must be integrated into the every day running of the business and continually assess to ensure it’s aligning with the growth strategy of that business - be that geographic expansion, product or service diversification or acquisitive growth.

The surprise? It won't be about 'doing good' as a side project or talking about that beehive on a roof somewhere; it will be a primary way of measuring good management for fast growing businesses. Radical transparency will be the norm - investors, clients, suppliers, employees will expect greatly clarity on how a business is being managed. The use of AI within organisations is likely to have fundamental impacts on every operating model, which will in turn have fundamental impacts on how that business is managed. Getting this right, and evidencing how you are doing it, will be a huge driver.

And lastly, what is the most interesting thing you have watched, read or listened to recently?

I spend quite a lot of time in the car, so I’m a huge podcast fan. My absolute favourite is Cautionary Tales by Tim Harford. It’s fascinating as Harford uses historical disasters and real-life mishaps to explain modern day errors in human judgment, personal bias and data interpretation. It’s relevant for me professionally because it highlights how bias and group think can lead to catastrophe, but it’s also one of the few podcasts that my teenage boys, as well as me and my husband, all enjoy. The storytelling is so compelling that it has even sparked genuinely interesting debates on long drives! It’s a brilliant reminder of why we need objective data to challenge our instincts!

---

Please note: The views and opinions expressed in this interview are those of the individual financial professional(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Alma Strategic. These insights are provided for informational purposes only and may not be relevant at the time of reading, as market conditions can change rapidly. The information provided should not be construed as investment advice or a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any financial product or security. Individuals should conduct their own research and consult with a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions. Alma Strategic disclaims any responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of the information provided in this interview.