Carbon emissions are a great entry into sustainability as it brings to life the impact that products, individuals, companies, cities and counties have on the changing climate. Our recent event on embedding sustainability highlighted that GHG emissions and carbon footprints are the top of a reporting pyramid and an area of focus when there is plenty more to it than a single figure in tonnes of emissions. These numbers reflect, for

For many businesses, the focus of climate action is understandably centred on carbon, given regulatory and stakeholder pressures. However, this can lead to tunnel vision when the crisis that we are battling is multifaceted. The concept of the “polycrisis” has gained traction as a way to describe the interconnected, compounding crises that define the current global landscape—climate change, biodiversity loss, social inequality, geopolitical instability, and economic volatility. For businesses, this evolving risk environment presents both unprecedented challenges and urgent imperatives. Integrating the polycrisis into corporate sustainability strategies is now essential for long-term resilience, stakeholder trust, and regulatory compliance.

Furthermore, the polycrisis is more than a collection of isolated risks. It is characterised by the way systemic issues interact and amplify one another. For example, climate-induced weather disruptions can impact global food supply chains, exacerbating inequality and fuelling social unrest. These cascading effects undermine the assumption that risks can be neatly compartmentalised. As a result, corporate sustainability strategies must also move beyond siloed approaches and engage with complexity in a holistic, systems-oriented way.

Many organisations are beginning to shift from risk mitigation to resilience-building, embedding a broader understanding of interconnected risks into materiality assessments and strategic planning. This requires new tools and mindsets such as scenario planning, dynamic risk modelling, and multidisciplinary collaboration. For instance, companies in the food sector increasingly acknowledge that addressing climate risks without simultaneously addressing water scarcity, soil health, and land-use change is ineffective. Recognising these interdependencies allows for smarter interventions, such as regenerative agriculture practices that enhance carbon sequestration, biodiversity, and farmer livelihoods simultaneously.

Approaches like Doughnut Economics and systems-based ESG analysis encourage companies to understand their performance within both environmental ceilings and social foundations. This realignment can guide better decisions on investment, innovation, and partnerships that are more resilient to polycrisis dynamics.

Regulatory pressure is also pushing companies in this direction. The EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and frameworks like the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) and the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) are pushing for greater transparency around how risks and impacts intersect, tackling a wide range of topics within one framework. These evolving standards demand that organisations consider a much broader picture, how their operations contribute to or are exposed to systemic risks, and disclose accordingly.

Embedding the polycrisis lens also strengthens a company’s licence to operate. Stakeholders increasingly expect businesses to play a meaningful role in addressing global challenges. This means being transparent about trade-offs, advocating for policy solutions, and working collaboratively across value chains and sectors. It also means elevating voices and knowledge systems—particularly Indigenous and local communities—that have long understood the interconnectedness of people, planet, and economy.

As a final thought, interconnected risks pose interconnected opportunities for example regenerative agriculture that restores ecosystems, improves supply chain security, and strengthens farmer livelihoods. As businesses we should be looking for solutions to the range of crises we face and recognise the impacts that these have across the range of sustainability topics which we are disclosing.

Author: Will Bourns, Senior Consultant, Simply Sustainable