The wake of COP26 left bitter disappointment. As we enter the third year of this decisive decade, what will get us to the Net-Zero Standard of cutting GHG emissions 50% by 2030 and 100% by 2050? For Bob Willard, PhD, SEP, Chief Sustainability Champion & Founder at Sustainability Advantage and ISSP Sustainability Hall of Fame Honoree, Glasgow made clear: it's up to us. We can't rely on national governments to fix climate change. We need to unleash market forces and make fossil fuel energy unnecessary, unwanted. How do we do that? He advises following the money and influencing the influencers.

Human rights are rights we all have because we exist, we live, we breathe. Liz Stern, Board Member at Refugees International and Advisory Board Member at the Auschwitz Institute for the Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities, shares a personal call-to-action as the world acknowledges Human Rights Day this month. In a time of challenge and discord, it can be all too easy to blame or focus on “otherness” as the root of our difficulties. Stern encourages us to tell our stories, find places of connection and shared interest, taking away the fear of the unknown and allowing reflection on the path ahead. By staying people-focused, we can create the change we seek, inclusive of all the rights of humans while re-imagining our work in sustainability.

John Elkington, Founder & Chief Pollinator, Volans Ventures and ISSP Sustainability Hall of Fame Honoree, shares his on-the-ground experiences, conversations, and insights from COP26 in Glasgow. To meet the intergenerational challenges confronting our global community, Elkington signals intergenerational solutions, including radically different politics and economics. The battle now is to create a world that is fit for the young of all people—and all species.

As we observe the breadth of UN observances this October, from World Habitat Day to World Migratory Bird Day to United Nations Day, Denise DeLuca, Director, MA in Sustainable Design, MCAD and President of the ISSP Governing Board, describes how biomimicry inspires functional strategies, processes, and systems to create sustainable design solutions to meet the Sustainable Development Goals.

In the context of the International Day of Peace on 21 September, Allen Hershkowitz, PhD, Founding Director & Chairman at Sport and Sustainability International and Environmental Science Advisor for the New York Yankees, takes a look at SDG16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions. Dr. Hershkowitz brings insight to the critical role of leadership in shaping organizational culture and operations to advance the sustainability imperative and the SDGs' aspiration for peace, justice, and equity.

There is no other possible future than a regenerative one. Mathis Wackernagel, Ph.D., Founder & President, Global Footprint Network and ISSP Sustainability Hall of Fame Honoree, explains how the risks of global ecological overshoot — human demand exceeding the regenerative capacity of our natural ecosystem — may well be the second most severe challenge facing humanity in the 21st century. The biggest risk of all: that of not responding.

The Covid-19 crisis has illustrated the insufficient resilience of our societies. Reflecting upon the UN's High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), which took place 6-15 July 2021, Ambassador Nicolas de Rivière, Permanent Representative of France to the United Nations, calls on governments and civil society to work in a multilateral spirit towards the realization of the 2030 Agenda.

As the United Nations launches the Decade of Ecosystem Restoration, Fabian Sack, Director of Sustainably Pty Ltd and ISSP Governing Board Member, reflects on why this super year for nature gives some hope that coordinated national and international policy leadership may be possible.

While rooted in providing hunger relief, the work of food banks does not stop at SDG 2. From women empowerment to climate action, The Global FoodBanking Network’s President and CEO, Lisa Moon, discusses how food banks are a vital partner in advancing regional development and the SDGs more broadly.

Across its 30-year history tackling community poverty, the Harlem Children's Zone has addressed “the fire, not the smoke” of interconnected, systemic social change. CEO Kwame Owusu-Kesse shares how.

What would happen if we put the same level of effort and resources into overcoming all global challenges that we have for the COVID-19 virus? Martin Rich, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Future-Fit Foundation, calls for a radical transformation in business—highlighting several companies working to become "future-fit" today.

In a world facing existential challenges, Marsha Willard, SEP, Co-founder & Governing Board Member of ISSP, tells why no other profession is as uniquely qualified to advance the knowledge, the skills, and the direction needed as the field of sustainability.

Lawyers help clients navigate their way through a thicket of complex and sometimes vexing regulations and standards. Jeffrey B. Gracer, Principal at Sive, Paget & Riesel and Chair and NYC Climate Action Alliance tells how lawyers can use these skills in the dynamic and evolving ESG field.

Sustainability is a long-term trajectory. Irena Zubcevic, Chief of the Intergovernmental Policy and Review Branch within the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs offers that, for a company to pursue sustainability, the SDGs need to be part of its business model.