Q1 Executive Symposium: Frank conversations on SBTi changes

Many thanks to all who attended the Sustainable Business & Enterprise Roundtable (SBER) Q1 Executive Symposium! The conversation across the Boston, Denver, and virtual rooms made clear that these times of discontinuity make sustainability leaders hungry for peer-to-peer industry collaboration.

Overall, this month's Symposium stood out for the passion Member-Clients demonstrated about SBTi and its proposed Corporate Net Zero Standard v2. Symposium participants jumped into the discussion section with opinions at the ready. Thankful for SR Inc's thorough breakdown of the changes, and the private space held for frank discussions, Member-Clients could compare experiences and together coalesce around the changes SBTi must -- and must not -- adopt if it is to drive the ambitious action both it and Member-Clients seek. Thanks to the Chatham House Rule, participants could speak freely without concern that their opinions would be traced back to them; that privacy is a hallmark of every SBER event.

Now, on to other Symposium highlights.

Event Highlights

SBER facilitates ongoing industry collaboration through these quarterly Symposia to create Membership-based Insights, Guidance, and Highlighted Tools (MIGHT) that bolster sustainable leadership.

On Thursday, we presented the year’s first two subjects of industry guidance, both essential to navigating decarbonization goals and enterprise longevity in a year full of uncertainty. They were:

The Evolving Impact of the New Administration on Corporate Sustainability Programs & U.S. Renewable Energy Procurement
Building an Impactful Renewable Energy Strategy

Symposium sessions also examined proposed changes to mandatory reporting and goal-setting frameworks, specifically:

Breaking down SBTi’s Draft Corporate Net-Zero Standard V2
EU Omnibus Proposal Reactions

Leadership Amid Tumult: Framing Corporate Sustainability

SR Inc CEO James Boyle supplemented his team’s hard work with a third feature, “Framing Corporate Sustainability,” where he presented four frameshifts to Corporate Sustainability that he sees as essential to effective programs in the industry in 2025 (see summary below).

Framing Corporate Sustainability:

Four fundamental frame shifts to strengthen Member-Client programs in a time of change

It’s Corporate Sustainability, not Environmental Sustainability.
The emphasis and empiricism of the Director of Sustainability is best based on Science, not Politics.
Political science recognizes Human Rights, not global Ecology, as a more resonant framing.
Nationalism is not necessarily bigotry – it can be emancipatory.

We are grateful to all our Member-Clients who attended this Symposium, informed its management guidance, and participated in (or will participate in!) this year’s chartered research. Many shared their CSRD reporting plans after the Omnibus, helping themselves and fellow Member-Clients navigate the proposed package and staying aligned with their industry peers. Strategic Advisory Services will iterate these pieces based on Member-Client input, so we welcome feedback on any topics requiring clarification or further exploration.

What Makes SBER Different

SBER is distinctive in its collaborative, peer-informed approach to guidance development. SBER's Strategic Advisory Services team will iterate on these pieces based on Member-Client input. The magic of SBER's Symposia is that Member-Clients see the in-progress research pieces, then pressure-test them based on their experiences in small groups with their peers at the Symposium itself and later in individual meetings with their SBER account leads. The result is collaborative MIGHT honed by years of collective expertise, more valuable and practical for each party, thanks to the collaboration all provided.

SBER prides itself on offering strategic advisory services, not consulting. Our annual six-phase change management solution centers strategy in everything. We help Member-Clients design, build, and execute Corporate Sustainability strategies that drive long-term value creation for the enterprise, helping it continue to thrive even in a world facing unprecedented climate breakdown. Every week, every month, every quarter, SBER is there for its Member-Clients, supporting their leadership as they drive their enterprises toward more sustainable high performance.

What Comes Next

The SR Inc team is already hard at work implementing Member-Client feedback from this quarter's Symposium, and continuing their research for the Member Advisories and Member Briefings that will be delivered at our Q2 Executive Symposium at the Liberty Hotel in Boston and the University Club in San Francisco. We look forward to continuing our shared work toward breakthroughs in Master Mandatory Reporting and Value Chain Decarbonization, which will debut at Summit IX in Denver in March of 2026.

Interested to learn more about how SBER could help your enterprise to align business with life? Schedule your briefing here

Blog