Navigating the Business of Sustainability

A Practitioner's Guide
Erscheinungsjahr 2026
ISBN: 978-0-443-49187-0
Verlag: Elsevier - Health Sciences Division

Buch, Englisch, 210 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 450 g

Sustainability practitioners are operating in challenging waters: Ever-evolving regulations, shifting political winds, and heightened stakeholder demands have created a landscape that often feels chaotic and contradictory. In this time of profound change there are both significant risks and new opportunities for companies. Navigating these times requires not only technical expertise but also sharper judgment and the ability to balance immediate business demands with long-term value creation.

Navigating the Business of Sustainability: A Practitioner’s Guide is a practical, experience-driven resource for leaders striving for positive, lasting impact while charting a rapidly changing landscape. Built on decades of real-world experience from practitioners who have successfully led corporate sustainability through multiple cycles, this book addresses the key challenges when integrating sustainability into business strategy and operations. By focusing on what works in practice, this book is a guide for practitioners to manage conflicting priorities, foster innovation, and create enduring benefits for both business and society.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Balisciano, Márcia

Leitz, Christian

Fachgebiete

• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Volkswirtschaftslehre Umweltökonomie
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Betriebswirtschaft Bereichsspezifisches Management Betriebliches Energie- und Umweltmanagement

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. The practitioner perspective on corporate sustainability
2. Corporate sustainability – history, practice, and evolution
3. Embedding sustainability into corporate strategy
4. The Governance of corporate sustainability
5. Stakeholder engagement for corporate sustainability success
6. Sustainability reporting and disclosures in practice
7. The future of corporate sustainability – pathways for practitioners
8. Appendix – resources for corporate sustainability professionals

Über Autor(innen)

Balisciano, Márcia
Márcia Balisciano is the Chief Sustainability Officer and Global Head of Corporate Responsibility at RELX Group, a leading international provider of information-based analytics, decision tools, and events, with nearly 37,000 employees worldwide. In her role, she collaborates with colleagues across the organization to ensure that RELX’s extra-financial performance enhances its competitive advantage and stakeholder confidence. Under her leadership, RELX has achieved notable recognition, including ranking second in Sustainalytics’ sustainability ranking for the media sector among over 250 global peers, and maintaining a AAA sustainability rating from MSCI for nine consecutive years.

Márcia serves as a board member of the Foundation for the UN Global Compact and is a founding board member of the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens. She is also a founding director of Benjamin Franklin House, a London-based museum and educational facility.

She holds an MA in International Relations from the University of Chicago and a PhD in Economic History from the London School of Economics. Recognized for her contributions, she has been honored as a Member of the British Empire (MBE) by the King.

Leitz, Christian
Since joining UBS in 2003, Christian has built a career spanning sustainability, corporate governance and institutional history. As Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO), he sits within Group Sustainability & Impact and is responsible for leading the implementation of UBS's sustainability strategy across its three overarching strategic pillars – Protect, Grow and Attract. In this capacity he works closely with business divisions and corporate functions to advance UBS's ambition to be a leader in sustainability for its clients and for the firm itself.

UBS is a major financial institution, headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, with operations in 50+ countries. UBS is the largest Swiss banking institution and the world's largest private bank, with over USD 7 trillion in assets under management. With regards to the bank’s sustainability credentials, it holds an MSCI ESG rating of AA and a strong S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment score, is a constituent of the Dow Jones Best-in-Class indices (all information as of end of 2025).

Alongside his operational role as CSO, Christian serves as Secretary to the UBS Corporate Culture and Responsibility Committee (CCRC), one of the five Board of Directors committees of UBS Group AG. In this capacity he supports the Committee's Chair in setting the agenda and preparing the accompanying documentation. The CCRC assists the Board in fulfilling its duty to safeguard and advance the Group's reputation for responsible corporate conduct and to assess evolving stakeholder expectations and their potential consequences for UBS.

Christian also holds the position of Group Historian, a role he exercises with the support of the firm's long-term archives team. In this function he and the archives team serve as the center of competence for activities and inquiries relating to UBS's institutional history.

Across his career at UBS, Christian has engaged with a wide range of sustainability topics and regularly delivers workshops and presentations on sustainability both in general and as it applies to UBS, covering specific themes and issues as well as the history of the firm.

Born in Germany, Christian lived and worked in the UK and New Zealand where he taught modern European history, with a focus on German history, at the University of West of England and at the University of Auckland. He published several books and academic articles. Christian holds a D.Phil. in Modern History from Oxford University and a BA (Hons) in Humanities from the University of the West of England. He and his wife live in a village in Eastern Switzerland and are parents of two adult children. Christian is an avid gardener – as clearly demonstrated in the sustainability disclosures chapter.