Enthusiasm for corporate sustainability appears to be waning, with major firms seemingly quietly abandoning environmental goals, but David Picton remains optimistic. For him, sustainability is not an ethical question, but a business driver.
A self-described “demon for cutting down on food waste” at home, Picton is senior vice-president of environment, social and governance (ESG) and sustainability at EcoOnline, a company that develops software tools to help organisations protect workers, meet environmental regulations, and embed sustainable practices.
From an early age, Picton saw how environmentally conscious practices could shape communities. His involvement in the Duke of Edinburgh awards and Scouts, and later a degree in geography, all left a mark.
“I saw from a very early stage the impact you could have when you work with others, and the impacts that charities, particularly community-focused charities, can have. It’s always meant a lot to me, it’s always been a natural passion,” he says.
Picton’s professional journey began in the military, where he served during the transition from the Cold War era to the post-9/11 world. It was here he developed an awareness of ecological sensitivity in his role as a logistics and supply chain director.
“Being in the military, we were often connected with ecologically sensitive areas in the training grounds. The other thing, which people don’t realise, is that you do a lot of community-building work. People think the military is all about attack operations, but you spend a lot of time [doing] charity work, a lot of time working with communities and building them up.”
Leaving the military, Picton deepened his understanding of supply chains, particularly in construction. This experience became a springboard into leadership roles in sustainability and ESG.
“I became aware of how companies were connected and how the supply chain works. That really led me through to the chief safety and sustainability officer role where safety and sustainability were critical, given the use of resources, the connections with communities, building communities, volunteering, so you had that relationship with the communities, and you created some social good as well.”
After founding his own consultancy, Picton worked with businesses to link sustainability with sales growth. One of his clients, Alchemist, was later acquired by EcoOnline, where he was invited to take up his current role.
Today, he spends much of his time with customers, helping them shape sustainable products and services that support growth. “I spend a lot of my time telling stories, things that hopefully bring it to life. I spend a lot of time on stage, either on a virtual stage, or on real stages, telling a story and being a kind of interpreter.”
One highlight was presenting at the United Nations in Geneva. “That was a fantastic experience to be there in the headquarters with ministers from around the world, asking how we as a company are making these [sustainable practices] into reality. By getting a chance to get out there and talk to people from different countries and work across international boundaries, you realise that ESG, sustainability, safety, all of it is a united challenge.”
Waning business interest in saving the planet
Through his work, Picton acknowledges that many firms still cut sustainability programmes when looking to reduce costs, often dismissing them as bureaucratic burdens. Picton strongly rejects this view.
“You don’t have to get it all right on the first day. The fundamental thing for me is making sure there’s a business case behind the investments [in sustainability].” Too often, he says, businesses panic and abandon initiatives before results are visible. “People sort of panic a bit and think they’ve got to achieve it all on day one. If you roll it out over time and spread that through, then it will work more effectively.”
For Picton, sustainability works best when framed in terms of commercial benefit, not moral duty: “I remember having conversations with people working at an entertainment company. They said, ‘This is all about saving the planet,’ and I said, ‘You’re not here to save the planet, you’re here to put on entertainment.’ Saving the planet is not our responsibility – using its resources in a responsible way is. The planet will save itself, the planet corrects itself through all kinds of areas.”
Still, he warns that humanity is consuming finite resources faster than they can be replenished. “The concept of an Earth Overshoot Day is a useful one, because you can see how that date is changing year on year, and the ways in which we’re using up resources faster than we can, and they’re the resources we depend upon.”
The Earth Overshoot Day is a date where humanity’s demand for ecological resources will exceed the Earth’s capacity to regenerate these resources. Throughout the years, scientists have warned that we continue to use more resources than the planet can regenerate. “This is not to save the planet, but to save future generations and to live in a more responsible way now.”
The effects, he says, are already visible: “You see nations that have struggled with extreme weather and extreme climate. You see where those caught in the hurricane season, the storm seasons coming through and affecting the UK. If you are more tuned into the environment you see the effects of extreme weather, and to be honest we’re seeing a lot more of it now.”
Picton believes companies that see sustainability as incompatible with profit are mistaken. “There’s something wrong in the way that you’re approaching the challenge, because there’s always a way to do it in a responsible way. You might not get there as quickly as you want, and I think that’s where the trade-off comes.”
He sees the energy debate as framed too often in binary terms: “There appears to be a competition between those who are in favour of a renewable future and those that are wedded to fossil fuels, but this is not realistic.”
He explains that competition should be turned into a collaboration, as we move into a future where we will have to move into renewable energy due to the finite nature of fossil fuel energy.
Another emerging challenge, he adds, will be separating fact from falsehood in an artificial intelligence (AI)-generated information landscape. He warns against “noise distractions” from those who deny climate change for their “own objectives and agenda”.
“You can’t deny the science, it’s there, it’s been evidenced, and proven over and over again. The trick is to strike the right balance to talk about this in a structured way, so you avoid being accused of being a fanatic, and approach this in a measured way by taking the emotion out of it. It’s not about denying companies their future, but doing it in a much more responsible way.”
Despite the challenges, Picton remains hopeful. “It’s very easy to hear the negativity around this agenda,” he says, “whereas in reality I have taken much hope and optimism from it all. There are some great stories along the way and some great signs that people are taking it in a very responsible way and putting it into core business strategies. So hope and optimism is the final thing I’d take away from it.”
