The sustainability movement stands at a tipping point. For decades, campaigners, businesses, and scientists have fought to push the world toward a more sustainable future. Yet, progress has felt painfully slow. The science is clearer than ever. The stakes are higher. And still, change often lags behind ambition.

But something has shifted.

Three powerful shocks have jolted the global system all at once: climate impacts are hitting earlier and harder than predicted, AI and climate tech are accelerating faster than anyone imagined, and political support - especially in key economies like the US - is faltering. Together, these shifts offer not just challenges, but a rare chance for a strategic reset.

The central message of Jeremy Oppenheim’s Shock Therapy, born from Systemiq’s Blue Whale Inquiry, is that the sustainability movement must change course – not by abandoning its values, but by embracing new tactics, stronger alliances, and a far more compelling story.

Now, let’s break down what that sustainability reset looks like.

1. From fear to freedom: reframing sustainability

For years, climate narratives have leaned heavily on fear and sacrifice. Think net zero, gigatonnes, parts per million – scientifically precise, but emotionally distant. Worse, these messages have often been co-opted by culture war dynamics, painting sustainability as elitist or anti-growth.

Oppenheim argues for a complete narrative rethink. Sustainability isn’t about restrictions – it’s a promise. A better life. Clean air, affordable energy, thriving communities, and safe neighbourhoods. Freedom from pollution, food insecurity, and volatile energy bills.

The most powerful metaphor he offers is "home". It’s universal, deeply emotional, and culturally flexible. Home implies safety, identity, future. When framed as protecting our shared home – the Earth – the sustainability agenda becomes both protective and aspirational.

2. Align with political realities – and win on growth

The second big shift: the sustainability movement must speak to political priorities as they are, not as we wish them to be. That means delivering on cost of living, economic growth, job creation, and national security – not just climate metrics.

Why? Because the biggest attack on the green agenda is economic: that it costs too much, kills jobs, and punishes the poor. If climate action is seen as a luxury for elites, it will lose.

Oppenheim points to evidence that clean electrification can lower energy costs and boost GDP. In the UK, a 20% drop in energy costs could raise GDP by 0.3–0.5% annually. In food systems, the same logic applies: regenerative practices can improve yields, reduce dependency on volatile markets, and build farmer incomes.

He also emphasises energy security and global competitiveness. China, Brazil, and Indonesia aren’t just decarbonising – they’re building national strength. The West should take note.

3. Bring change home – literally

One of the most tangible shifts the report calls for is a focus on local action. Place-based solutions. Real benefits in real communities. Because it’s at the community level that people feel change – or its absence.

This isn’t just feel-good rhetoric. It's strategic.

Examples abound: Barbados is integrating climate resilience across its economy – from tourism to energy. Cape Town is pioneering urban heat resilience. In Europe, cities like Valencia are combining nature-based flood solutions with urban renewal. These aren’t pilot projects. They’re models for 21st-century resilience.

Critically, localism must be backed by capital and authority. It’s not enough to celebrate local action – international finance must enable it.

4. Get serious about AI – and digital infrastructure

Perhaps the boldest proposal in Shock Therapy is the full embrace of AI as a game-changer for sustainability. Not just as a productivity tool, but as a structural accelerator of change.

AI could cut global emissions by an extra 15–20% by 2035. But its true power lies in democratising access to knowledge, skills, and capabilities. India’s “digital stack” is a prime example – creating infrastructure that enables rapid innovation across health, agriculture, and public services.

The report urges climate leaders to get ahead of the AI curve. Invest in open-source tools, build digital foundations, and shape policy to ensure AI delivers for climate and equity. Yes, AI has a carbon footprint – but it can also become a critical driver of clean energy demand.

5. Build the new, faster than we dismantle the old

The fossil fuel economy isn’t going to collapse just because we protest it. The far more effective route is to build the alternatives so well, and so fast, that the old system is outcompeted and obsolete.

That means: faster permitting, smarter finance, supply chain security, and fair access to minerals and technologies. Electrify everything. Make clean solutions cheaper, better, and more appealing.

This strategy needs support from policy and capital markets. For example, enforcing methane regulations, ending fossil subsidies, and setting clear phase-out timelines are all essential to accelerate the decline of the old system.

6. Put climate and nature on the spreadsheet

Finance is often hailed as the key to solving climate change – but the truth is more complicated. Despite big pledges, the finance sector has mostly failed to shift capital at scale. Quarterly targets, short-term incentives, and regulatory gaps are to blame.

Oppenheim argues we need to zero in on the long-term players: sovereign wealth funds, private equity, family offices. These groups can move big money with a long view. But they need tools – simple, credible risk metrics, and clear regulatory signals.

Nature must also be included in this shift. Risk disclosure is coming fast, and firms will soon need to report on their exposure to physical climate impacts and biodiversity loss. Finance will follow – but only if tools are embedded in law, not just ESG branding.

7. Rewire multilateralism for a multipolar world

Finally, the global system must evolve. The old multilateral order is slow, process-heavy, and too North-dominated. We need faster, more nimble partnerships – often led by the Global South.

Initiatives like India’s International Solar Alliance or Africa’s Great Green Wall show what’s possible. These aren’t side projects – they’re models of a new kind of internationalism: grounded in delivery, built for scale.

COPs must evolve too. Less process, more progress. Less talk, more investment platforms, transition plans, and city-level action. Climate finance must be decolonised and made simpler. Concessional funding, blended finance, and green liquidity tools must be turbocharged – or the whole system risks collapse under its own complexity.

The way forward: urgent, humble, and collaborative

Shock Therapy doesn’t offer a silver bullet. Instead, it outlines a clear set of pivots the movement needs to make:

  • From scarcity to abundance
  • From top-down mandates to local ownership
  • From abstract risks to real-world benefits
  • From exclusionary finance to inclusive investment
  • From institutional inertia to technological acceleration

The document ends on a note of cautious optimism. The challenges are vast. But the window for transformation is open – perhaps just briefly. If we can act now, embrace discomfort, and work across divides, the sustainability movement could emerge not weaker from these shocks, but stronger.

And maybe – just maybe – this could be the reset we’ve been waiting for.

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