As the curtain closes on COP29, a sense of failure hangs heavy in the air—but this shouldn’t be of concern to NEDs.

The 29th running of the annual Conference of Parties was held against a background of mounting climate tensions, as attending diplomats and negotiators fought with gritted teeth to iron out a climate finance agreement.

Key politicians were missing and an open letter from climate experts calling for major reform to the structure of COP was the final nail in the coffin. Now, we’re all left wondering: does COP really serve a purpose any more?

I believe it does, but only for governments and policymakers seeking to build big picture, international collaboration on climate issues. Not for non-executives, who should be driving forward immediate and tangible strategies to improve their organisation’s impact and create value in the process.

That’s why I think the sharp drop off in corporate attendance at this year’s COP is a good thing. As far as the corporate world is concerned, COP should be out of sight—with all minds trained on matters within their control.

So I’d like to see NEDs ditch COP delegations entirely, and focus their time and energy on delivering on their business’s own sustainable development goal (SDG) commitments now.

The role of NEDs

But what is a NED’s role in sustainability? And how can they have a meaningful impact on sustainability-driven success?

Non-executive directors should be at the centre of corporate sustainability strategies. Their decades of corporate experience, combined with the degree of separation they have from day-to-day operations, means they’re perfectly placed to help the board drive its sustainability strategy towards success.

Non-executive directors need to step up to the plate in three key areas—and the first is to increase their awareness and understanding of sustainability and ESG.

Before NEDs can have any meaningful impact on corporate sustainability, they need to invest time into familiarising themselves with the complexities and evolving regulatory landscape of ESG and SDGs—time which executives are short on. They can’t afford to sit back and get comfy, dropping in to check on the sustainability strategy every now and then; there needs to be a continuous curve of learning and improvement in order to hold the board accountable and ensure sustained compliance with regulations and requirements.

From here, NEDs can go on to monitor and scrutinise the organisation’s sustainability impact more closely.

While sustained oversight has always been a core element to the non-executive role, the board must go one step beyond and actively monitor and identify any and all board decisions that could have an impact on the company’s ESG and sustainability strategy, negatively or otherwise.

NEDs must shoulder responsibility for ensuring corporate ESG strategy and sustainable development goals are realistic, actionable and achievable. They need to encourage the board to draw up timeframes for the implementation of sustainable best practices and hold executives accountable for the environmental promises they make.

The third area on which to focus is helping to guide the development and implementation of a robust ESG and sustainability strategy. Backed by a thorough understanding of the regulatory framework and industry standards, NEDs will be able to dish out well-informed insight on current ESG trends and target areas.

Crucially, NEDs must stress the importance of a sustainability strategy that is informed and influenced by the company’s wider business strategy.

Sustainability and commerce

The cornerstone of any impactful corporate sustainability strategy is its symbiotic relationship with commercial strategy. Neither strategy will deliver results for the company and its stakeholders if it is not influenced by the other. With their oversight and expertise, NEDs are in the ideal position to tie the two together.

For a corporate sustainability strategy to have longevity, and to deliver tangible results for the company and its stakeholders, it needs to be guided by the firm’s commercial values, targets and interests. Equally, no business strategy will prove viable if it isn’t influenced by ESG targets. By failing to factor in environmental concerns, companies risk damaging stakeholder trust or falling foul of regulatory requirements.

A key element of this includes pushing the board to carefully consider what sort of value it wants to deliver to stakeholders. Will it involve refining a product offering to be more sustainable? Or do directors want to boost consumer trust by building sustainable practices into everyday business operations?

Corporate sustainability must be a partnership between corporate interests and environmental concerns. NEDs need to encourage boards to keep this at the front of mind when they draw up their strategy. Sustainable goals must be shaped in light of stakeholder interests, and implemented in a bid to meet stakeholder expectations—they shouldn’t just be net zero targets plucked out of thin air.

NEDs are central to the success of corporate ESG strategies. With decades of corporate know-how in their back pocket, non-executive directors must invest their time and energy into helping the board form a legally compliant, result-driven set of sustainability targets.

Holding the board accountable and helping them to double down on their proposed sustainability targets will do more to drive corporate responsibility in a positive direction than a week spent at COP ever could. It’s time for NEDs to dive headfirst into the world of sustainability and put their experience, knowledge and expertise to good use—even while policymakers’ attempts fail.

Scott Lane is a lawyer and CEO of Speeki, an ESG and sustainability reporting consultancy