How sustainability professionals are weathering challenging times

Aug 8, 2025

Jill Dumain, founding partner at Fractal CSOs and former sustainability director at Patagonia, shares her perspective on the current challenges in the sustainability sector, emphasizing that they are just temporary setbacks. Meanwhile, Simon Mainwaring, founder of We First, highlights how these challenges present a unique opportunity for innovation and outreach. Together, they discuss the dangers of 'green hushing' and the critical need for effective storytelling to engage stakeholders. Their insights reveal an optimistic outlook on the future of sustainability.

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ANECDOTE

Early Days At Patagonia

Jill Dumain started her sustainability career at Patagonia in 1990 and stayed almost 28 years, learning by doing with no playbook.
She led early materiality-style work on fibers that became Patagonia's first internal roadmap for environmental focus.

ADVICE

Use Fractional Sustainability Leaders

Fractal CSOs offers fractional, part-time C-suite sustainability expertise to early-stage companies that can't afford full-time hires.
Jill advises hiring experienced part-time leaders to transfer deep know-how quickly and teach clients to be self-sufficient.

ADVICE

Cultivate Real Networks

Build and actively maintain professional networks; nearly all of Jill's work comes through personal connections.
Networking requires more than LinkedIn requests and needs ongoing cultivation to generate opportunities.

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This year at the All Things Sustainable podcast, we've heard from many professionals who are uncertain about the future of climate action and sustainability and what's ahead for their careers.

We've also heard from numerous companies that continue to pursue their sustainability strategies and climate targets, even as some are talking about this less in public or changing the language they use to describe their efforts. In today's episode, we're asking: How are sustainability professionals weathering the storm?

We speak to three guests on the sidelines of an event the UN Global Compact Mexico hosted in June:

We talk with Jill Dumain, founding partner at the corporate sustainability consultancy Fractal CSOs and former Director of Global Environmental Strategy at outdoor clothing and gear company Patagonia. She says the current headwinds are a temporary setback.

"It's very easy for all of us to be myopic around this moment in time: 'The sky is falling in. Everything is against us,'" Jill says. "But in the grand scheme of things over an arc of 15 or 20 years, this is a little bump in the road."

We sit down with Simon Mainwaring, Founder and CEO of strategic brand consultancy We First, who explains why the current moment presents an opportunity.

"We got out over our skis a little bit in terms of acronyms and making it a little bit wonkish and heady, and that not only alienated a lot of people ... it set ourselves up to be politicized in a way that didn't really serve the intent behind this work," Simon tells us. "As a result, we're being forced to walk back some of that wonkish language and reframe our language to reach back and take people with us."

And we hear from Christopher Lilholm, Global Head of ESG and Sustainability Services at DNV, an assurance and risk management firm.

Listen to our episode How companies in Latin America are embedding sustainability amid shifting dynamics.

Explore how companies are approaching sustainability via S&P Global Sustainable1's Corporate Sustainability Assessment data.

The All Things Sustainable podcast from S&P Global will be an official media partner of The Nest Climate Campus during Climate Week NYC. Register free to attend here.

This piece was published by S&P Global Sustainable1 and not by S&P Global Ratings, which is a separately managed division of S&P Global.

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