Sustainability leaders stand at the precipice of a pivotal moment for the future of our climate. While no single individual claims to have all of the answers, changemakers are increasingly turning to each other to chart the course forward for sustainable innovation and climate action — exchanging insights on how to implement unique initiatives, harness emerging technologies, institute best practices, and challenge conventional wisdom in order to effect transformative changes for our ecosystems, our societies, and our most vulnerable.

In 2024, Sustainability Next — a new editorial flagship series from NationSwell — will spotlight the standard-bearing corporate sustainability leaders, entrepreneurs, experts, philanthropists, and more whose catalytic work has the potential to shape the landscape of progress amid the urgent need for environmental action. 

For this installment, NationSwell interviewed William McDonough, Chief Executive of McDonough Innovation and an architect focused on sustainable design.

Jason Rissman, Chief Experience Officer, NationSwell: Bill, you’ve been a visionary leader in environmental and climate action for decades — how would you describe our current moment in sustainability?

Bill McDonough: I think the key element for me is what I would describe as the discovery of the obvious: we can design like nature where waste equals food, rely on natural energy flows, and celebrate biodiversity. There is a regenerative biosphere and a circular technosphere that we want to be renewably powered. We want clean water for every child every day. All these things are obvious, and then you realize it wasn’t obvious 20 years ago, or 40 years ago when we started. 

At this point everyone should be aware that climate is an existential problem because we are all experiencing it firsthand, and because of that we have so many more people engaging with positive behaviors than we did a long time ago. We felt lonely in this work at the beginning 40 years ago, but we don’t feel lonely anymore.

Rissman, NationSwell: In the face of macro factors like the economy, rising interest rates, and anti-ESG backlash, some leaders have felt compelled to be less vocal about their commitments, but increasingly it also seems to mean they’re able to commit to less. I’m curious if you’re seeing that as well, and what advice you might have for these leaders?

Bill McDonough: There’s a fundamental problem with the way ESG has been framed and presented to the commercial sector. In general, the word ‘sustainable’ sounds like maintenance; if somebody asked what your relationship to your spouse was like and you said, sustainable, it doesn’t sound like much fun. 

I think the missing opportunity was not that sustainability was the wrong term, but now we’re realizing that we need to be more than just sustainable, or neutral, or less bad, we also have to be positive. I see all this net zero ambition being thrown around everywhere, but in a way, net zero just means you’re trying to be “net zero bad”. To stop relentless emissions of greenhouse gasses or polluting water is important, and it needs to be done, but it’s also not adequate — we also need to do positive things. 

So to me, the fundamental problem with ESG is that it’s been handed off to the people in the economic sector to operate when it’s really for all of us to do our work — and about how elegantly we can combine all of our efforts in economy, environment, and society with a coherent governance on all our parts, both commercial and regulatory.

Rissman, NationSwell: What advice would you give to Chief Sustainability Officers to help them to refuel the momentum and grow the impact they can have?

Bill McDonough: I do think it’s critical that the CEO has to be, in effect, the Chief Sustainability Officer too — it’s a hard road for a CSO who doesn’t have the approbation of the entire C-suite. 

The key to it all is that we move away from linear and degenerative enterprise to regenerative activities for the natural world, circular activities for the technical world, and the two associated economies move together in that direction. The key to me is explaining to CEOs how they can make their company grow, how they can grow revenue — and the way to do that is not just harming the environment less (valuable eco-efficiency), but actually focusing on how to support the environment and make it better while you do business — eco-effectiveness. That is the positive future of commerce.

Rissman, NationSwell: What do you think is not getting enough attention right now?

Bill McDonough: I think when everyone is focusing on net zero, you can end up with all your charts looking like down charts, and most people in the business world do not love charts that go down to the right — that’s not what they’re looking for. So what we want is to get them charts that go up to the right, which means positive performance and growth. 

So that’s a critical reframe: You don’t just say, How am I doing on my emissions? You also ask, How much renewable power am I able to substitute for carbon-based energy? Have I really thought about how to inset this good behavior into my company profitably, rather than simply continue to behave as I am and ask for offsets from someone else?

If we look at what Microsoft is doing, looking at taking care of their carbon debt over time, or now Google, Meta, or Amazon, all of them are moving toward being renewed companies and they’re looking at their debt of carbon needed. These kinds of things are really excellent because they encourage people to bring it into their business and into their lives and close to the production. 

Rissman, NationSwell: I know you work as an advisor around the world with governments and companies and all sorts of organizations. What are you seeing and hearing outside the U.S. that you think we should be considering?

Bill McDonough: I have a particular interest in what my partners and I call Hybrid Renewables that are about to show up in the Midwest based on the work of Dan Juhl. They are essentially regenerative power approaches that use local power from wind and solar as well as battery storage to optimize delivery to the local mid-grid in real-time. I think that kind of thing is hugely valuable for the country because it means we don’t have to upgrade the big grid and we can get the power to the people who really need it in a resilient way. And the surprising thing is, if we distribute it properly and then optimize it with digital intelligence, we can get a smart grid at all scales, which is quite wonderful, really. So I think it’s the kind of thing that we need to look at — not just the big systems, but the many small systems. 

I’m also finding with my work in the Middle East that we’re looking at solar moving below two cents per kilowatt hour. These incredibly low prices are a phenomenon, and once you can start imagining even one cent per kilowatt hour, you can start imagining all kinds of other things, including hydrogen approaching parity with diesel in terms of cost, at exporting ammonia as a way of shipping hydrogen, and so on. Those things all stack up. 

Rissman, NationSwell: Who are some of the leaders that have impressed you — who do you think is reflecting a type of leadership that is needed for today, and what can other leaders learn from them?

Bill McDonough: One company I’m advising makes various materials used in the fashion industry from plant-based sources, and in our language, that’s the regenerative biosphere — it’s very elegant and very exciting to see. Those are the kinds of companies that other people can copy now that it exists. 

If we can make the world we want exist, then it is possible for most people; if we make it look impossible, then they just don’t even want to try. So my job as a professional visionary is to make things exist so that that world becomes possible. 

The things that really excite me are projects that are principled: they take care of nature and they follow the laws of nature. As an architect, I have to follow the law of gravity — it’s not just a good idea, it’s a law. The idea that things could circulate and be reused is key — we like to say we design for end of use, not for the end of life for products. We actually go further to design for next use for the regenerative and circular economies. This is what I call design for perpetual assets. 

Rissman, NationSwell: You’ve brought bold thinking to the table for many years, from pioneering green architecture to developing the Cradle to Cradle paradigm that’s really shifted thinking and been the precedent for an inspiration for circular economy. What are some of the bold ambitions that you’re holding now?

Bill McDonough: Tip O’Neill said all politics is local, and to me all sustainability is local. Whether it’s where you’re sourcing a material or mining or forestry or palm oil extraction, I think the key thing is coming home and getting close to it.

I’m working on a project in the Middle East where we’ve recently found a way to use dune sand for concrete. Apparently, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai was constructed using concrete made with sand imported from Australia. We have not been able to use dune sand in concrete because it is wind-eroded and consists of round beads that cannot be sharp and adhere to each other. So working at KAUST, we researched this issue and have now launched a company to convert dune sand into competent sand for high-strength concrete. This means we find our sources close to home instead of from halfway around the world. It reduces the carbon footprint for transportation as well as other attendant costs. Why would I want to import something from 11,000 miles away when I can make it nearby? 

I like to tell my clients that nature doesn’t have resources, it has sources, and it’s the job of humans to turn them into resources, to use them again. It’s not a question of damaging the environment, it’s a question of optimizing materials that we have now figured out how to reuse. 

Rissman, NationSwell: Is there anything else related to sustainability that’s at the top of your mind right now?

Bill McDonough: I think we need to question our human values, not just value. This is not just looking for truth and science in numbers and quantities; less and more. It is about looking for meaning, ethics, and beauty; for right and wrong. 

To me, it all comes back to love. We all love our children, there’s nobody I know that does not love a child. So how do we love all the children of all species for all time? If you put that question in front of your activity and say, let’s see if we can’t help with that, you will end up with the giant green roof, with products that go back to soil safely and don’t degrade habitats, with natural energy systems. By asking, “How do we love the Earth and love each other and love the creative work we get to do as humans?” we’re asking the perfect meta question.