What is to be done?

Joel, Sasja and Carolina reflect on the season's 15 episodes, which have explored growth and economic systems from widely different perspectives -- from techno-optimists to advocates of an entirely new economic system. They conclude that the series has succeeded in keeping the tension between different viewpoints alive, but that they want to meet more entrepreneurs in the next season.

The conversation moves through several theme...

We spoke with John Fullerton, author of Regenerative Economics and former top banker, about why the economic system isn't broken and working exactly as designed. And that's the problem.

His core argument: we built the economy like a machine. But life doesn't work like a machine. And no amount of carbon taxes or ESG reporting will fix a design flaw that deep.

What would it look like to build an economy like a living system instead?

Tha...

This week we sit down with Olly Lawder, a strategist and storyteller with extensive experience in sustainability communications. We trace the arc of sustainability communication from its origins in corporate philanthropy and early CSR, through the rise of ambitious net zero targets and "rock star CEOs," to the more cautious and compliance-driven moment we find ourselves in today. Along the way, we ask an uncomfortable question...

In our latest episode of What is to be Done, we sat down with Steve Rocco, co-founder of the Arketa Institute, to talk about one of the most fundamental challenges of our time: the gap between modern science and the economic theories that still govern our financial systems. What makes Steve's perspective particularly striking is where it comes from. He has spent his career inside the financial system, from trading desks at Bank of ...

While the rest of the world debates whether to take sustainability seriously, Japan is quietly getting on with it. In this episode, your co-host Sasja takes centre stage. Based part-time in Tokyo, where he manages Japan's first domestically-run mid-cap impact fund, Sasja brings four years of on-the-ground experience to one of the world's most underreported sustainability stories. We explore the physical reality of climate change hi...

In this episode, Joel and Carolina explore the green transition from a growth perspective. From China's record-breaking solar installations to India's emergence as a global scaling platform for climate technologies, the shift toward a cleaner economy is accelerating, just not where most people are looking. We also dig into why Western economies remain stuck in fossil fuel dependency despite the obvious strategic and economic case f...

In this session we explore the idea of Shared Value. It is easy to assume that corporations have always existed exclusively to maximize returns for shareholders. But historically that was not always the case. In the nineteenth century many U.S. states required companies to demonstrate a societal benefit in order to obtain limited liability.

Over time this view shifted. A famous turning point came in 1919 when the Dodge brot...

In this third episode on labour rights, What Is To Be Done? meets two entrepreneurs attempting to address one of the most persistent challenges of globalization: how to ensure that human rights are actually respected in global supply chains, not just monitored on paper. Shameek Ghosh, founder of TrusTrace, and Erika Wennerström, CEO of Quizrr, represent two complementary approaches to the problem. TrusTrace focuses on tra...

In our first session on labour rights, we focused on global supply chains. In the second session, we shift to a more European perspective. The right to organise and to engage in collective bargaining has been fundamental to the construction of Europe’s welfare states and a core element of the social contract between the state, capital, and citizens. These rights were even written into the peace treaties signed in Versailles a...

After dedicating four episodes to unpacking and turning the concept of growth inside out, we now move on to a much more specific dimension of sustainable development: labour rights. In the next three episodes, we will examine how fundamental human rights at work are respected and implemented across global value chains. We’ll be speaking with world-leading academics, local trade union representatives, and entrepreneurs to unde...

After three conversations on growth, it’s time to pause, step back, and reflect. In this fourth episode, Sasja Beslik, Carolina Sachs, and Joel Lindefors come together to summarize and unpack the different perspectives we’ve explored so far. We revisit our conversations with Sam Tidswell, who argued that technological innovation and capital can enable continued growth even on a finite planet; with Isadora Wronskij from ...

In the first part of our growth trilogy, we explored what infinite growth on a finite planet might look like. In the second conversation, we depart from the opposite position and explore what system-level change could look like, what needs to grow, what needs to shrink, and what it means to build a future defined not by excess, but by enough. Our guest in the studio is Isadora Wronskij from Greenpeace International.

Greenpeace I...

After our initial pilot episode, we’re diving straight into one of the many complex themes we plan to explore. First up is the concept of growth, which we’ll devote three episodes and three interviews to. At the end of this trilogy, we’ll share our own reflections on the different perspectives offered by our guests.

In the first part of the trilogy, we meet Sam Tidswell, a venture capitalist focusing on cutting...