The Responsible Edge Podcast
by Charlie Martin, Host
How to communicate responsibly.The Responsible Edge explores responsible marketing, reporting and communications through expert analysis of the latest opinion and research.Each episode, Charlie Martin and an expert guest unpack an article, report or piece of research and explore what it means in practice. From credible claims to brand trust, discover the ideas shaping how organisations communicate.New episodes every week. Sponsored by truMRK.
Episodes
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Who Really Pays for Ethical Tea?
In May 2025, Kenya suspended Rainforest Alliance tea certifications. The audit costs were falling on factories and farmers, while UK buyers who required the seal were not funding it. Zahra Afshar, General Counsel at Ahmad Tea, joins Charlie Martin to examine the structural problem and what one...
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Rage Bait Gets the Reach. Here Is What It Costs.
Chris Pratt on the CBS article naming rage bait marketing as the dominant communication tactic of 2025 and asking what it really costs. This week on The Responsible Edge, why algorithmically-amplified outrage is pushing climate discourse to the fringes, why the CIPR’s 2026 State of the Profession...
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When Social Impact Looks Good but Leaves People Worse Off
Can a business invest in its community and still leave people worse off? In this episode of The Responsible Edge, Charlie speaks with Thomas Abuhanian Neto, co-founder of Social Impact in Brazil, about the gap between corporate good intentions and genuine social impact. Drawing on examples of...
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The Deleted Email: Why Good People Break the Rules
Philippa Hann on the Ethico article arguing that most misconduct is committed by ordinary people, not calculating bad actors. This week on The Responsible Edge, why good people know when they are crossing a line and rationalise it anyway, why ethics training misses the moments that matter, and…
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Radical Transparency Is Asserted as a Competitive Advantage. Prove It.
Andrew Horsfall on a 2026 Entrepreneur article arguing radical transparency is the new competitive advantage, written by the CEO of an online reputation management firm, with no data to back the claim. This week on The Responsible Edge, why risk mitigation drives disclosure more than…
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How Responsible Sustainability Communication Builds Brand Trust
Andy Last and Gareth Brown on the Anti-Greenwash Charter's 2026 roundtable with nine purpose-led brands. This week on The Responsible Edge, how responsible sustainability communication builds commercial trust, why precision creates competitive advantage, and how the Charter and truMRK make...
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ESG's Governance Problem Is Also an Equivocation Problem
Benjamin Thiele-Long on the PA Future article arguing ESG investing has a governance problem. This week on The Responsible Edge, why the G is not the poor cousin of ESG but its precondition, why "may be" and "can" are doing the wrong work in an argument that should commit, and what it means to…
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The Trust Crisis Was Predicted in 2002. It Has Now Arrived.
Aimee Rawlins on the trust crisis Onora O'Neill predicted in 2002 and the Reuters and Edelman data confirming it has arrived. This week on The Responsible Edge, why fake news is now a feeling as much as a fact, what local news deserts are doing to communities, and why giving the NLRB enforcement...
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Construction Social Value: Hitting Targets, Missing Communities
Timothy Clement on why construction social value has become a procurement game fifteen years after the Social Value Act. This week on The Responsible Edge, why hitting the targets and missing the community are not in contradiction, and what a three-year post-completion evaluation would change....
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Should Companies Appoint a Chief Trust Officer?
Matt Bourn on the Fortune case for a Chief Trust Officer, written by Edelman's U.S. Head of Corporate Reputation. This week on The Responsible Edge, why the diagnosis of trust as unowned across the C-suite is accurate, why a new C-suite role may not fix it, and what the shift from the attention...
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CMOs Know What They Should Do. Why Aren't They Doing It?
Dr Leeya Hendricks on the Lippincott CMO Outlook 2026 and the gap between what marketing leaders know they should do and what they are actually doing. This week on The Responsible Edge, why the short-term credibility trade-off is costing CMOs something harder to recover than a quarterly target....
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The CSO Role Is Growing. Here Is How the Best Ones Operate
A 2025 Korn Ferry report finds that the Chief Sustainability Officer role is becoming one of the most strategic positions in the enterprise. Sixty-two percent of executives surveyed plan to increase sustainability budgets. The shift is real. So is the nuance underneath it. In this episode of The...
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Accountants Could Unlock SME Net Zero. Here's How.
Harriet Hodgson-Grove on the accounting profession's role in the UK's £105 billion net zero economy. This week on The Responsible Edge, why accountants are uniquely placed to unlock SME decarbonisation, and how embedding carbon reporting in standard practice could transform the journey to 2030....
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RBC and Scotiabank Dropped Their Targets. What Replaced Them?
In April 2026, Scotiabank and Royal Bank of Canada both withdrew their 2030 interim financed emissions reduction targets. Scotiabank went further, retiring its 2050 net zero goal entirely. Both cited changing policy assumptions, reduced data availability, and an investment environment in which...
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ISSB Adoption Is Growing. Why That May Not Be Enough.
As of April 2026, twenty-eight jurisdictions have adopted the ISSB's sustainability disclosure standards. A further twelve are planning to. South Korea, Japan, and the United Kingdom have each issued domestic versions. The S&P Global report tracking this progress is detailed, comprehensive, and...
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The Two Economies Making Climate Disinformation Pay
During the May 2026 heatwave, a familiar set of narratives circulated across European platforms. Heatwaves have always existed. Scientists manipulate data. The media exaggerates. The claims were recycled. The infrastructure distributing them was not improvised. In this episode of The Responsible...
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Why Remote Workers Risk Becoming Invisible
Remote work expanded access to talent. It reduced geographic barriers and gave organisations new flexibility. But did it also create a new problem? In this episode of The Responsible Edge, Christopher Carter, CEO of Approyo, discusses the hidden trade-off inside hybrid work. After building teams...
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Britain Promises Veterans Support. It Breaks Down When They Leave.
A 2026 report, After Service: The Hidden Costs of Britain's Military on its Veterans, documents a specific failure. The legal commitments made to service leavers exist. At the transition point, they break down. Ten percent of service leavers struggle to find employment in year one. A further...
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Why Western Climate Frameworks Keep Misreading China
China is the world's largest carbon emitter and its largest producer of solar panels, electric vehicles, and battery storage. Those facts are not a paradox. From a Chinese cultural and political perspective, they are entirely consistent. In this episode of The Responsible Edge, host Charlie…
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The Green Transition Needs More Mining. Who Is Responsible?
The energy transition has a materials problem most corporate sustainability reports do not address. Wind turbines, electric vehicles, and grid-scale batteries require cobalt, lithium, and nickel extracted from mines. The governance architecture sitting between those mines and the finished product...
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Why Fossil Fuels Still Sponsor Events They're Destroying
Greenpeace has called out the International Olympic Committee for accepting sponsorship from Eni, the Italian fossil fuel company, for the 2026 Winter Games. The charge is precise: a company contributing to global warming is funding an event whose future depends on snow and ice. In this episode…
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40% of Leaders Want to Quit. What Happens If They Do?
Research suggests forty percent of stressed senior leaders are currently considering stepping down. That figure arrives as organisations face climate risk, AI disruption, and shifting workforce expectations simultaneously. The leadership most needed is the leadership most at risk. In this episode...
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Why Doom-Led Climate Messaging Makes People Switch Off
Climate communication has a problem that more data will not fix. Research from the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication shows that 72 percent of Americans believe global warming is happening, but only 45 percent expect it to harm them personally. Scientific consensus messaging, the most...
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Does OpenAI's PBC Status Mean Anything Legally?
When OpenAI completed its restructuring as a Delaware Public Benefit Corporation in October 2025, it did not create any new mandate to publish safety metrics, disclose how outputs are generated, or give civil society organisations formal standing in governance. A public benefit corporation…
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Why ESG Reporting Is Burning Out Sustainability Teams
Most sustainability professionals inside organisations spend the majority of their time on reporting. That was not the original intent. In this episode of The Responsible Edge, host Charlie Martin speaks with Kelsey Parsons, a global sustainability consultant and former in-house sustainability...
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Construction Contracts vs the Circular Economy
Circular economy is one of the clearest ideas in sustainable construction. Close material loops, reuse existing structures, extend the life of assets. The business case has been made. So why does it stall in practice? In this episode of The Responsible Edge, Charlie Martin speaks with structural...
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Why Climate Action Fails at the Checkout
Climate communication is often treated as a messaging problem. This episode examines why that assumption may be flawed. The discussion centres on a widely shared article arguing that climate messaging should become more human, more local, and more relevant. While this addresses tone, it may...
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Can Payments Change How We Spend?
Consumers transact daily with limited visibility into who they are buying from. At the same time, trust in institutions is fragmenting, and information is abundant but contested. In this episode, Raja Darbari, co-founder of Ample, explains how payment data can be used to surface sustainability...
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Why Office Furniture Waste Still Exists
Office furniture waste is not a materials problem. It is a system problem. In this episode, Dr Greg Lavery explains why large volumes of usable office furniture are still discarded every day in the UK. Decisions are driven by lease cycles, procurement incentives, and design trends rather than…
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Why Ethics Disappears Under Leadership Pressure
In this episode of The Responsible Edge, Pablo Lloyd examines why ethics often fails in real business environments. The common explanation is lack of time. Leaders are under pressure, dealing with targets, and moving quickly. Ethics is seen as an additional burden. Pablo challenges that directly....
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Why CSOs Can’t Turn 15-Year Climate Risk into 12-Month Profit
Sustainability strategy is increasingly central to business. But financial systems are not built to support it. In this episode, Amelia Woodley explains why Chief Sustainability Officers face a structural challenge. Businesses operate on short-term reporting cycles, while sustainability risks...
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How Charlie Bigham's Eliminated Edible Food Waste
Food waste remains one of the largest inefficiencies in the global food system. Around one billion tonnes of food are wasted every year. In this episode of The Responsible Edge, Charlie Bigham discusses how these issues appear inside a real food manufacturing business. Charlie started the company...
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The Hidden Reality Behind “Green” Paint
The paint industry increasingly presents itself as sustainable. Labels highlight “water-based”, “low VOC”, and other environmental claims. But what actually sits inside the tin? In this episode of The Responsible Edge, Charlie Martin speaks with historic building envelope consultant and paint...
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When Certification Replaces Stewardship
Sustainability standards are designed to drive real-world impact. Certification schemes cite income gains, biodiversity protection and improved environmental management. But do they transform systems, or simply standardise compliance? In this episode of The Responsible Edge, Pooran Desai, founder...
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Why Only 1% of Materials Are Reused in Construction
The built environment produces more than one third of global waste. Yet only around one percent of building materials are reused. In this episode, Tina Snedker Kristensen, founder of BuildDirection and former Head of Sustainability & Communications at Troldtekt A/S, examines why circularity in...
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Why Compostables Preserve the Problem
Compostable packaging is widely presented as a sustainable alternative to plastic. But does it solve the core issue? In this episode of The Responsible Edge, Clare Brass, Co-founder and Chief Product Officer at Moree, examines why compostables often fail in practice and why recycling cannot keep...
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Boards Say They’re Prepared for a Cyber Attack. Are They?
Most boards believe they are prepared for a cyber attack. Joseph Hubback reviewed research showing that 94% of boards feel comfortable with their security posture. Yet cyber attacks continue every week. In this episode of The Responsible Edge, Joseph explains why cyber risk becomes an executive...
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When Ethical Agencies Choose to Work Inside Flawed Systems
Should agencies be held responsible for the harm caused by their clients? In this episode of The Responsible Edge, we examine one of the most difficult questions facing consultancies and creative agencies today. As scrutiny around greenwashing, ethics, and accountability intensifies, neutrality…
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Why doing less is one of leadership’s hardest skills
Many organisations are busy without being effective. Projects multiply, initiatives overlap, and leaders spend increasing time maintaining activity rather than deciding what should stop. In this episode of The Responsible Edge, John reflects on why motion is often mistaken for progress, and why...
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AI in Executive Search: Where Human Judgment Still Wins
Artificial intelligence is moving fast into executive search. Promising speed, scale, and efficiency, it is reshaping how leaders are identified and shortlisted. In this episode of The Responsible Edge, Simon Heal, founder of Myco Search, explains why judgment cannot be automated when leadership...
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When Climate Targets Close Factories
The UK’s emissions are falling. But what if the numbers are hiding a deeper problem? In this episode of The Responsible Edge, Charlie Martin speaks with Sarah Le Gresley, Group Innovation and Sustainability Director at Michelmersh Brick Holdings, about the difference between territorial and...
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Why Hard Experience Is Becoming a Hiring Asset
Recruiting for frontline roles has become increasingly difficult. Employers face high turnover, rising training costs, and constant pressure on customer-facing staff. In this episode of The Responsible Edge, we speak with Christy Acton, founder and CEO of Standing Tall, about why some employers…
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The Hidden Costs of Urban Sprawl
Urban sprawl is often framed as a practical response to growth. Land is cheaper. Housing can be delivered quickly. Political resistance appears lower. But the long-term consequences are rarely counted. In this episode of The Responsible Edge, architect and urban designer Alec Tzannes reflects on...
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Why Trust in AI Depends on Transparency
As AI moves deeper into organisations, trust is becoming a design challenge rather than a cultural aspiration. In this episode of The Responsible Edge, Charlie Martin speaks with Steve Garnett about a defining moment from Salesforce’s early cloud years. When systems failed, leadership chose to...
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What the ESG Backlash Really Means for Business
The ESG backlash is real, but it is often misunderstood. In this episode of The Responsible Edge, Charlie Martin speaks with Jonathan Hall, Managing Partner of Kantar’s Sustainable Transformation Practice, about what is actually happening inside businesses as sustainability becomes politically...
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Regenerative Strategy Explained
What does it mean for a business to move beyond sustainability and into regeneration? In this episode of The Responsible Edge, consultant and Overstory Earth co founder Zoe Duvall breaks down the shift with clarity and grounded experience. Zoe explains why many organisations are discovering that...
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How to Decarbonise Fashion Supply Chains
Can fashion supply chains cut emissions at scale while keeping factories competitive. In this episode of The Responsible Edge, Charlie speaks with Jamie Rusby, co founder of Generation One and former sustainability leader at IKEA and VELUX. Jamie shares the reality facing many manufacturers in...
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Why SMEs Must Take Sustainability Seriously
How long can a business survive if its biggest customer decides it is too risky to keep? This episode of The Responsible Edge explores the new pressure facing small and medium-sized businesses. Sustainability is no longer a distant idea. Large organisations and public bodies now expect real...
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The Truth About Tree Planting and Climate Impact
Can planting trees help cool the planet, or has it become a simple story that hides a complex truth? This episode of The Responsible Edge looks at how tree planting grew into a global trend and why many projects do not deliver real results. We explore how one company learned from early mistakes,...
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How to fix the language of sustainability
Most people care about sustainability, they just don’t understand how it’s talked about anymore.In this episode, two experienced communications leaders unpack why the climate conversation lost its way, and how simple, honest language can bring people back in.They explore:- Why emotion alone can’t...
About this show
How to communicate responsibly.The Responsible Edge explores responsible marketing, reporting and communications through expert analysis of the latest opinion and research.Each episode, Charlie Martin and an expert guest unpack an article, report or piece of research and explore what it means in practice. From credible claims to brand trust, discover the ideas shaping how organisations communicate.New episodes every week. Sponsored by truMRK.
Hosted by
Charlie Martin, Host