So how can consumers be persuaded to act? The first option is to explore generic insight into behaviour change. Unilever, for example, has defined five levers for sustainable living or tips to persuade consumers to act. Make it: understood; easy to act; desirable; rewarding; and habitual.

With rising populations creating more mouths to feed, newly affluent citizens in developing countries hungry for meat and other resource-intensive foods, growing global water stress and changes in climate, agricultural supply chains are facing unprecedented pressure.

From castor oil to carpet tiles, Martin Wright explores an innovative approach that promises new markets for one of India's most resilient crops.

Today we celebrate volunteers and volunteering across the world. But for us this is not just a celebration of volunteers as a token, 'useful' contribution to enable the paid staff to carry on with their work; but as true partners, fellow family members working together to bring lasting change to people who are in pain.

When we launched our eco and ethical programme, Plan A, in 2007 we made some big bold product related commitments. For example, to get all our wood and fish from the most sustainable source possible. It wasn't the wrong thing to do but we were looking through the lens of 'issue' rather than 'product'.

In the fourth part of our 'As If People Matter' series, we take the investor's perspective, as they too try and make sense of a changing world. -- "In...

Who would want to be a business leader in these volatile times? The debate about boardroom pay and excess rages, the global economy is so volatile it is hard to plan anything with conviction, issues of ethics and trust echo through the media, and then there are more icebergs looming on the horizon: resource scarcity, soaring energy prices, and the increasing impact of climate change.

"The biggest challenge in sustainability is engaging people and delivering the necessary behavioural change. This is all about how to turn a moment in...

Ultimately, the transition towards sustainable business is inevitable, given the combined impact of the challenges we face. For those businesses looking to fully embed sustainability principles, there is also a big prize waiting. And who wouldn't want some of that?

It's ironic and symbolic of our times that an area of the world now appallingly wealthy thanks to being stocked to the eyeballs with oil is now under threat from the unsustainable impact of its trade in the black gold.

Earlier this year the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, said young people needed to be included in national delegations to UN meetings, including next year's increasingly crucial Rio+20 conference.