Responsible Leadership
q&a series

With Adam Hall
Sustainability Strategist

Introducing Adam Hall,
a sustainability strategist, charity leader, and ecosystem advocate with more than 18 years’ experience delivering high-impact environmental transformation across corporate, community, and nature-protection settings.

[Q:] What moment, personal or professional, shifted your
perspective from profit to
purpose, or made you
realise you couldn’t lead
any other way?

I understand profit is essential to operate, I’m pragmatic with my actions, but I’ve never been interested in the pure pursuit of profit - if it's not making a positive impact. I’m not interested. I never have!

No one knows what they are doing, particularly now in these uncertain changeable times - there are just people with good intentions and good experience.

Profit is always yesterdays news, purpose and impact lasts a lifetime (but you need profit to keep doing the purpose bit!)

When a simple country boy stands up in front of hundreds of people and they listen to me… and sometimes even nod!

All the time - my voluntary work is all encompassing and detracts from the hours and days I could be getting paid (long gone are the days when the right thing to do was to fill your bank account to give your kids a better chance in life, it's now about working tirelessly to hand over a liveable planet in some sort of decent shape) Professional, I often have to challenge the norm and that’s not always ‘popular’ but people respect that challenge if it comes from a good and genuine place backed with science.

Frequently, the reality is that we have to be pragmatists and many situations I’ve had to compromise, but safe in the knowledge that the general trajectory is up (or down in the case of carbon emissions).

'Sustainability costs more' - it doesn’t. (Sustainability and operational efficiency are intrinsically linked)

My 6 and 10 year old daughters who are baffled by the barriers we put up stopping from doing the right thing - it grounds me and reminds me it's not about the ‘But’ it's about the must!

They are often interlinked and many professional relationships value my voluntary work, its also gives me a deeper insight into the sustainability needs of our planet.

This: https://www.iisd.org/gsi/news-events/reforming-subsidies-could-help-pay-clean-energy-revolution-report

At the start of the decision making process - stop, pause, consider and check against the most sustainable options in every decision.

Community is key and conversations in all communities and how they play a part in safeguarding the wellbeing of our home planet is vital.

I hope they feel that they don't have to sit on the sidelines and watch the areas they love be depleted or destroyed and that anyone, from any background can and should make difference.

[ Adam Clarke bio ]

[ Adam's work has been showcased as a case study by both the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, underscoring his reputation for designing and implementing scalable, future-ready solutions.

In the corporate sphere, Adam has delivered ambitious sustainability strategies. He achieved a 93.67% reduction in Scope 1 & 2 emissions, 93.3% recycling rates, 99.72% plastic-free packaging, and 96.72% recycled content for an £80m+ turnover business, a transformation that gained high focus in the industry. More recently, he established a 338,000-tonne carbon-reduction plan for a major corporate, aligning science-based targets with commercially viable pathways.

Beyond corporate work, Adam plays a central role in surf-ecosystem protection. He is the co-founder of the North Devon World Surfing Reserve, working within the global surf-conservation community through Save the Waves Coalition. He also serves as the part-time CEO of the 2 Minute Foundation and a trustee of Protect Our Winters UK, leading programmes that blend science, stewardship, and community-driven climate and environmental action.

Across all his roles, Adam is recognised for combining scientific rigour, practical problem-solving, and entrepreneurial creativity. He remains driven by a clear mission: to help organisations and communities make measurable, meaningful progress toward a resilient and regenerative future.]

RESPONSIBLE LEADERSHIP

Do Epic Good's Responsible Leadership Q&A series spotlights voices who are leading with integrity, courage and impact. These are people like you. People who remind us that no matter what industry you are in, responsible leadership is the only way to lead.

If you want to nominate yourself or a leader you admire to be featured in our Responsible Leadership Q&A, we’d love to hear from you. Get in touch at [email protected]

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