There aren’t many people who’ve managed to build a high-end career across communications, strategic sustainable transformation and business consultancy, and been at the forefront of all of them.

In many ways, Anna Lungley’s, head of sustainability consultancy at Fujitsu, story mirrors how large businesses have approached, embraced and adapted to the sustainability agenda over the past 20 years. Her journey has taken her from technology communications agency-side and in-house to leading sustainability programmes for a FTSE100 firm, then chief sustainability officer for a global advertising business and now leading sustainability for Fujitsu’s consulting business.

It’s also fair to say that in all of that, she has never shirked a challenge, and dived head-first into complex and global goals rather than tinkering around the edges.

Lungley has always been passionate about climate change, and human rights, from a young age. She lobbied for Friends of the Earth at school, studied law at university and then joined a communications agency because she wanted to work on campaigns. After several years she moved in-house to BT and, whilst working in the Group press office, launched the company’s first carbon intensity target. Through that, she met the then-CSO, Dr Chris Tuppen, and joined him to direct sustainability strategy.

“The role of CSO is to drive business transformation,: said Lungley. “And in that capacity my communications skills have served me well. They’ve helped me to craft stories, connecting with people on a deeper level to inspire action.

“And, my experience in change communications, crisis communications and public affairs have all proved valuable skills. But it also has its downsides — I’m allergic to greenwashing and can spot a fake headline a mile away.”

As her career has morphed from communications to sustainability leadership, she has become more central to the business she has worked for — in parallel with its strategic importance to those firms. Whereas, then-CSR was typically undertaken as a series of side projects and seen as a nice-to-have, now it is a board-level ongoing imperative, with goals and investments tied to factors like Scope 3 priorities and other scientific measurements of change.

“When I started working in this field, The Cambridge Institute of Sustainability Leadership was investing considerable resources convincing senior leaders that there was in fact a problem,” she said. “Today, those leaders are all too familiar with the problem. They understand the business imperative to transform, they know where their Scope 3 hotspots are, and ESG is on the board -level agenda.”

After BT, Lungley joined global advertising firm Dentsu as CSO, appointed to the global executive team because sustainability drove brand, reputation, new business and talent retention. It was not just about transforming the business, but driving its growth. Last year, she joined Fujitsu’s consulting business as the lead on sustainability, working with client teams and advising clients on business transformation projects.

It may be a different kind of consultancy to that in her first agency role advising companies how to shape tech stories for the media, but many of her communication skills are just as relevant today. They also help her to maintain strong relationships with communications colleagues.

“You cannot change culture, or organisations, without a compelling narrative. And the transition journey is long, so you need to continuously reinforce the message, and celebrate progress. If you don’t you will lose people on the journey,” she said.

“It works best when the sustainability team provides the data, insight and strategic direction and where the communications team breathes life through creativity, structure and delivery. I’ve been lucky to work with some exceptional talent over the years — particularly in my role as CSO of Dentsu. From a communications perspective, this is a topic that people want to engage with too, so it’s a magnet for talent.”

After over 25 years across communications, sustainability and consultancy, Lungley expects sustainable change to continue to become more integrated into all aspects of decision- making, despite the politicisation of investment priorities and corporate commitments. In doing that, the requirement for reliable data will become even more critical, and even more complex across global supply chains that will need to embrace blockchain, AI and quantum computing.

“Any rollback creates uncertainty, undermines global co-operation, and sends the wrong signal. But it’s not the first time we’ve been here, and I don't believe it will derail the overall drive for better business. The momentum is too strong,” she said.

“Advocates may go underground – the focus on ‘sustainability’ will be replaced with a focus on innovation, risk and resilience. Just like DEI will be replaced by ‘fair and just hiring practices’. Ultimately, the market will continue to drive the transition.”

Her advice for anyone in a communications job considering moving into a sustainability role? Swot up on the science. There are multiple free and inexpensive courses covering emissions science, reporting obligations and everything being done to bring more rigour to change.

Having begun her career grappling with the science of servers and software has certainly turned out to be a strong foundation.