From St Pauls to climate change

This week found me under the watchful dome of St Paul’s Cathedral, speaking at a gathering of sharp minds and open hearts in the City of London. It was an inspiring setting to reflect on the scale of the climate challenge we face, and to talk honestly about what’s needed to overcome it.

And my talk centred about not leaving it till a minute to midnight 2049 hoping that the silver bullet or magic pill has turned up by then to see us safely in to net zero 2050.

We were just steps away from the trading floors and legal chambers that power the UK’s economic engine, and yet the conversation was far from dry policy or spreadsheets. It was alive. Urgent. And hopeful.

I was invited to speak about agency, agility and enthusiasm, three words that sound like management jargon in the wrong hands, but when viewed through the lens of the climate crisis, they take on real meaning.

Let’s start with agency. One of the biggest traps in sustainability is the idea that it’s someone else’s job. That it’s for government, or scientists, or NGOs. But the truth is: the moment you realise you have a role to play, whether you’re a logistics planner, a teacher, a refinery manager or a 10-year-old writing a school project on bees, things start to change.

We all have agency. We all influence outcomes. The sooner we stop waiting to be told what to do and start acting on what we can do, the faster progress will come. Agency is about realising that you’re not a passenger on this journey, you’re holding the map.

Then there’s agility. Our old ways of thinking are too slow for the pace of change that’s needed. Linear models, take, make, use, dispose, simply don’t cut it anymore. The linear economy is a relic of a time when waste wasn’t weighed against environmental limits.

Now, agility means being willing to rethink everything. At Syntech, that agility shows up in how we treat waste not as a burden but as a feedstock. We ask different questions: What could this become? How can it be used again? Could this chip-shop oil power a generator. Could yesterday’s carbon cost be tomorrow’s innovation?

Agility also means moving quickly, piloting, prototyping, and pivoting. We can’t spend a decade in strategy rooms perfecting the plan while the planet burns. Circular thinking needs to be mainstreamed into how we build, produce, transport, and even cook. It’s not about being reckless, it’s about being responsive.

And then there’s enthusiasm. Let’s be honest: climate conversations can get heavy. But if we want people to follow us into a more sustainable future, we need to invite them, not guilt-trip them. That’s where enthusiasm comes in. There’s a joy to be found in doing the right thing, especially when it involves collaboration.

I see that joy every week, from kids planting beebombs outside their schools, to engineers testing new carbon-capture methods, to the truck racing team we work with who proudly run their lorries on low-carbon fuel.

The truth is, we need all three: agency, agility and enthusiasm. When combined, they drive action. They’re the opposite of despair. They’re antidotes to greenwashing. They’re also how you build momentum, and let’s face it, momentum is what this decade demands.

One of the most striking things about speaking near St Paul’s was the symbolism. Here we were, in the shadow of a monument that has stood through fire, blitz, and centuries of change. And yet it remains.

That’s the kind of legacy we need to think about. Will what we build now, systems, policies, behaviours, stand the test of time? Or are we still laying foundations in sand?

At Syntech, we like to say we’re part of the shift from extraction to regeneration. We don’t just want to lessen the harm, we want to add value back into the system. That means working across sectors, sharing knowledge, and being unafraid to fail forward. It means challenging assumptions. It means treating circularity not as a buzzword but as a blueprint.

So, whether you’re in a boardroom, a workshop, or a classroom, remember, you have agency. You can be agile. And if you bring a bit of enthusiasm with you, you might just spark change in someone else.

And as I stood by St Paul’s, watching the city rush past, I thought to myself, this is how this all begins. Not with a single breakthrough, but with thousands of small decisions, made by people who choose to care.

Story by Syntech Biofuel