Building Sustainable Advantage in ESG Consulting with James Stander
Welcome to season 3, episode 14 of Better Than We Found It, the go-to podcast for sustainable leadership and purpose-driven business practices.
Today, we’re joined by James Stander, founder of Sustainable Advantage, an ESG and sustainability consultancy supporting over 700 clients including 40 private equity firms across multiple sectors.
James’s journey is anything but conventional. From a tough start at school to early entrepreneurial ventures, a career in accounting and M&A, and eventually building a facilities management business, his path has been defined by resilience and reinvention. A pivotal moment, losing a major tender on sustainability grounds pushed James to establish Sustainable Advantage in 2010. Today, the firm has nearly 100 consultants in the UK and Paris, and operates globally.
In this fast-paced conversation, we dive into:
- James’s entrepreneurial highs and lows, from losing everything at 19 to scaling businesses to multi-million turnover
- Why sustainability is more than a tick-box exercise, it’s a driver of business value
- How private equity firms and their portfolio companies are navigating ESG pressures
- The role of data, metrics, and technology in making sustainability actionable
- Leadership lessons on growth, people, and the future of ESG consulting
If you’re an ambitious leader interested in sustainability, entrepreneurship, or the intersection of profit and purpose, this episode is packed with insights.
Listen across the usual broadcasting streams here: