Overcoming the ‘dark side’ of sustainability practices
Your company sets ambitious sustainability goals, hires experts, invests in resources… yet, not much really changes. Why do so many efforts stall even when the conditions seem ideal? In this video, Professor Lucas AMARAL shares insights from research at the Brazilian subsidiary of a multinational automaker that faced exactly this situation.
09/24/2025
2 min
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“What we found challenges the usual optimism that support and resources are enough,” explains the expert. “Many sustainability practices are what we call highly integrative practices. Take CO₂ reduction programs, for example. They bring together three challenging characteristics. First, they’re highly complex, because they involve many processes and supply chains. Second, they’re indivisible. Every team has to deliver for the whole to succeed. And third, they’re non-codifiable, since they rely on tacit knowledge that can’t just be written down.”
According to Professor AMARAL, the problem is that most organizations are built in silos, which clash with the integrative nature of sustainability. “The more the sustainability team tried to solve tensions, the more new ones emerged, creating a cycle of failure.” So, what can managers do when faced with this ‘dark side of sustainability implementation’?
“Before launching, dissect your practices: How complex, indivisible, and non-codifiable are they in your context? If they’re highly integrative, you’ll need more than resources or goodwill — you’ll need to rethink how departments are managed and work together. Our study offers a framework to diagnose where sustainability gets stuck—and how to prevent wasted time and resources.”
More information:
“Siloed Sustainability: How Paradox Management Unravels in Integrative Practice Implementation”, by Lucas Amaral, Juliane Reinecke (Oxford University) and Michael Etter (King’s College London) Forthcoming in the Academy of Management Journal.
