Interview Series: Antonio Vizcaya Abdo

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This week’s read time: 4 minutes

Welcome to the Green Digest Interview Series, our bi-weekly feature showcasing conversations with the industry’s leading voices—CSOs, sustainability directors, and other senior professionals shaping the sustainability landscape. Each edition dives into their professional journeys, hands-on insights, and outlook on the challenges and opportunities defining corporate sustainability.

These interviews are designed to be quick, insightful reads, offering you actionable takeaways and a personal glimpse into the people leading the way. Stay tuned for stories, strategies, and lessons that matter to you.

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PROFILE

This week’s guest:

Antonio Vizcaya Abdo

Professor of Corporate Sustainability | Sustainability Consultant | LinkedIn Top Voice

Antonio is a sustainability advisor and educator, committed to bridging strategy and education to drive meaningful progress. His work spans supporting companies in embedding sustainability into their core business strategies and training the next generation of leaders in sustainability. Antonio believes education is essential to ignite collective and individual action, moving beyond mere awareness to a deeper understanding that enables real change. His focus is building internal capacity, leveraging science-based knowledge, and fostering shared visions to advance sustainability more effectively and rapidly.

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You bridge two very different worlds — academia and business. What has working in both taught you about the gap between sustainability theory and real-world action?

Working closely in both academia and business has clarified that the gap between sustainability theory and practical implementation is not due to a lack of ambition, but rather due to challenges in translating complex science and theory into daily business operations. Academia provides critical knowledge and frameworks, but businesses often struggle to integrate this deeply enough to drive systemic change.

Addressing this gap requires creating a common vision based on shared knowledge. Education, communication, and practical examples help teams grasp not only the complexity but also the relevance of sustainability to their roles. When companies understand the science and practical realities behind sustainability challenges, they become more capable—and motivated—to transform sustainability theory into impactful, strategic decisions.

What’s your perspective on the current state of sustainability? And where do you think we’re heading over the next 3–5 years?

Sustainability is currently in a critical transition, moving from surface-level awareness toward deeper integration into core business practices. However, many companies still view sustainability primarily as a compliance or risk management issue, reacting rather than proactively embedding it within their strategies. This needs to evolve rapidly; sustainability should never be confined solely to risk management or compliance, though these can be effective entry points.

Over the next three to five years, I anticipate sustainability becoming fundamentally embedded in business planning and strategic frameworks, driven by growing complexity, regulatory shifts, and stakeholder demands. Education and clear, strategic communication are essential accelerators in this evolution. As businesses shift toward genuinely ambitious sustainability goals, organizations that foster internal capacity and a shared understanding will lead the way, ensuring stronger, more lasting outcomes.

You’ve said, “Sustainability is the only option we have.” But in your work, do you find companies are truly acting like that’s the case?

Today, genuinely ambitious sustainability is still far from standard practice. Most companies are primarily focused on compliance and reporting, treating sustainability as an obligation rather than as a strategic priority. This reactive approach limits the potential for meaningful change. To accelerate progress, businesses need to move beyond merely reporting on ESG indicators toward deeply integrating sustainability principles across their entire decision-making process.

Shifting this mindset demands effective education and communication, internally and externally. Practical examples of successes—and failures—help businesses understand clearly how sustainability drives real-world value creation, risk reduction, and innovation. The challenge is helping companies see sustainability not as a separate initiative but as integral to their everyday operations and strategic vision.

What does a post-compliance sustainability strategy look like—one that isn’t just about ticking boxes, but about transforming systems?

A truly post-compliance sustainability strategy is one in which sustainability is seamlessly embedded within all business decisions, operations, and strategic planning processes. It no longer stands alone as a separate department or activity; it becomes foundational. Companies embracing this approach actively regenerate, restore, protect, and support the ecosystems and communities they interact with, creating shared value for all stakeholders rather than merely ticking boxes to meet regulatory requirements.

Practical, relatable examples and transparent communication about actions taken—avoiding superficial greenwashing—are critical. Effective education internally ensures teams across an organization see clearly how they contribute to sustainability objectives in their day-to-day roles, enabling meaningful collective action and systemic change.

You teach future sustainability leaders. What’s one lesson you make sure they leave your classroom with—and one that’s harder to teach?

The essential lesson I aim to instill is making sustainability relatable—demonstrating how it practically connects to everyday life, roles, and decisions. Students need clear pathways and tools to understand exactly how their daily choices contribute to broader sustainability goals. Education here serves as the key enabler, bridging theory and practice to ignite genuine individual and collective action.

A more challenging lesson is helping future leaders balance the urgency of immediate action with the patience required for systemic change.

Developing resilience and strategic patience to persistently advocate for sustainability—even amid setbacks—is critical, though harder to teach.

Thank you to Antonio for sharing his insights at the intersection of education, strategy, and real-world sustainability. His message is clear: systems change starts with internal capacity, shared knowledge, and the persistence to turn values into action.

We’ll be back in two weeks with more insights from those building a better future. 🟢

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