You know what's wild?
Every company I talk to has a sustainability goal. Net Zero by 2040. Circular by 2030. Carbon neutral operations. Whatever the board approved.
And then you ask: "Okay, so what are you actually doing about it?"
Crickets.
Or worse—they've got a 147-slide strategy deck that nobody's implementing.
Here's the thing about sustainability intentions: they're easy. Everyone can commit to ambitious targets. The hard part? The part nobody talks about? Actually turning those intentions into projects that move the needle.
Let me show you why this gap exists. And more importantly, how to close it.
The Intention-Action Gap (It's Bigger Than You Think)
Picture this: It's Q4 2023. Your CEO announces at the annual meeting: "We're committing to Net Zero by 2045!"
Applause. Press release. LinkedIn posts. The works.
Then Monday rolls around.
And you—the sustainability manager—are supposed to figure out how to actually do that. With your team of two people. One of whom was in marketing last year.
No pressure.
So you start Googling. "How to achieve net zero." You read reports. You attend webinars. You talk to consultants who charge €150K for a strategy that boils down to "reduce emissions and buy offsets."
Six months pass.
You've learned a lot. You've made a lot of PowerPoints. You've had a lot of meetings.
But actual emissions? Still the same.
This is the intention-action gap. And it's killing corporate sustainability.
Why Intentions Don't Become Projects
Let me tell you the real reasons companies get stuck:
1. The Goal Is Too Big
"Achieve Net Zero" isn't a project. It's a direction. It's like saying "get healthy" and expecting that to magically happen.
You can't execute on "Net Zero." You can execute on "reduce packaging emissions by 30% in EU operations by switching to recyclable materials."
See the difference?
One is a strategy. One is a project.
Most companies have strategies. What they're missing are projects.
2. Nobody Knows Who Can Actually Do This
Okay, so you've broken down "Net Zero" into actual projects. Great start.
Now you need someone to execute them.
But who does biodiversity impact assessments? Where do you find someone who specializes in Scope 3 emissions for food supply chains? How do you know if they're actually good?
Traditional hiring doesn't work here. You can't just post "Sustainability Expert Needed" and hope for the best.
You need specialists. And finding specialists is... well, nobody's figured out an easy way to do it.
Until recently. (More on that in a bit.)
3. The Coordination Cost Is Insane
Even if you find the right expert, now you've got to: - Get three quotes (procurement policy) - Vet their credentials (nobody knows how) - Negotiate scope and price (what's fair market rate?) - Get legal to review contracts (3 weeks minimum) - Coordinate internally (finance, operations, supply chain all need to be involved)
By the time you actually start work, it's been four months. Your Q2 target is now a Q4 hope.
This coordination cost—this friction—kills more sustainability projects than anything else.
4. The Risk Feels Too High
Here's what sustainability managers don't say out loud:
They're terrified of making the wrong choice.
Hire the wrong consultant? You've wasted €50K and six months. Your boss asks why you're behind schedule. Your reputation takes a hit.
So what happens? Paralysis.
Better to move slowly and cautiously than to move fast and screw up.
Except... the planet doesn't care about your risk aversion. The targets aren't moving. The regulations aren't pausing.
Enter: The Challenge Model
Okay, enough doom and gloom. Let's talk about what actually works.
The Challenge Model flips everything.
Instead of: "We need to hire someone to help us with sustainability"
You do: "We have this specific challenge. Who can solve it?"
Let me show you how this changes everything.
How It Works (The Simple Version)
Step 1: Get Specific
Not "help us achieve Net Zero"
But: "Reduce Scope 3 emissions in our Asian textile supply chain by collecting data from 200 suppliers who've never tracked this before. Budget: €30K. Timeline: 4 months."
See how much clearer that is?
Step 2: Post the Challenge
You describe the specific problem. Include context, constraints, budget, timeline.
You post it somewhere that specialists actually look. (Not LinkedIn. Not a general job board. Somewhere designed for exactly this.)
Step 3: Specialists Come to You
Here's where it gets interesting.
Instead of you searching for them, they find you.
Specialists who've done this exact thing before see your challenge and think: "I've solved this three times. I know how to do this."
They submit proposals. With their approach. Their timeline. Their pricing. And—critically—proof they've done similar work.
Step 4: You Compare and Choose
Now you've got 5-8 proposals from people who've actually done this before.
You compare approaches. You see their past work. You check their track records.
You pick the one that makes most sense.
Step 5: Work Begins
No four-month procurement dance. No endless vetting. No hoping you made the right choice.
You picked someone who's proven they can do this. Work starts. Progress happens.
The intention becomes a project. The project becomes results.
Real Example: Net Zero Transition (Beverage Company)
Let me show you how this works in practice.
The Intention: Mid-size beverage company commits to Net Zero by 2040. Very ambitious. Very public.
The Reality Check: They have no idea where most of their emissions come from. Scope 1 and 2? Sure, they've got that data. Scope 3? Complete mystery.
Their biggest source of emissions (they think) is: - Refrigeration at retail locations (they don't own the fridges) - Packaging materials (complex supply chain) - Transportation (third-party logistics)
But they don't have actual numbers. Just estimates and guesses.
The Old Approach Would Be:
"Let's hire a consultant to do a full carbon audit."
Six months to find someone. €80K proposal. Three months of work. Deliverable: a report saying "here's your carbon footprint, now you need to reduce it."
Thanks. Super helpful.
The Challenge Model Approach:
Challenge 1: "Calculate accurate Scope 3 emissions for beverage retail operations across EU. Focus: refrigeration (third-party owned), packaging (multi-tier suppliers), logistics (outsourced). Budget: €35K. Timeline: 12 weeks."
Seven proposals came in. They picked a specialist who'd done refrigeration emissions for another beverage company.
Result: Accurate baseline in 10 weeks. Discovered that packaging was 60% of their footprint (not refrigeration like they thought). This completely changed their strategy.
Cost: €32K. Time: 10 weeks. Value: Now they know where to focus.
Challenge 2: "Redesign packaging to reduce embodied carbon by 40% while maintaining performance specs and cost constraints. Focus on lightweighting and material substitution."
Based on data from Challenge 1, they now knew packaging was the priority.
Six proposals. Picked a circular economy specialist with CPG experience.
Result: New packaging design. 43% carbon reduction. Actually cost-neutral (lighter packaging = lower shipping costs = offset material costs).
Cost: €28K. Time: 14 weeks. Value: 43% reduction in their biggest emission source.
Challenge 3: "Develop supplier engagement program to collect Scope 3 data from Tier 1 and Tier 2 packaging suppliers. Need templates, training, and execution support."
Now they needed ongoing data collection.
Five proposals. Picked someone who'd built supplier programs before.
Result: 78% of suppliers now reporting emissions data (industry average is 30%). This data feeds into their annual reporting and helps them track progress.
Cost: €45K. Time: 20 weeks. Value: Ongoing visibility into their supply chain emissions.
Total Investment: €105K over 11 months
Total Impact: - Accurate Scope 3 baseline (instead of guesses) - 43% reduction in packaging emissions (their biggest source) - Supplier data program (ongoing visibility) - Clear roadmap for next steps
Compare to Traditional Approach:
Hire big consulting firm: €200K+ for strategy deck
Hire full-time sustainability manager: €80K/year salary + 6 months to get up to speed
Do it yourself: 18 months of trial and error, probably some expensive mistakes
The Challenge Model got them further, faster, and cheaper. Because they were solving specific problems with specialists who'd solved those exact problems before.
Why This Works (The Psychology)
There's something deeper happening here.
When you post a challenge, you're not asking someone to be responsible for your entire sustainability strategy. You're asking them to solve one specific problem.
That changes everything.
For You (The Company): - Lower risk (small project, not huge commitment) - Clear scope (defined problem, defined success) - Faster decisions (comparing specific proposals, not vague credentials)
For Them (The Specialist): - Clear ask (they know exactly what you need) - Plays to their strength (they've done this before) - Proof-based (they win based on relevant experience, not marketing)
It's a better match on both sides.
And better matching = better execution = intentions becoming reality.
The Shift From Strategy to Execution
Here's what I've learned talking to hundreds of sustainability teams:
Everyone has strategies. Strategies are easy.
What's hard is execution.
The Challenge Model forces execution thinking from day one.
Not: "What's our overall approach to sustainability?"
But: "What's the next specific thing we need to solve? Who's best equipped to solve it? Let's go."
It's bias toward action. Toward projects. Toward progress.
Instead of spending six months building the perfect strategy, you spend two weeks defining your first challenge, four weeks finding the right specialist, and twelve weeks solving an actual problem.
Then you do it again. And again.
Each challenge builds on the last. Each project creates momentum.
Intentions → Challenges → Projects → Results
That's the bridge.
Common Objections (And Real Answers)
"But we need a comprehensive strategy first!"
Do you though?
Or do you need to start solving actual problems while you're figuring out the strategy?
Most companies overthink strategy and underthink execution. Try flipping that.
"What if we solve the wrong problem first?"
Then you've learned something. And you've built capability. And you can solve the right problem next.
Perfect is the enemy of done. Done is the enemy of never-started.
"Our challenges are too complex for this approach"
Complexity is exactly why this works. Break complex goals into manageable challenges. Solve them one at a time with specialists.
You can't hire one person who's an expert in everything. But you can work with five specialists who are each expert in their specific thing.
"We don't have budget for multiple projects"
You don't have budget to waste on generic consulting either.
Challenge-based work is typically 40-60% cheaper than traditional consulting because you're paying for specific outcomes, not overhead and process.
How to Start (This Week)
Okay, enough theory. Let's get practical.
If you want to bridge the intention-action gap, here's what to do:
Step 1: Pick One Goal
Not all of them. One.
Which sustainability goal matters most right now? Net Zero? Circular? Biodiversity? Whatever keeps you up at night.
Step 2: Identify the Biggest Bottleneck
What's stopping you from making progress on that goal?
Is it data? ("We don't know our Scope 3 emissions") Is it design? ("Our packaging isn't recyclable") Is it suppliers? ("We can't get emissions data from them") Is it measurement? ("We don't know if our efforts are working")
Find the bottleneck.
Step 3: Turn It Into a Challenge
Make it specific. Make it measurable. Make it time-bound.
Not: "Improve our circularity"
But: "Design take-back program for Product Line X in Germany that achieves 40% return rate within 18 months while being cost-neutral."
Step 4: Find Specialists Who've Done It
This is where platforms like iWinForest come in. Post your challenge. Get proposals from people who've solved similar problems.
Or do it manually: LinkedIn search, industry connections, consultant networks. Just find people who've actually done this before.
Step 5: Start
Pick one. Start working. Learn from it.
Then do the next challenge. And the next.
Six months from now, you'll have solved six specific problems. That's six projects completed. Six tangible results.
Compare that to six months of strategy meetings and you'll see why this approach works.
The Bottom Line
Sustainability intentions are everywhere. Sustainability action is rare.
The gap between them isn't a strategy problem. It's an execution problem.
The Challenge Model closes that gap by: - Breaking big goals into specific projects - Matching projects with proven specialists - Reducing coordination friction - Accelerating time-to-action
Your company probably has ambitious sustainability goals. That's great.
Now ask: What's the next specific challenge we need to solve?
Then go solve it.
That's how intentions become reality. One challenge at a time.
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Want to turn your sustainability intentions into action? Post your first challenge on iWinForest and get proposals from specialists who've solved similar problems. Takes 10 minutes. See results in weeks, not months.