Why does sustainability keep stalling, even when organisations are committed and the business case seems clear?

In this keynote, Eleni Polychroniadou unpacks the hidden structural reasons sustainability fails to move from ambition to execution. Drawing on real-world experience from the real estate sector, one of the most complex sectors to decarbonise, she shows how misaligned incentives, credibility fears, and organisational complexity quietly block progress.

Rather than offering slogans or idealised solutions, this talk helps audiences understand how sustainability actually gets delivered in practice,  and what it takes to turn intent into credible, scalable action under real-world constraints. Designed for leaders and decision-makers, the keynote leaves audiences clearer about why they’re stuck, and more confident about how to move forward.

Climate change is often framed as a question of personal responsibility or corporate accountability. In reality, most climate action succeeds or fails in the space in between.

In this keynote, Eleni Polychroniadou challenges the idea that individuals are either powerless or solely responsible. Drawing on real-world experience working inside complex organisations, she shows where climate decisions are actually made and how influence, responsibility, and accountability really operate in practice.

Rather than focusing on lifestyle choices or abstract solutions, this talk helps audiences understand how climate action moves (or stalls) within organisations, markets, and systems. It clarifies what individuals can meaningfully influence as professionals, leaders, and decision-makers and where effort is often wasted.

The keynote leaves audiences with a clearer, more realistic sense of agency: not the illusion that “everyone can fix everything,” but the confidence to act where their decisions genuinely matter.

Buildings are responsible for a significant share of global emissions yet progress in decarbonising the built environment remains slower and more fragmented than ambition suggests.

In this keynote, Eleni Polychroniadou unpacks why making buildings genuinely greener is not primarily a technical problem, but a systemic one. Drawing on her experience delivering sustainability verification and standards across diverse markets and regulatory environments, she shows where efforts break down and why well-intentioned strategies often fail to scale.

Rather than focusing on idealised solutions, this talk examines the real-world constraints shaping the built environment: legacy assets, split incentives, regulatory complexity, and credibility risks. Eleni explores what distinguishes symbolic “green” buildings from those that deliver measurable impact and what it takes to move from isolated success stories to repeatable, scalable change.

Designed for businesses, policymakers, and industry leaders, the keynote offers a grounded, realistic perspective on how the built environment can transition toward lower-carbon outcomes without oversimplifying the challenge.

Many people enter climate work driven by strong convictions about what should change. Far fewer stay when those convictions collide with regulation, incentives, capital constraints, and organisational reality.

In this keynote, Eleni Polychroniadou reflects on her experience building a climate-focused business inside complex, imperfect systems. She shares what surprised her when ideal solutions met real-world decision-making and what she had to unlearn in order to make progress at scale.

Rather than framing business as the “solution” to climate change, this talk explores where entrepreneurial approaches help and where they fall short. It examines the tensions between speed and credibility, ambition and feasibility, and values and viability that shape climate innovation in practice.

Designed for founders, leaders, and changemakers, the keynote offers a grounded, honest perspective on what it takes to turn climate conviction into work that survives contact with reality.