Last week I was delighted to announce that the Institute of Sustainability Studies (ISS) and Future Planet are coming together, with the combined business operating as Future Planet. 

It’s a big step for both organisations, but the reason it matters isn’t the deal itself, it’s what it lets us do differently for the businesses we work with. For years, ISS has helped organisations of every size, across a myriad of sectors, build the knowledge to act on sustainability. Joining forces with Future Planet means we can now meet those businesses wherever they are on that journey, with a lot more than knowledge alone. 

I’ll be leading the combined business as CEO. I’m joined by Future Planet’s co-founders, Donal Daly as Executive Chairman and Ingrid De Doncker as Chief Innovation and Research Officer, with Colum Kenny stepping into the role of COO. Institute of Sustainability Studies founder & Chair Justin Cullen remains on the board of the enlarged business. 

I’m excited to be part of this leadership team, and to deliver on the vision we have for this combined entity. 

Why are Future Planet and the Institute of Sustainability Studies coming together? 

Across every sector, we see the same pattern. Businesses doing a lot of good work, but that work is disconnected, not pulled under one strategy with one clear direction. Teams focusing in on one area of sustainability while the rest of the impact areas go untouched. People who understand why sustainability matters, but have no idea where to start, or how to move from good intentions to real change. 

ISS was founded on the idea that it’s the people within a business who must drive sustainable performance within that business. Give them practical knowledge, the right tools and access to real expertise, and they’re the ones who make meaningful change happen. But knowledge on its own only gets a business so far. 

Beyond training, businesses need the systems and solutions to support the execution of a sustainability strategy. Without them, good intentions stall in familiar ways: data scattered across spreadsheets and different teams, no reliable way to track progress against targets, no clear line of sight from action to outcome, and no credible way to show stakeholders what’s actually being done. A strategy without a system to run it stays a document, not something the business actually does. 

That execution gap only closes when businesses have systems to accelerate their journey and teams empowered to act on the insight those systems provide. Close it, and sustainability stops sitting alongside everyday operations as a separate initiative, it becomes part of how the business runs. That’s when it stops being a compliance exercise and starts driving real business performance and economic value. 

That’s why we’ve come together. Combining ISS’s accredited training and learning programmes with Future Planet’s platform for sustainability strategy, GHG emissions, ESG data management, reporting and transition planning means we can meet a business wherever it is on that journey, from no action to industry leadership, and build the solution to get it to where it wants to go, and in doing so, deliver true sustainable performance. 

Bringing sustainability education, expertise and technology together in one place 

Right now, this market is served in a fragmented way, and that shapes how businesses end up approaching sustainability too. Businesses end up managing multiple vendors, translating between systems, and piecing together a strategy that no single partner is actually responsible for delivering. The result is fragmented execution, action that never quite adds up to a coherent sustainability strategy, and effort that struggles to translate into real business value. 

This is what we’re building together: a single place where strategy, software and skills-building work as one, instead of three separate purchases a business must piece together itself. 

If you’re already an ISS customer or learner, nothing about what you know us for is going anywhere; your accredited training continues exactly as it did. What’s new is that your learning is now backed by the tools to accelerate your sustainability action, supporting your sustainability strategy development, ESG data management, reporting and implementation. 

If you’re already a Future Planet customer, the same is true in reverse. Your platform and advisory support aren’t changing. What’s new is the depth of education now available to build capability in your own teams, not just in your systems and processes. 

Combined, this means an organisation can move from understanding where it stands, to deciding where it needs to go, to building the internal skill to get there with the same trusted partner at every stage of its journey. 

What’s next for Future Planet and ISS? 

We’ll be sharing more over the coming weeks about what this means in practice for customers, learners and partners. 

For now, I want to thank everyone who’s been part of building ISS into what it is today — our team, our faculty, and every learner and organisation who trusted us with their sustainability education. This next chapter builds directly on that foundation, and I’m genuinely excited about where it takes us. 

If you have questions, I’d love to hear from you directly at ncollins@futureplanet.com. You can also read more on our merger page.  

About Future Planet 

Future Planet helps organisations convert sustainability challenges into economic value and positive impact. Combining operational software, expert-led learning, and implementation support in one connected platform, Future Planet enables organisations to build internal capability, improve performance, and strengthen long-term business resilience. 

Future Planet’s integrated offering combines: 

• Strategy for sustainable business 
• Guided data management across E, S & G 
• CO₂ Emissions (Scope 1, 2, 3) 
• Target setting and management 
• Informed transition plans 
• Certified learning 
• ESG reports 

For more info, media photos, or press queries: eva@futureplanet.com