How Did 169to1 Evolve?
Defining Sustainable Action
Photo by Sergej Eckhardt
Where do we start?
The evolution of 169to1® began by having taken a step back and considered the one key word, which so many individuals and institutions have struggled to define, so that it could be collectively or universally used across so many industry sectors. That one word is sustainability.
The difficulty in defining it across sectors stems from its deeply interdisciplinary nature, as well as political and economic interests that influence how it's interpreted.
So why is it so hard? Well, for number of reasons… 1. There are multiple competing priorities, 2. There are a lack of measurable standards, 3. There are always cultural and political interpretations, 4. There is ever the conflict between Short-term gains and Long-term thinking, and 5. It’s a constant moving target. What was considered sustainable 20 years ago (like biofuels or recycling) no longer qualifies today due to new evidence or unintended consequences. The goalposts shift as science, technology, and social awareness evolve.
Sustainability is hard to pin down because it’s more than a concept, it’s a negotiation between values, science, and power. It asks every industry to think beyond itself, beyond the present, and beyond profit. That makes it both essential and inconvenient.
If you're building anything that uses the word "sustainability", it’s worth defining it clearly for your own context, not just what it means, but what it requires.
So on that note…
What is Sustainability?
For the purpose of the 169to1® ecosystem, it was important to keep as simple but as effective as I possibly good. And so…
Sustainability is the process of living today, so that tomorrow is protected.
That’s why I created 169to1
When the 2030 Agenda was adopted in 2015, the world agreed on what needed to change: seventeen goals and one hundred and sixty-nine targets. What it never settled was who, at the local level, would be answerable for any single one of them. The goals were entrusted to nations. They were never carried down in a practical way to the schools, businesses, NGOs and youth movements where change is actually delivered.
That is the gap I set out to close. A school cannot pursue 169 targets. Neither can an SME or a community group. Ask one institution to carry the whole agenda and it carries none of it. Ask it to own a single target, give it a clear method and the means to deliver, and that target moves. Ambition only becomes action once someone is responsible for one piece of it.
169to1® is the mechanism for that. It takes the global framework and places it in the hands of one institution at a time, each answerable for one target it can genuinely advance.
In June 2026, the UN's Sustainable Development Solutions Network confirmed the principle this work was built on: the goals were never the failure, implementation was. The defining task now is delivery on the ground. I do not claim for one moment that the UN adopted my method. However the field has reached, in 2026, the position I took in 2017.
The SDG generation
My daughter Daphne, like so many of the current generation; or as some same generation alpha, was born the same year as the SDGs. She’s ten now. By the end of this challenge, she’ll be fifteen. And one day, she’s going to ask me not just, “What did you do?” but, “Dad, how can I get involved?”
I want to give her a real answer. Something honest. Something that works. Something she can walk into and participate to build her future, and not just read about it.
That’s what this is. A starting point for a better legacy. One institution. One target. One legacy.
No more waiting, no more wondering, but for one final thought… The truth is… the world doesn’t need more awareness. It needs activation. We don’t need a miracle; we need a method that we can rely on. We don’t need 8 billion people to do everything; we just need 1% to do something: clearly, consistently, and courageously.
This is the math of hope. This is how we move from dead or dormant goals to living breathing action. From delay to actual delivery. Either way… the 169to1® initiative can deliver, for which the foundations are already in place. So, now it’s your move.
What’s stopping you from acting now?
Because history tells us…
It’s always the small things, done by ordinary people, that end up building the world. And this world? Is still worth building. And who knows… maybe in 2031, I’ll be back here with you all, not to pitch a new idea, but to show you what one ripple became, and to invite you all to share your stories and your legacy for the future.
Find out more about us below, for a simple breakdown of our engine and the heart of who we are, why us, how we work, and what we do…
