The Sustainability Spotlight: Lucy Shea, Futerra

With a degree in Economics and French, Lucy went on to a career in corporate responsibility. She worked at an agency called Article13 where she was trained on high standards and detailed reporting standards/frameworks. Lucy then joined Futerra as employee number five! Along the way, she realised the change they were making at Futerra was a change that was needed. As Futerra has grown – Lucy has risen to her role as Group CEO, driving the force for solutions-based innovative business models, and weaving sustainability into the fabric of corporate strategies.

What are the biggest challenges in your role?

Separating the urgent and the important is always a huge challenge – figuring out how to retain enough time in the day to work on the important stuff not just the urgent stuff. Secondly, figuring out the best and most impactful way to make change is very challenging. You need to figure out what you have, and what gives you joy – for your business, your role and for yourself. The world is changing so much around us and the needs for sustainability are changing so quickly, as problem-solvers and Solutionists, we need to change with it. Something people should be more honest about is realising it’s okay to have a drop in confidence – we’ve all had the pandemic to deal with. I’ve had two maternity leaves during my career, which has meant I have at times disconnected and come back. And that’s not easy! Even as CEO, I have massive drops in confidence. It’s important to pay attention to moments like this, as they tend to be caused by something deeper, you need to figure out what drives those feelings of insecurity. You’re never too big to ask for help!

What does “Make the Anthropocene awesome” mean?

This is Futerra’s mission, and it’s based on the idea that we want to channel the solutions that exist through innovative business models, behaviour change, and the power of storytelling across all mediums. Over the years, the narrative and story surrounding climate change has become more meaningful in enabling and catalysing climate action. The latest IPCC report calculates that ‘behaviour and socio-cultural’ changes could rapidly save 5% of all demand side carbon emissions. And we believe with the rising power of social media, influencers are best placed to encourage people to adopt more sustainable lifestyle practices. In fact, research tells us that humans are 22 times more likely to remember a story than any other communication. With our new mission, to ‘Make the Anthropocene Awesome’ we’re tapping into the role of creators, storytellers and digital influencers, in the mass movement to change lifestyle. To further to mission, we hired ex-head of sustainability at YouTube, Jaya Adapa as Futerra’s Senior Vice President of Media and Content.

What is one of your proudest achievements?

Last year, we became the first ever agency to be named an official “Climate Solutions Provider” by the UN’s Race to Zero initiative. As a result of this, we believe it’s our role now more than ever to lead the journey towards a new story. We need a new way of storytelling, a new way of changing social norms, changing the narrative. And at Futerra, we want to play our role to make this possible within the creative industry and beyond.

“The more you know about sustainability the more optimistic you are.”

-Solitaire Townsend, Co-Founder of Futerra