Earthshine – Member Welcome

Every new member brings fresh ideas and energy to our mission of building a more sustainable future. From renewable energy to zero-waste living, their passions strengthen our collective work.

We’re thrilled to welcome Earthshine Group into the community and look forward to learning, collaborating, and inspiring change together.

Learn a little more about them…

Can you tell us a little about your business and what inspired you to start it?

We’re called Earthshine Group. Our purpose is to support circular and sustainability transformations in business, economy, and society – recognising the scale of the challenge we all face, and the very limited time frame in which we have to deliver a real impact. Our work involves lots of collaborative innovation; co-creating transformational solutions, in collaboration with our clients and their value chain partners.

Our journey started in 2006. Our original inspiration came from observing wind farms, and wondering how business improvement and commercial skills could be re-purposed to help accelerate the spread of renewable energies, by making the process faster and cheaper.

This then developed into our simple working hypothesis; that the more sustainable enterprise, through greater resource efficiency, less waste, reduced energy and carbon, should also deliver better financial performance, if we account for the “true costs “of doing business.

It seemed to be a no-brainer, back then. Still does! So, we’ve been living, eating and breathing this challenge over the last twenty years. Today, we have offices in Copenhagen and Dublin – with plans for the UK – and we’re active in a range of markets including Canada, Denmark, Ireland, Sweden, Norway, UK and USA.

What does sustainability mean to you personally and as a business?

For me, personally, it’s all about redefining the good life; living with just enough – low consumption and a low carbon diet – with a greater focus on simplicity, good health and meaningful connections, with nature and with people. Plus, plenty of swimming, cycling and hiking! I’m nowhere near perfect, but it’s a worthy work-in-progress.

For any business, the ultimate test is about whether we can operate profitably, while working within the absolutes of planetary and societal boundaries. To meet this challenge, it’s about helping our clients establish “responsible growth” models – built on what we call ‘permissible’ growth; the amount by which any specific business should be ‘allowed’ to grow, within these boundaries (towards true decoupling). We find this usually means a lot of joined-up innovation – finding a new ‘sweet spot’, with solutions that work commercially, as well as technically and sustainably – enhancing value to the customer, while reducing risks and costs in delivery.

What’s one sustainability goal you’re most excited about achieving this year?

This involves a very personal goal, in getting our new white paper, ‘Don’t Waste Your Time on Net-Zero!’, ready for publication. It’s taken some years of hard work, research and development, overcoming a few challenges and set-backs. A provocative title, our paper is designed to reclaim the narrative, during this time of culture wars, yet also holding a second meaning – demonstrating how we can avoid costly mistakes, pathway dependencies, and develop more transformational impacts. Our research shows that most current net-zero strategies are doomed to fail, and we need a radical rethink with a more strategic approach – bringing forward the innovation gap – coupled with systems change. It’s important for us to get this message out there, and to start shifting the focus for more impactful and commercial climate action. This is all about our handprint – and our ability to influence broader change – so, that feels pretty exciting for us.

If your business had a “green superpower,” what would it be and how would you use it?

A big part of what we bring to the party is our “integrated approach to innovation” – integrating technical, sustainability and commercial capabilities. This means, we can help our clients and their supply chains find a new ‘sweet spot’, not only through developing more sustainable solutions, but also in making them work commercially; enhancing value to the customer, while reducing risks and costs in delivery. For example, developing circular M&E systems in buildings becomes more attractive through business model innovation – extending useful product life through repair, refurbishment and remanufacturing – which means we can harvest more income, over time, from the same physical assets. Our model also incorporates a strong emphasis on capability development – an embodied approach to learning, we developed in Scandinavia – so that we can embed a lasting legacy. So, that might count as a second super-power?

Outside of work, what’s one small, sustainable habit you practice in everyday life that others might find inspiring (or even surprising)?

One sustainable habit, I’d like to share – although it’s not necessarily small, but it is fundamental – is for each of us to redefine our own version of the “good life” – seeking to recalibrate what success looks like, and how can we live well, yet within planetary and societal limits.

Yes, it can be all about lower-consumption lifestyles, but this does not have to be a burden – in fact, approached in the right way, it can be a liberating experience. For example, I ditched car-driving twelve years ago, switching to active and public transport. I wouldn’t go back – even though, sometimes, it can appear less ‘convenient’. Sure, it rains now and then – but, when you cycle in the wind and the rain, you feel alive! And there’s always a hot cuppa, when you reach your destination. And, of course, there are also long-term health benefits associated with active transport, such as reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, and improved mental health. It feels good, and is less expensive. Yet, that’s my version of the good life – for others, it may be quite different. We all need to create our own grand designs.

Explore our Sustainability Transformation Accelerator program — a powerful collaboration with Copenhagen Business School — developed to equip leaders in moving beyond incremental change and unlocking impactful breakthrough strategies that drive sustainable business transformation and commercial advantage.

Written by Mike Townsend, CEO at Earthshine Group 

Mike will be speaking on the ‘Unlocking Green Skills at Scale: What Will It Take’ panel at our upcoming conference, Circular Economy UK held in Birmingham on Thursday 5th February, 2026. 

Find out why you and your business should join our membership.