Power

Five seconds. That's all it took for 15 gigawatts of power to surge through the electric grid shared between Spain and Portugal (and parts of southern France), cutting the power supply and leaving millions without connection. Although many welcomed the blackout (taking advantage of the surprise respite from the workday by grabbing drinks with coworkers, reuniting with family, spending time in the park, etc.), for others this power outage spelled the beginning of a ticking time bomb that would only get worse as the day progressed and the power still hadn't returned. This was not just a technical failure though: the power outage was a case study in systems thinking and the inherent fragility confronted by vulnerable communities when a single cog fails to fulfil its role in the silent machinations that surround us day-in-day-out. The uncertainty of the power outage reminded many of the precarity and inequities present within our societies: the same vulnerabilities we face when confronting other pressing and complex challenges like climate change, lack of access to housing, and the relentless push for technological progress at costs we have yet to fully understand..

Dynamic Sustainabilities and Complexity Thinking

In the end, the phone signal and lights came back at varying speeds and times to the Iberian Peninsula. Yet, the blackout's ripple effects highlight a critical gap in how we typically address societal challenges: we often treat symptoms rather than grappling with the underlying complexity of interconnected systems. When we consider the array of challenges society is faced with in the 21st century, it's clear that change is needed in the way our leaders approach policymaking and achieving long-term impact at all levels – from the rural village all the way up to global institutions.

These sustainability, environmental, and social justice struggles are fundamentally about power: who gets to define problems, who benefits from solutions, and whose voices are heard. Instead of static, managerial logics, there's a need to recognize the dynamism of complexity and embrace uncertainty rather than trying to eliminate it through technical fixes.

A pathways approach to sustainability and development that is politically aware, embraces complexity, and is grounded in multiple knowledges and local contexts offers a way forward (Dynamic Sustainabilities, 2010). Rather than seeking one-size-fits-all "solutions," flexible, reflexive, and inclusive approaches need to be promoted that open up alternatives and empower marginalized voices.

As explained by Stirling (2010), science can never provide a 'silver bullet' fix-all answer to every question. Risk (often economic) is regularly considered and internalized in policy proposals but this is not usually an honest and comprehensive consideration of true risk. Instead, it's typically a singular understanding and version of risk in the eyes of bureaucrats or policymakers, not taking into consideration the perspectives of all, especially those affected in communities by the adoption of particular policies.

Complexity and uncertainty are unquantifiable variables that aren't necessarily barriers to creating policy solutions but encourage the consideration of variable alternatives and proposals that should be debated openly and transparently. Comgo’s ethos is to encourage engagement between our service users and local communities so that local knowledge is at the center of all impact strategies, minimizing the tendency to remain confined within traditional, managerial solutions or logics and empowering all stakeholders to maximize their social impact.

Active Hope and Systems Change

It's easy to despair when each one of us is caught in the daily limbo of juggling two realities: on the one hand, knowing that every day we are going beyond our planetary limits and condemning future generations to an Earth less and less habitable, while on the other hand carrying on unabated with our extractive and consumerist routines living in false hope that all will be well. These two concurrent processes are what the authors Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone term the Great Unraveling and Business as Usual (Active Hope, 2022).

We can all think of examples. UNESCO’s warning of an imminent global water crisis. A 2021 international poll of young people finding that 75% of respondents maintained a frightened outlook for the future. In Ipsos’ latest People and Climate Change report, their Global Head of ESG branded the age we find ourselves in as “both the worst of times and the best of times”, considering the 1.5˚C global rise in temperature limit being surpassed and only a mere 17% of UN SDGs being realized as of 2025.

Despite all this doom and gloom, there can and should be room for hope. As Susan Neiman, the renowned American moral philosopher, instructed: "Hope can be an emotion... but I think it's much more useful to view hope as a moral obligation." Helplessness and resignation only serve to benefit the forces of Business as Usual, which offer no new innovations or solutions to resolve the current permacrisis in which we find ourselves. Why not acknowledge recent examples of what we have done to inspire us towards future change?

The global response to the Covid-19 pandemic offers a powerful example of what collective action can achieve. Through coordinated efforts by individuals and governments worldwide, public health interventions dramatically reduced the death toll compared to projections of an unmitigated spread. This remarkable feat of global solidarity and personal sacrifice altered people's daily lives and caused huge shifts in policy. Can we imagine how much could be done to bring about real, lasting impact if we maintained that same spirit of solidarity for environmental and social justice?

"Solidarity is self-interest. If we fail to grasp that fact, everybody loses." That was how Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary-General put it.

Once upon a time, it was unthinkable for a business or hedge fund to care about anything else other than the bottom line. Nowadays, many in "ethical banking" or investing are guided by the principle of triple return: the idea that an investment should not only bring financial profits but also social and environmental benefits. Simply look at our changed consumer tastes for ecologically sustainable and ethically sourced products.

These are precisely the simultaneous and necessary changes advocated by Macy and Johnstone to bring about hope: actions that defend life on earth, shifts in our societal thinking and values, and the development of new economic and social models.

Small changes. Large impact.

All great transformations begin with small transitions and changes on the fringes and Comgo wants to be a part of that wave of innovation that goes mainstream. Tell us: what has your organization changed to maximize impact in your community? What are the challenges you notice in adding value to our impact ecosystems and how can we approach them together?

Help us revolutionize the world of impact measurement and investment by joining the conversation today! Comment below, get in touch, or visit comgo.io for more info.

Bibliography

1. Ipsos. (2025). People and Climate Change 2025.

2. Leach, M., Scoones, I., & Stirling, A. (2010). Dynamic Sustainabilities: Technology, Environment, Social Justice. London: Earthscan.

3. Macy, J., Johnstone, C. (2021). Active Hope (Revised): How to Face the Mess We're in with Unexpected Resilience and Creative Power. Novato, CA: New World Library.

4. Marks, E., Hickman, C., Pihkala, P., Clayton, S., Lewandowski, E.R., Mayall, E.E., Wray, B., Mellor, C., Susteren, L. (2021). Young People's Voices on Climate Anxiety, Government Betrayal and Moral Injury: A Global Phenomenon. SSRN Electronic Journal.

5. Stirling, A. (2010). Keep it complex. Nature, 468, 1029–1031.