Green Development Needs Change Leadership, Not Just Technology

Digital Maturity vs. Green Development: A Surprising Disconnect

In today’s business climate, many equate digital maturity with progress on all fronts. It’s easy to assume a tech-savvy organization will naturally excel in sustainability. However, a 2020 study by Irimiás and Mitev uncovered a striking insight: digital development per se fails to trigger firms to implement green development. In their survey of 270 companies, they found that advanced digital tools and systems did not directly affect whether a firm became more environmentally sustainable. In contrast, companies with change management embedded in their culture—meaning they actively managed and embraced change as part of their DNA—were far more likely to engage in green initiatives.

This finding turns conventional wisdom on its head. It suggests that technology is not a silver bullet for sustainability. You can digitize every process and gather all the big data you want, but if your people and processes aren’t aligned with a green vision, those high-tech solutions may never be fully utilized for sustainability. Think about it: a factory could install state-of-the-art energy monitoring (high digital maturity), but without employees and leaders committed to using that data to change behaviours, energy waste will continue. The disconnect lies in assuming tech drives change on its own. In reality, people drive change, and technology only enables it. As one change expert quipped, digital transformation is “10% tech and 90% human.” The same applies to green transformation, where it must be change-led, not just tech-led.

Change Management: The Catalyst for Sustainable Transformation

What sparks sustainability growth if digital maturity isn’t directly greening our organizations? The answer: effective change management as a deeply ingrained part of the organisational culture. Change management here isn’t just about handling one project; it’s an enterprise-wide mindset of agility, learning, and continuous improvement. Irimiás and Mitev found that “the more incorporated change management is in organisational culture, the more [the firm] is engaged in green development.” In other words, organisations that treat change as a constant—that train their people to adapt and evolve—create fertile ground for sustainability initiatives to take root and flourish.

Why is change management such a powerful catalyst for sustainability? First, sustainability often requires significant shifts in processes, habits, and even business models. These shifts can be disruptive. Think of moving from a paper-based workflow to digital to save trees, or overhauling a supply chain to cut carbon emissions. Without skilled change leadership, these shifts may falter due to employee resistance, confusion, or sheer inertia. However, when change management is embedded in the culture, employees are more adaptable and willing to modify their behaviours. Leaders proactively communicate why a green change is needed, managers support their teams through the transition, and the organisation collectively learns from setbacks. In such an environment, sustainability isn’t a one-off project or a PR slogan, rather it becomes a way of working. Technology becomes an enabler rather than the driver, with the change-capable culture ensuring that digital tools are used to their full potential in service of green goals.

ADKAR in Action: Guiding People through Green Change

How can change management practices concretely fuel sustainability? Prosci’s ADKAR model offers a practical lens. Let’s apply ADKAR to a sustainability initiative (for example, implementing a new digital platform to reduce waste):

Awareness: Do our people know why this sustainable change is necessary? Building awareness might involve sharing data on the company’s environmental impact or telling a compelling story about how going green ties to our mission. Employees need to understand the urgent “why.” For example, “We currently discard 30% of our materials. Reducing this waste is crucial for our profitability and our planet.”
Desire: Awareness alone isn’t enough; we need personal motivation. How do we instil a desire to support the green initiative? This could mean aligning the change with employees’ values (pride in working for an eco-friendly company), offering incentives or recognition for sustainable behaviours, and securing executive sponsorship that shows everyone is on board. People must want to be part of the solution, not feel it’s just an imposed task.
Knowledge: Next, do people know how to change? Training and education are key. This might involve teaching employees how to use that new digital waste-reduction tool, or sharing best practices in recycling and energy saving. It’s about equipping everyone with the knowledge and skills needed for the new way of working.
Ability: Knowledge doesn’t always equal ability. Here we ensure people can actually implement the new practices in real life. Maybe we run a pilot program, provide hands-on workshops, or remove obstacles. For instance, if the new process is initially slower, give teams extra resources or time so they don’t revert to old, less green methods under pressure. Building ability might also mean updating performance goals to include sustainability metrics so everyone has the capacity (and support) to perform the new behaviours.
Reinforcement: Finally, we must solidify the change. This means reinforcing and celebrating sustainable behaviours consistently. It could be regular updates on environmental performance, shout-outs to teams who hit green targets, or integrating sustainability into performance reviews. Reinforcement ensures the change isn’t temporary. Over time, recycling programs, energy audits, or digital tracking of resource usage become simply “how we do things here,” sustained by cultural norms and continued leadership attention.

Using the ADKAR model in sustainability transitions reminds us that each person in the organisation travels a change journey. If any ADKAR stage is neglected (say, employees aren’t truly aware of why the new eco-software matters, or they’re not given the ability to use it properly), the green change can stall. ADKAR personalises change, turning grand sustainability goals into actionable steps at the individual level. This is vital because an organisation’s digital maturity means little if its people aren’t personally guided and motivated to use those digital tools in new, greener ways.

Change-Led, Not Tech-Led: A Mindset Shift for Sustainable Success

The core lesson for change professionals and leaders is this: sustainability must be treated as a change journey, not just a tech upgrade. Too often, organisations pour resources into new technology (solar panels, analytics dashboards, electric fleets), assuming green results will automatically follow. However, as the research indicates, tools alone don’t change outcomes, people do. We need to flip the script: lead with the change strategy (the people and process side) and let technology be the supporting act, not the star of the show.

Adopting this mindset means investing in your organisation’s change capability as much as (or more than) its digital capability. It means ensuring your team has change leaders who understand how to motivate others, how to handle resistance, and how to weave sustainability into the company’s story and values. It means recognising that you can’t buy and install a sustainable future—you have to lead your people there. This might involve upskilling managers in change management, embedding sustainability objectives into everyone’s performance goals, and creating cross-functional teams that focus on continuous improvement in environmental impact. In short, it’s about building a culture where change is normal, and sustainability is a shared priority.

When an organisation becomes truly change-led, it gains agility. It can respond to new environmental regulations, stakeholder pressures, or innovative green technologies much faster and more effectively. Instead of seeing sustainability as a one-time project, it becomes an ongoing evolution; that is, how the company constantly adapts and improves. Digital tools and data play an important role in that evolution, but they serve the strategy; they don’t set it. As change leaders, our mantra should be: “First, get the people and purpose aligned, then harness the tech.”

Call to Action: Empower Change Leaders for a Green Future

For change management practitioners reading this, the mandate is clear. It’s time to step up as the crucial drivers of sustainability in our organisations. Leverage frameworks like ADKAR to coach and guide your colleagues through eco-friendly changes on an individual level. Use the PCT model to assess where your sustainability program stands; for example, do you have visible executive sponsorship, a solid implementation plan, and a people-centric change strategy? If one of those elements is lacking, that’s your opportunity to take action before the initiative derails.

Speak the language of both executives and employees: translate lofty green goals into tangible day-to-day changes, and elevate grassroots concerns to inform leadership decisions. Become the bridge between the technology teams and the end-users, ensuring that each digital innovation is paired with a robust adoption plan. Encourage your leaders to not just invest in new tools, but also invest in training, communication, and culture-building around sustainability. Challenge the assumption that “going green” is purely the domain of engineers or sustainability officers: it is a transformational change that needs change managers at the helm.

Lastly, don’t be afraid to invoke the data and insights available. The fact that digital maturity alone doesn’t yield green results is a powerful statistic to bring into boardrooms. It reinforces why your role as a change leader is so vital. Use this insight to advocate for a seat at the table in every sustainability project your organisation undertakes. When you do, you’ll help design initiatives that not only look good on paper, but actually change hearts, minds, and behaviours in practice.

The call to action is this: lead the charge. Be the champion of a change-led approach to sustainability. Our world’s green future depends on countless organisations making this shift—technology will help us get there, but it’s enlightened change leadership that will ultimately ensure we succeed. The planet needs more than smart systems; it needs smart change in how we live and work. As a change management professional, you have the tools and expertise to guide that journey. It’s time to use them to create lasting, meaningful impact.