As sustainability increasingly becomes a critical focus in modern business, entrepreneurs face new challenges and opportunities to create responsible and successful future-proof businesses. In a market where there is a demand for greater environmental and social responsibility, it has become essential for business leaders to understand how to integrate genuinely sustainable practices in their business plans and operations.
The best sustainability books are authored by environmentalists, economists and founders of successful and socially responsible companies. These 20 books offer invaluable insight and ideas on achieving sustainability and success in your business.
What Makes a Great Sustainability Book for Entrepreneurs?
Look for books that blend actionable advice and inspiring vision for a sustainable future in business. Books that include personal experience and data are excellent tools for understanding the need for sustainability and how to incorporate it into your practices.
These authors come from various backgrounds and include renowned environmentalists, CEOs and journalists. Their books are engaging, practical and optimistic about the work that needs to happen to transform the business world as we know it.
20 Top Sustainability Books for Entrepreneurs
Here are 20 of the best books on sustainability that will provide deep insight and inspire you to find success as you and your company grow.
1. Too Big to Care: Adopt Sustainable Business Practices or Embrace Defeat
By Glen Wood (with Tatsuhiko Nakazawa)
Best for facing sustainability challenges | 5 stars (19 reviews)
In Too Big to Care, Glen Wood explains why traditional business models that prioritize profit and growth over all else no longer work and why corporations must adopt innovative and sustainable business practices or risk being left in the dust. Wood draws on his own experiences working for Mitsubishi and Morgan Stanley and his fight for paternity leave to deliver compelling arguments for how sustainable business policies can lead to higher incomes, heightened transparency and better jobs for all.
Wood explains how investors, employees and customers can benefit from capitalism as it is intended to function. This is an important read for all entrepreneurs and business leaders looking to integrate sustainable and ethical business practices in a quickly evolving market and world.
Find the book on Amazon.
2. How to Be a Chief Sustainability Officer: Leading the Transition to a Sustainable Organisation
By Jennifer Geary and Anna Krotova
Best guide for corporate professionals | 4.9 stars (34 reviews)
How to Be a Chief Sustainability Officer is an essential guide for those who want a rundown of this position’s responsibilities and those who want to make a meaningful impact in sustainability leadership. Jennifer Geary outlines skills, strategies and responsibilities required of successful CSOs.
This is a great read for professionals aspiring to take on this role within their company and explore the role further or who want to implement these skills and ideals into their current business practices.
Find the book on Amazon.
3. Leaving Planet Simple: Embracing Sustainability, ESG and Resilience to Transform Your Business
By Alex Gold
Best practical guide | 4.8 stars (53 reviews)
Leaving Planet Simple is a practical guide for entrepreneurs looking to build successful businesses in a world that increasingly looks to prioritize sustainability. Alex Gold cuts through greenwashing to deliver actionable steps that business leaders can take today.
This book provides sustainable changes leaders can adopt in every aspect of their business plan, including supply chain, product design and corporate culture. This guide will help entrepreneurs design or transform business plans that make meaningful impacts on business, people and the environment.
Find the book on Amazon.
4. Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming
By Paul Hawken
Best solution-oriented read | 4.7 stars (1,920 reviews)
In Drawdown, author Paul Hawken consults hundreds of experts and studies to offer readers a comprehensive plan to reverse global warming. These action-oriented solutions cover a variety of sectors, including transportation, energy, food and land use, and can be adopted by individuals in their everyday lives, as well as entrepreneurs in their business practices.
This book is a solution-filled guide that will not only lead readers toward the path required to build a better future, better lives and better businesses but will also lift spirits with its hopeful problem-solving techniques that can be implemented immediately.
Find the book on Amazon.
5. Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman
By Yvon Chouinard
Best for purpose-driven entrepreneurs | 4.6 stars (5,320 reviews)
Written by the founder of the renowned outdoor adventure brand Patagonia, this memoir is a must-read for entrepreneurs and outdoor adventurists alike. Yvon Chouinard is known for his legendary career as a climber, environmentalist, businessman and founder of one of the most eco-conscious brands in the world.
Let My People Go Surfing is an engaging look into Chouinard’s life and radical approach to business which prioritizes ethics, environmental stewardship and social responsibility. This inspiring read also serves as a road map for entrepreneurs and corporations who wish to incorporate these sustainable practices into their business models. Chouinard proves it is possible to be profitable while caring for people and the planet.
Find the book on Amazon.
6. Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist
By Kate Raworth
Best for transforming business practices | 4.6 stars (3,760 reviews)
In Doughnut Economics, Kate Raworth challenges traditional business models that prioritize endless growth over the well-being of people and the environment. Raworth argues that economics shapes our public policy responses to important issues such as climate change and inequality. She proposes the doughnut economic model, which balances economic, social and environmental health.
This book guides readers through seven key principles that businesses, governments and entrepreneurs can use to transform their economic success and adopt sustainable practices that allow them to contribute to social and environmental well-being.
Find the Book on Amazon.
7. Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things
By William McDonough and Michael Braungart
Best for innovative manufacturing ideas | 4.6 stars (1,642 reviews)
In this book, authors William McDonough and Michael Braungart challenge traditional manufacturing models to eliminate waste. They propose the “cradle-to-cradle” design philosophy to replace the traditional “cradle-to-grave” manufacturing model, which offers consumers products meant to be used and discarded.
McDonough and Braungart offer case studies and clear principles to present a vision where manufacturers prioritize reusable and biodegradable materials to create a closed-loop system resulting in zero waste. This is a must-read for entrepreneurs who are interested in incorporating sustainable and innovative manufacturing processes into their business model.
Find the book on Amazon.
8. The Future We Choose: The Stubborn Optimist’s Guide to the Climate Crisis
By Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac
Best read for realistic optimism | 4.6 stars (1,213 reviews)
Written by two of the architects of the 2015 Paris Agreement, The Future We Choose is a well-informed, realistic, but optimistic look at the future of the climate crisis. Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac argue that this massive global challenge can be used as an opportunity to enact profound positive changes in how individuals and businesses treat the planet and each other.
Figueres and Rivett-Carnac envision what our world will look like by 2050 if we fail to meet the Paris Agreement’s targets, but also what it can look like if we come together to build a regenerative world with net-zero emissions. This is a must-read for entrepreneurs who need a dose of realistic optimism and inspiration to take part in creating this world.
Find the book on Amazon.
9. The Ecology of Commerce: A Declaration of Sustainability
By Paul Hawken
Most inspiring read | 4.6 stars (316 reviews)
In The Ecology of Commerce, author Paul Hawken explains how traditional business models and the overexploitation of natural resources are no longer sustainable, and how radical change in business models is vital to secure the future of our planet, environment and economy. This book draws on compelling ecological science, business theory and economics to demonstrate the need for change.
Hawken describes a “restorative economy” where corporations embrace sustainable practices that end the harm done to these systems and foster environmental health and social well-being instead. This is an inspiring read for those wishing to incorporate these principles into their business practices.
Find the book on Amazon.
10. Net Positive: How Courageous Companies Thrive by Giving More Than They Take
By Paul Polman and Andrew Winston
Best inspiration for business leaders | 4.6 stars (428 reviews)
Written by former Unilever CEO Paul Polman and corporate sustainability expert Andrew Winston, Net Positive is a must-read for entrepreneurs and business leaders who want to go beyond reducing their negative impact on the environment. “Net positive” is the inspiring concept in which companies take on pressing issues to positively impact the well-being of humanity and the environment.
This book is a clear guide that offers case studies and insights that prove businesses can prioritize innovation, sustainability and purpose while achieving financial success. Net Positive is an inspiring call to action for entrepreneurs who want to make a difference in the world.
Find the book on Amazon.
11. This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate
By Naomi Klein
Best for understanding the climate crisis | 4.5 stars (3,903 reviews)
Renowned social activist Naomi Klein critiques capitalism’s role in the current climate crisis in This Changes Everything. Klein uses case studies and evidence and borrows the voices of activists to shed light on how the global economic system is driving environmental crises. This book is an important foundational read for entrepreneurs who wish to understand capitalism’s role in climate change and other environmental issues and why real sustainable change in business practices is vital for a better and brighter future.
Find the book on Amazon.
12. Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World
By Anand Giridharadas
Best critique on philanthropic sustainability | 4.5 stars (3,084 reviews)
Written by former New York Times columnist Anand Giridharadas, Winners Take All is both a critique of the elite’s approach to social change and a call to action. This book urges individuals, corporations and business leaders alike to implement practices that will have a measurable impact on our world. Giridharadas analyzes the wealthy’s philanthropic efforts through compelling examples while peeling back the blinds on their contributions to the harmful systems they benefit from.
This book is an important read for those who want to understand the foundations of the harmful systems currently in place. It challenges individuals, entrepreneurs and leaders to think critically about how these systems can be dismantled and rebuilt in a way that benefits all.
Find the book on Amazon.
13. Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business
By John Mackey and Rajendra Sisodia
Best for those seeking purpose-driven success | 4.5 stars (1,300 reviews)
Authors John Mackey and Raj Sisodia introduce the philosophy of Conscious Capitalism in this book, arguing that business and capitalism are forces for good that can serve communities and individuals beyond corporations. Mackey draws on his experience as co-founder of Whole Foods Market to demonstrate that businesses can achieve financial success while also serving employees, the community and the environment.
Mackey and Sisodia present readers with a road map to building businesses that foster trust, collaboration and sustainability among shareholders, employees and the community. This book is a great read for entrepreneurs and leaders looking to create a successful and sustainable purpose-driven business.
Find the book on Amazon.
By Mike Berners-Lee
Best for understanding carbon footprints | 4.4 stars (904 reviews)
How Bad Are Bananas is an eye-opening look at the effects of everything on carbon emissions. Mike Berners-Lee shares environmental data in an engaging and accessible way that demonstrates the carbon footprint behind everyday products that we consume and the activities we partake in. This book explores the effects of everyday things like sending a text message or buying a banana, and bigger global events such as transportation and war.
This accessible read offers a foundational understanding of carbon emissions and the part we play, which is the first step to understanding how individuals and businesses can reduce their carbon footprint.
Find this book on Amazon.
15. Green Giants: How Smart Companies Turn Sustainability Into Billion-Dollar Businesses
By E. Freya Williams
Best for achieving sustainable success | 4.4 stars (100 reviews)
This book examines nine companies that are successfully combining social and environmental responsibility with profitability and reveals how it’s done. In Green Giants, E. Freya Williams shares six factors that are key to achieving this kind of sustainable success, including a higher purpose, disruptive innovation and iconoclastic leadership.
This is a great read for entrepreneurs and business leaders who are looking to achieve this kind of success without sacrificing sustainability and social responsibility.
Find this book on Amazon.
16. Sustainable Sustainability: Why ESG is Not Enough
By Rajeev Peshawaria
Best critique of current ESG practices | 4.4 stars (57 reviews)
In Sustainable Sustainability, Rajeev Peshawaria offers a critical examination of current ESG practices and how they may not be sustainable in the long run. Peshawaria argues that the traditional ESG practices that have led to current excesses of shareholder capitalism won’t cut it in today’s world where there is increasing need and desire for a more inclusive form of capitalism.
Peshawaria reveals how traditional ESG practices have not stood the test of time and have resulted in unsustainable practices disguised by greenwashing and box-ticking. He argues for the need to go beyond standard corporate responsibility to make deeper, more meaningful changes and provides examples of how business leaders and entrepreneurs implement them in their own practices.
Find the book on Amazon.
17. The Upcycle: Beyond Sustainability—Designing for Abundance
By William McDonough and Michael Braungart
Best actionable blueprint for sustainable design | 4.4 stars (318 reviews)
The Upcycle by William McDonough and Michael Braungart builds on their previous book, Cradle to Cradle, and introduces the idea of “upcycling.” The authors argue that this concept, which entails adopting regenerative practices and designing products that actively improve the environment, is necessary to truly achieve sustainability in business.
This book provides readers with inspiring examples of companies that have already adopted these radically beneficial practices and are thriving as a result. The Upcycle offers an actionable blueprint to entrepreneurs and companies that want to adopt these practices and make a difference in their business and the world.
Find the book on Amazon.
18. The Green to Gold Business Playbook: How to Implement Sustainability Practices for Bottom-Line Results in Every Business Function
By Daniel C. Esty and P. J. Simmons
Best practical guide to corporate sustainability | 4.4 stars (46 reviews)
This book is a comprehensive guide for businesses looking to incorporate sustainability in all aspects of their operations, including product design, IT, sourcing, manufacturing and logistics. Authors Daniel C. Esty and P. J. Simmons provide step-by-step guidance on leveraging sustainable practices as a cutting edge advantage in today’s market.
This book is ideal for entrepreneurs looking for a practical and comprehensive guide on transforming their business to positively impact the environment and their own success.
Find the book on Amazon.
19. The Future of the Responsible Company: What We’ve Learned From Patagonia’s First 50 Years
By Vincent Stanley (with Yvon Chouinard)
Most engaging case study | 4.4 stars (43 reviews)
The Future of the Responsible Company, written by Patagonia’s director of philosophy, Vincent Stanley, is a deep dive into Patagonia’s famously eco-conscious business practices perfect for fans of Yvon Chouinard’s memoir. This book explores the company’s sustainable core values, such as transparency, environmental activism and fair labor practices and shares challenges faced and lessons gleaned from the company’s first 50 years.
An engaging case study, this book shares real-world examples and valuable insight with entrepreneurs looking to prioritize purpose over profit without sacrificing success. These lessons teach us that businesses can thrive in today’s market while making a difference for the future of our planet.
Find the book on Amazon.
20. Sustainability: A History
By Jeremy L. Caradonna
Best comprehensive history | 4.1 stars (11 reviews)
In Sustainability, author Jeremy L. Caradonna reveals the history of the concept of sustainability and how it has evolved over the decades. This engaging journey examines the first thoughts on the need for sustainability and its rise to becoming a central concept in modern policy and business practices.
This book is an essential read for entrepreneurs who want to gain a deeper understanding of why sustainability is so necessary in today’s market. Through its foundational history, readers can explore the evolution of sustainable practices across various fields, such as industry, agriculture and governance.
Find the book on Amazon.
How to Apply These Lessons in Business
These books offer valuable lessons for entrepreneurs seeking to implement sustainable business practices. Start by conducting an audit of your company’s current policies and practices to identify which areas require change. Books offering foundational insights and critiques of traditional practices like Sustainability and Winners Take All will help pinpoint areas that require attention.
Inspirational and solution-oriented books like The Upcycle and Drawdown can help business leaders design solutions to their unique business challenges. Optimistic reads like Net Positive and The Future We Choose are reminders of what’s at stake and can provide the motivation entrepreneurs need to embark on their transformational journey toward forging a sustainable future in business.
Start with a comprehensive and practical guide like Leaving Planet Simple to help uncover business challenges caused by traditional sustainability standards and begin transforming your business practices today.
Photo by PhotoAlliance Images/Shutterstock.
