Beyond the Pledge: Designing Commitments That Actually Hold

A goal is only as good as the steps that get you there. That’s true for any business plan, but especially long-term projects whose payoff is years away. 

The gap between vision and execution is on full display this week at COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye, where world leaders have shifted their focus from setting goals to funding and implementing them.

It’s a challenge that kyu companies help clients navigate every day. Leaders from across the Collective have learned what separates commitments that fall through from ones that actually come to fruition. Here’s how they create plans that translate to real change.

Articulate a roadmap, not a destination

Alison Woodhouse has spent her career navigating budgets and bureaucracy. As director of energy, sustainability, and social value at Lexington, she advises clients across the public and private sectors on how to navigate the politics that so often impedes development of long-term infrastructure projects. She has a simple test for measuring whether a commitment can hold up: ​“You can have a headline target, but if it’s not funded, and it doesn’t have a delivery plan, it’s not a policy.”

She points to an international biodiversity fund (the COP16 Cali Fund) that set out to raise roughly $1 billion per year, but has so far been estimated to have landed closer to $9,000, because of the lack of designed plan and enforcement standing behind that ambitious number.

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BEworks, a consultancy focused on applied behavioral science, has found a counterintuitive reason for this gap — pledges can actually reduce the likelihood of achieving a target. CEO Wardah Malik explains how the phenomenon shows up in the realm of sustainability: ​“Agreeing to a pledge can create a sense of accomplishment in and of itself. It’s like part of the mission is already accomplished, so you’re less likely to follow through.”

The problem, she says, is that most pledges ask too little of the people making them. Commitments that hold tend to be concrete and require clear-cut actions to be taken within a specific timeframe. 

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Lead with the business case

Good intentions rarely carry a long-term plan to the finish line. Engin Ayaz, co-founder and CEO of ATÖLYE, has worked on sustainable design projects across Türkiye and the Gulf, and has seen which arguments actually land with decision makers. ​“All the narratives have to go back to a narrative in finance, which is either cost-savings or market differentiation,” he says.

Ayaz’s team did early design work for one of Türkiye’s largest EV brands. A big reason for its success, he says, is its economics: gas is expensive and the car is affordable to run. But ATÖLYE also considered how the brand could culturally resonate — so it developed an end-to-end experience strategy across all touchpoints, including a distinct buying experience and a loyalty network for charging stations. That way, owning one of these EVs feels like being a part of a community. There’s business sense in that, too.

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Rather than framing long-term investments as value statements, Lexington helps clients tie them to things that people feel directly, like household costs and employment opportunities — which also form the backbone of domestic political agendas. The narrative to the public has shifted on low carbon technologies and sustainable solutions — rather than the net zero linkages, Woodhouse frames the message to consumers as ​“We’re just giving you what you need, and oh, by the way, it’s good for society,”.

Design for feedback

Even a good plan can stall without reinforcement and revisions. BEworks’ research points to timing as the culprit. Malik says that reinforcement works best when it arrives shortly after action is taken. In a project with the city of Montréal, BEworks developed a trial across 60 residential buildings to get people to separate their food scraps from their trash. Signage placed right where residents threw away these scraps helped them keep up their habit with non-invasive reminders. The campaign was designed to create a sense of collective action and community. Reinforcements don’t always have to be monetary in nature, but should be meaningful enough to drive change. The city is updating its communications based on BEworks’ findings.

It’s important to collect feedback while a plan is in action, too. ​“We always advise clients to build in phases, test it out, leave margins,” Ayaz says. Many of ATÖLYE’s projects are intended to support their local communities, like its ongoing work with Hafeet Rail, a new train network in Oman. ATÖLYE designed stone sculptures for each train station using local rock — an affordable, sustainable, and aesthetically pleasing material, The sculptures doubled as structures for pop-up shops, which local businesses could test before setting up more permanent storefronts.

For any organization making a long-term bet, the lesson across kyu is clear: a commitment holds when it’s funded, framed around what people already value, and built to evolve as needs and challenges shift.