And how soon is never?
Most organizations are fundamentally incapable of planning ten years out. When a company promises to be carbon neutral by 2030, theyre actually saying that they may never be.
Thats because almost all the pressures on them are short-term pressures. And it doesnt help that few people expect to be in the same job or even at the same company then. So its easier to simply describe something in the distant future and then go back to work where work means obsessing about the short term.
Of course, its not just companies that do this. Individuals do too, and companies are simply groups of people.
Changing our definition of now and later is a powerful competitive advantage.