To begin to understand why this is, WRI interviewed sustainability managers from a cross-sector sample of eight multinational companies (including AkzoNobel). This research showed that using a “sustainability lens” to evaluate business opportunities has helped companies grow revenue and gain competitive advantage. It also identified four main barriers preventing the improved scale-up of environmentally sound business practices. Based on the experiences of the companies WRI interviewed and WRI’s own perspectives, four actions have been identified that could help overcome these barriers and better scale financially-sound corporate investment in environmental sustainability.