Zaneta Sedilekova: “It was more of a happenstance… to turn to Eastern traditions”

Zaneta is a Biodiversity and Climate Risk Lawyer qualified in England and Wales with a strong focus on risks and opportunities climate and biodiversity crises present to the financial system as well as individual decision-makers.

She helps clients understand and mitigate their exposure to biodiversity and climate liability risks, prepare for the regulatory changes anticipated in the decarbonisation of the worldwide economy and implement their own Net Zero targets in a responsible and transparent manner. Most importantly, as Zaneta puts it, she helps clients turn these risks into opportunities for their business and wider stakeholders.

Praveen Gupta: While climate breakdown, biodiversity loss and pollution together constitute the biggest existential threat – how do you believe these should be addressed? 

Zaneta Sedilekova: There is no single solution to the triple crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. We know that they are driven by our dominant economic system and therefore can only be addressed through system-wide change. Systems change happens at multiple levels of individual behaviour, collective culture, government and corporate decision-making, among others. Law has its own role to play in enabling and solidifying such systems change through interpretation of existing principles and progressive regulation for new markets.  

PG: You have mentioned climate change as a friend and as a direction of travel. Would you please explain?

ZS: My point here is to reframe how we communicate about climate change. The current narratives are largely fear- or shame-based. We either talk about climate change as a threat to address, a problem to solve, or even, in some cases, a danger to fight. These narratives create fear among everyone who dares to listen. Fear completely inhibits us from imagining our shared future.

Very much like fear, shame is paralysing and more often than not leads to denial or backlash

The second narrative is based on shame – we shame people for their life or work choices, their lifestyles. While I appreciate the lifestyle prevalent in some countries is heavily contributing to climate change, shaming people for adopting such lifestyles is not going to help. Very much like fear, shame is paralysing and more often than not leads to denial or backlash. We need to change the narrative about climate change to bring everyone on board. This is where reframing may help.

Climate change is a natural process, driven by the Earth’s systems, irrespective of its consequences for us, as a species. When we communicate it through negative emotions, such as fear or shame, we necessarily attach a judgment to otherwise neutral natural phenomenon. If we decide to speak about climate change more neutrally, such as ‘a friend’ or a ‘direction of travel’, our response completely changes. We stop fighting it and start looking in the direction in which it is pointing.

That direction of travel is very clear – decentralised renewable energy sources, restoration of natural ecosystems that help restore balance in the atmosphere, shorter supply chains and nature-centric decision-making across all levels of the society – government, corporate and individual. If we remove fear and shame from our narrative about climate change and instead approach it with neutrality, our future becomes visible and attainable for us all.

If we remove fear and shame from our narrative about climate change and instead approach it with neutrality, our future becomes visible and attainable for us all

PG: Of late you have been drawing much of your inspiration from Eastern traditions/ philosophies? How does that help?

ZS: As any professional working in this area, I spend my days reading the narratives of fear and shame I describe above. Many of them present a grim or even a doomsday picture of our common future. It is not easy to stay positive, or indeed find joy in everyday life without strong mental resilience. I find that my daily yoga, breathing and meditation practice helps me see the bigger picture, stay focused on my priorities, both in my personal and professional life, while making sure that I can make difficult decisions with integrity and responsibility on a daily basis.

It was more of a happenstance than my deliberation to turn to Eastern traditions, yet for the past ten years, I have been diving deeper and deeper into them to find balance and peace in the world that is becoming more and more uncertain.  

PG: Many thanks Zaneta for sharing these brilliant insights into your chosen path to cope with our biggest existential crisis. With all good wishes.

This article is also published on the author's blog. illuminem Voices is a democratic space presenting the thoughts and opinions of leading Sustainability & Energy writers, their opinions do not necessarily represent those of illuminem.