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Clear Strategy Blog

The Future of Third-Party Risk Management
by Clear Strategy | Feb 6, 2023 | Blog, Externalities, Featured, Impact Assessment
2023 could be a pivotal year for the future of third-party risk management (TPRM) programs. Organizations are recognizing the increased risks associated with their third parties, especially with the companies that their vendors choose to work with, known as Nth...

Building a Sustainable Supply Chain
by Jo Anne Schwendinger | Jan 27, 2023 | Blog, Externalities, Featured, Strategy, Sustainable Business
Bad surprises happen. Avoid them with due diligence. When they happen, plan to do better, and execute on your plan. Communicate your expectations to employees and suppliers. Verify, and continuously improve. Stay on a path to sustainability, and reach out to Clear Strategy for help.

Third Party Risk Management
by Jo Anne Schwendinger | Dec 22, 2022 | Blog, Externalities, Featured, Impact Assessment, Strategy, Sustainable Business
In this blog we discuss how third-party risks affect your organization, and how ESG principles can help.
In today’s business landscape, you should be concerned not only with your own reputation and brand, but the reputations of your third party suppliers. Stakeholders are demanding transparency on ESG risks throughout their entire value chain, including you and your suppliers.

9 Steps to Take Now to Get Ready for the CSRD
by Jo Anne Schwendinger | Nov 23, 2022 | Blog, Externalities, Featured, Strategy, Sustainable Business, Sustainable Design
The European Council is expected to adopt the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) this month, November 2022. The CSRD is intended “to foster sustainable and responsible corporate behaviour and to anchor human rights and environmental considerations in companies’ operations and corporate governance. The new rules will ensure that businesses address adverse impacts of their actions, including in their value chains inside and outside Europe.”
Here are nine steps your company will need to take to prepare for the CSRD.

The Perils of Perpetual Power
by Jo Anne Schwendinger | Nov 22, 2022 | Blog, Featured, Strategy, Sustainable Business, Sustainable Design
The Economist recently ran an article titled Facebook and the conglomerate curse, and it addresses the future of ESG . The article is about “Silicon Valley’s big five tech giants, Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta and Microsoft.” It comments on their drop in market value this year, swollen costs, and slowing core businesses, alongside the “near-absolute control” of the companies’ founders.

ESG Hot Topic: Do the Right Thing
by Jo Anne Schwendinger | Nov 9, 2022 | Blog, Externalities, Featured, Impact Assessment, Stakeholder Engagement, Strategy, Sustainable Business
If you are challenged by your boss, board, or shareholders, show them the the potential harm to others. Then show them the data that proves that the costs, and the length of time that you will continue to pay those costs, are too high and too long for you not to do the right thing.

Tired of the Same-old Business Journal? Look to the United Nations Global Compact.
by Jo Anne Schwendinger | Oct 26, 2022 | Archive, Blog, Externalities, Reporting, Sustainable Business
The UN Global Compact’s Guide to Corporate Sustainability is an excellent resource for understanding what it takes to run a sustainable business. It talks about operations, taking action, top-level commitment, corporate culture, and communications.

Non-Regulators and Their Role
by Jo Anne Schwendinger | Oct 26, 2022 | Archive, Blog, Compliance, Stakeholder Engagement
A substantial amount of work that is being done in the ESG arena is by non-regulators. These include customers, investors, lenders, proxy advisors, ESG raters, credit rating agencies, and insurance companies. Let’s take a look at a few.

Do people trust business?
by Jo Anne Schwendinger | Oct 26, 2022 | Archive, Blog, Strategy, Sustainable Business
Businesses need not choose between shareholder interests, on the one hand, or social and environmental interests on the other. It is not a competitive, zero-sum game. If a company prioritizes employees so it comes out ahead in the war for talent, and it values customers and designs products they trust, shareholders will win, too.

What is ESG?
by Jo Anne Schwendinger | Sep 30, 2022 | Archive, Blog, Strategy
ESG is a set of metrics that a company and others can use to assess how
E: environmental issues like carbon emissions, and the use and availability of clean water,
S: social issues like indentured and slave labor, and employee health and safety, and
G: governance issues like who has decision-making power within an organization
affect company performance, and in turn how its operations impact the environment and society. There is a dual utility to ESG metrics. They can be used both to look inward at a company’s performance, and outward at how the company impacts the world.

Sustainability and the Law
by Jo Anne Schwendinger | Sep 14, 2022 | Archive, Blog, Compliance, Sustainable Business, Sustainable Design
Sustainability law is an emerging area where there is an opportunity to shape a cohesive legal corpus. As this body of law emerges, the leading edge will be cut by legislatures and the courts, but there is likewise an opportunity for practicing lawyers, academics, and chief legal officers and their teams to shape the law.

Humane by Design
by Jo Anne Schwendinger | Aug 27, 2022 | Archive, Blog, Sustainable Business, Sustainable Design
How does business dehumanize, and how can it promote humanity? Are there business opportunities that arise from focusing on humans when designing a business, a product or a service?

Financial, Internal and External ESG Impacts.
by Jo Anne Schwendinger | Aug 11, 2022 | Archive, Blog, Externalities, Impact Assessment
Your business activity has financial, as well as internal and external ESG impacts. You need to measure all three to calculate your true ROI.

Sustainability – Why? Why now?
by Jo Anne Schwendinger | Aug 1, 2022 | Archive, Blog, Stakeholder Engagement, Sustainable Business
Sustainability means meeting today’s needs without jeopardizing the ability of future generations to meet theirs.

GRI Multi-Stakeholder Reporting
by Jo Anne Schwendinger | Jul 15, 2022 | Archive, Blog, Frameworks, Reporting, Stakeholder Engagement
Understand your company’s impacts to the economy, the environment, and/or society. GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) standards.

Clear ESG Strategy
by Jo Anne Schwendinger | Jun 15, 2022 | Archive, Blog, Frameworks, Reporting, Strategy
Developing an ESG strategy starts with knowing which environmental, social and governance goals are critical to your business strategy and success.