I am grateful for the opportunity to talk about sustainability with Priscilla Rammcharan, founder of Our English 2.0, promoter of people and ideas, and author of several books for learners of all ages. Check out the interview, and the amazing things that Priscilla is doing to make the world better.
The social isolation that resulted from the pandemic also had serious impacts on employee mental health, creating a new wave of opportunity for employers to respond to employee needs. In addition to mental health resources, mental health time off and shortened work weeks are innovative solutions that employers devised.
One of the headline news items coming out of COP27 in Sharm El-Sheik, Egypt, in November of 2022, was an agreement to set up a fund for payments to developing countries that suffer loss and damage from climate-driven events like flooding, droughts and wildfires. It...
As businesses become more complex, ESG considerations will become more important and the mitigation of risks such as child labor will become more difficult. However, by partnering with governments and local communities, engaging with stakeholder, and using technology to track and verify that their materials were not the product of child labor, businesses can begin to eradicate this scourge from their supply chains.
The article highlights the versatility of AI, explaining how recent developments allow it to go beyond simple customer service conversations and become a useful tool for investors and firms in their effort to stay efficient and modernized. While AI is commonly used to navigate large amounts of data, its applications are diverse, and different AI companies now narrow their training data in order to create more intelligent and specified machines. Upon its initial introduction to the industry, AI has the potential to make significant contributions to the sustainability of corporations, whether by automating and streamlining processes, reducing energy consumption, or reducing emissions.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
Sustainability means meeting today’s needs without jeopardizing the ability of future generations to meet theirs.
