ESG and Business Operations
ESG and Business Operations
The recently concluded COP26 summit has put climate change and environmental considerations – the ‘E’ of ESG – at the top of the regulatory and business agenda. Key themes agreed as part of the COP26 agreement include ending deforestation, reducing methane emissions, mobilising the sustainable finance sector and achieving net-zero goals. While it is the governments that have agreed to these environmental goals, it is eventually going to be businesses that will have to work towards successfully achieving these goals. Companies across all industry sectors will have to start assessing their value chains and implementing initiatives now, in order to make their operations more relevant for the climate change-informed landscape of the future.
As is evident from various scientific literature, the costs of inaction for businesses are only going to increase going forward. Similarly, changes to business operations required from a Social and Governance perspective will not be achieved overnight. Targets like employee diversity, improved health and safety for employees, and embedding more transparency and accountability in organisational policies also require long term planning and implementation efforts.
While it might be the next management (or even the one after next) which eventually achieves the diversity targets or the net-zero ambitions, the journey to meet these objectives needs to be kick-started by organisations now, today.
Read our article, to learn what an overlay of the ESG lens actually means for organisations:
