Over the next decade we need to unlock change in a way \u2014 and at a rate \u2014 that has so far eluded us.<\/p>\n
Creating a world in which more than nine billion people can live well and within planetary boundaries by 2050 will require leadership and perseverance across every part of society.<\/p>\n
Business has the power to unlock the transformations on which a safe and sustainable future depends.<\/p>\n
For business, generating long-term returns requires a transformed model that rewards true value creation rather than value extraction.<\/p>\n
Resilience and long-term success mean enhancing a business’ capacity to anticipate, embrace, and adapt to change and disruption. Businesses must move to a mindset in which we build the capacity of our social and environmental systems to heal and thrive.<\/p>\n
Businesses have a good reason to worry about sustainability.<\/p>\n
A World Economic Forum report last year identified five risks with the highest likelihood in the next decade: extreme weather, climate action failure, human-led environmental damage, infectious diseases and biodiversity loss. They all are sustainability-related risks.<\/p>\n
Investors today are demanding more data on a company’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) performance to see how boards consider and assess climate-related issues; how the company’s business model may be affected by climate-related issues and what strategic changes the company might need to make.<\/p>\n
Employees today want employers who incorporate ESG into their purpose. A recent study from insurance firm Marsh McLennan indicates that the impact of ESG performance on workforce sentiment can be a source of competitive advantage.<\/p>\n
Top employers, measured by employee satisfaction and attractiveness, have significantly higher ESG scores. Satisfied employees work harder, stay longer, and seek to produce better results for the organisation.<\/p>\n
ESG performance will become increasingly important in attracting and retaining talent as millennials and Gen Z make up most of the global workforce.<\/p>\n
Another study by consulting firm Simon-Kucher & Partners reveals that more than a third of global consumers are willing to pay more for sustainability as demand grows for environmentally friendly products and services.<\/p>\n
The study, involving more than 10,000 people in 17 countries, showed that sustainability is increasingly important in purchasing decisions, with consumers seeing themselves and for-profit companies as primary catalysts for change.<\/p>\n
Increasingly, governments are creating ESG-related regulations and requirements.<\/p>\n
A study of 71 countries found more than 2,000 voluntary reporting frameworks, mandatory reporting requirements, methodologies and protocols.<\/p>\n
With many international regulatory bodies working together to accelerate convergence to reduce the number of reporting frameworks, businesses will be under increasing pressure to supply credible ESG information.<\/p>\n
Greenwashing will become harder with an increasing risk of backfiring on the perpetrators. Meanwhile, non-governmental organisations and community groups are pressuring businesses for radical transparency with a company’s licence to operate potentially at stake.<\/p>\n
Former Unilever chief executive officer Paul Polman recently introduced the concept of a net-positive company: one that gives more than it takes \u2014 solving problems that matter and not creating new ones.<\/p>\n
Net-positive leadership is about putting others’ interests first, which may require new skills and leaving your comfort zone.<\/p>\n
The larger system changes we need can only happen in partnership with groups outside of a company’s control \u2014 peers, community members, NGOs, governments, consumers, suppliers, and more. Done right, a network of stakeholders creates multiplier effects that help build something bigger and faster.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The writer is chairman of BCSD Malaysia, member of the board of Trustees of ALAM and former science adviser to the prime minister<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Over the next decade we need to unlock change in a way \u2014 and at a rate \u2014 that has so far eluded us. Creating a world in which more…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9821,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[522],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/might.org.my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9820"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/might.org.my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/might.org.my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/might.org.my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/might.org.my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9820"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/might.org.my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9820\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9822,"href":"https:\/\/might.org.my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9820\/revisions\/9822"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/might.org.my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/might.org.my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/might.org.my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/might.org.my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}