With the sun setting on the 15th Climate Week NYC, we look to the experts for a measure on the most innovative organisation-level ideas, strategies and initiatives at the annual event.
Politicians, policymakers and business leaders have left the world stage that is Climate Week NYC for this year but there is still much to do. While many global organisations have spent the past few years assessing their financial exposure to climate change; making sure they comply with regulations and planning their decarbonisation programme, the need for action is pressing.
As Helen Clarkson, CEO of Climate Group, Climate Week NYC host, said opening the event: ‘What we’ve achieved in the last decade is remarkable but we cannot stop here. We must aim higher, be bolder and keep pushing forward. How the future will judge us depends on the action we take right now, it’s time.’
On that note, I am sharing my reflections and recommendations of the week; it’s time for business to push the transition into the mainstream – and fast.
Financial quantification to make the business case
Making the business case for sustainability needs numbers. Quantifying the financial consequences of the climate-and-nature crisis sets a clear baseline to help organisations estimate the value of mitigation and adaptation, as well as the costs and benefits to the business.
There is business value to sustainability and, specifically, understanding the connections between implementing sustainability and financial value – the opportunities it presents – is key to making the business case; according to the World Economic Forum, there is $10.1 trillion of global value to business from adopting a nature-positive strategy.
Taking an evidence-led, data-driven approach to decision-making enables sustainability goals to be realised, as well as meeting other business priorities. Achieving sustainability targets, while simultaneously maximising growth and business profitability, is not an easy task but organisations cannot afford to ignore increasing regulatory demands for big business to demonstrate environmental stewardship. The net-positive economy is coming, whether businesses are ready or not.
Sustainability as a business imperative
All organisations must make sustainability their business. The challenge is real and making change can feel daunting but sustainability is firmly on the business agenda.
Approaching sustainability as a must-do rather than a nice-to-have is critical and effective. There are benefits to organisations that approach sustainability as a business imperative and I am not a lone voice in this debate; speaking at one of Climate Week NYC’ Hub Live discussions, Ezgi Barcenas, CSO at the global beauty brand L’Oréal, called out sustainability as a business imperative, saying her approach was to ‘multi solve’ for the company.
“I think this is exactly how we should be approaching it because if you don’t think of it as supply security and business resilience, then you’re only solving for one thing and maybe leaving other pieces behind,’ they said. ‘We are trying to multi solve, not only for climate but nature and social equity as well.”
Companies face new expectations to demonstrate a genuine commitment to prioritise sustainable practices across their operations and supply chains from a growing list of sources, including investors and consumers, new financial rules, shareholder resolutions, climate-and-nature-related litigation, employee preferences and demands, and peer benchmarking and reputation management.
Companies unprepared for the net-positive future may not have a future at all.
Sustainability as a business opportunity
It’s time for business to act on opportunity. Among the business representatives at Climate Week NYC, Global Sustainability Leader at PwC Will Jackson-Moore, cited the company’s recent survey of 700 CEOs, highlighting that only a third of the survey cohort saw climate as a business issue.
Stressing the importance of acknowledging sustainability at board level, Jackson-Moore spoke to business opportunity, setting out the need to balance the short-term costs of decarbonisation with longer-term rewards, giving examples of simple cost-reduction, energy efficiency gains that could save 30 per cent of energy consumption by 2023. He also urged business leaders to see regulation, including CSRD and ISSB, as an opportunity to add business value rather than a compliance task.
Addressing sustainability does require investment but organisations preparing for the net-positive future will benefit from opportunities, including access to new streams of capital, building a resilient supply chain, and enhancing brand and business value.
Unifying the sustainability and business strategy
Sustainability functions require direct connection with the board to ensure the business is resilient to climate-and-nature-related transition risks that can have serious financial consequences.
A sustainable business is one that integrates and balances the commercial value of the organisation with nature, climate and people. An integrated view requires a company to remain commercially viable, while considering the direct and indirect impacts of the business on the environment.
Sustainability cannot operate in a silo; organisations that integrate sustainability into the business strategy, providing a critical lens for all decision-making, will be best places to mitigate risk and optimise opportunity in the transition to the net-positive economy.
Tech brings risk but also opportunity
Many companies are relying on tech to complete their decarbonisation goals but chickens cannot be counted before they hatch. Trials and tribulations of implementing well-proven technology, such as PVs and windfarms, are well documented, and horizon scanning on hydrogen technologies and battery breakthroughs is ongoing.
Some of the challenges of using existing tech include the mundane but frustrating processes of securing permits, approving land zoning and the practicalities of land availability for renewables.
The good news is that several technologies have now passed the ‘green discount’ stage – they are cheaper than the traditional alternative, including rooftop PVs, electric scooters and solar cookers. Affordability means these products are attracting fast uptake in many countries around the world.
But there are two sides to this story. Other technologies are barely getting started and some require big R&D investment before they can be scaleable. There are thousands of carbon-capture start-ups but only a few are likely to attract the investment and take-up to make their offer affordable.
The outlook from financiers is a mixed bag; they are confident that the capital is available to fund entrepreneurialism in climate tech but warn losses will be plentiful in the new gold-rush for bankable technologies.
The business of sustainability
The clarion call is crystal clear and business must play a part; it’s time to make profitable sustainability business as usual.
Business leaders are increasingly seeing the value of sustainability; in a recent IBM study 75 per cent of executives agree sustainability drives better business results. It really is time to get ahead in the race to decarbonise, integrate financial and transition planning, unify sustainability and business strategies, and prepare to thrive in the net-positive economy.
As the Hon. Philip E Davis, Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, said, providing a positive outlook to a full-house audience at the Opening Ceremony for Climate Week NYC: “Climate action is not about sacrifice; it is about opportunity.” It’s time for businesses to meet that opportunity, together.
Dr Andrew Coburn is CEO of Risilience. Risilience is a Sustainability Intelligence solution that delivers better disclosures, risk insights and transition strategy for global businesses.
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