Today we are witnessing the impact that climate change is having on our planet. As a result, the push for corporate sustainability initiatives has never been stronger. Companies are asked for an increasingly deeper and demonstrable commitment.
Targets in sustainability are now firmly rooted in science and everyone — from consumers to investors — is watching.
Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): how companies are building them
The concept of corporate sustainability is broad, as the impact that a company can have on the network that surrounds it is broad and diversified. Conceptually, company sustainability is the balance between its short-term goals and long-term overall well-being.
The Corporate Social Responsibility Directive (CSRD), the European Union directive introducing and regulating the sustainability report, highlights the three areas that mark the future of corporate sustainability: environmental responsibility, social equity, and economic prosperity.
Within these three macro-areas, there are many paths that a company can take to build its positive impact on the ecosystem, on the people around it and on the economic system to which it contributes.
Consumers expect purpose to outweigh profit
Nowadays consumers care about the environment and know how to distinguish greenwashing from a concrete commitment, guided by real values, and this is reflected in their purchasing and consumption choices.
Consumers are more and more letting their actions speak louder than their words: they want organizations to share their same values about sustainability and they want to see organizations taking action in those directions. If organizations don’t, consumers are spending their money elsewhere.
Investors have begun to reframe risk
Stakeholders are also demanding more and more transparency from companies.
The shape of investing is changing and environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria are becoming fundamental criteria for many investors. Promises are not enough: they want to know the deep objectives of organizations and the concrete actions they have undertaken in terms of sustainability.
It is no surprise that the sustainability report, which highlights businesses’ impact on people, planet and economy, has recently become mandatory for many companies. The sustainability report is innovative, exactly because of its transparency: it is based on data about the company’s performances, compared to the official shared standards.
Thanks to this reporting, stakeholders are able to make informed decisions on how to invest (or not invest) their finances in the company. Once again, if the company doesn’t keep up with sustainability, stakeholders spend their money elsewhere.
The concept of wellbeing took on a new meaning: mental health
The duties of companies towards the well-being of their employees have taken on a completely new dimension of importance, especially related to mental health.
This new attention to health, not only physical but also psychological, of employees is part of the social impacts of the company. They must always respect and value the people who work for them and the ones they deal with in general.
The European directive (CSRD) we mentioned before highlights the importance of work-life balance, health and safety, as well as respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms, democratic principles and standards established in the International Charter of Human Rights and in other fundamental conventions of the United Nations on human rights.
Corporate activism
Today companies are asked to expose themselves on issues of social justice like never before. They are pushed to raise their voice and take part in the battles for a just, equitable and inclusive society.
As a result, the expert in diversity in the workplace is a rapidly growing role. According to an article on Linkedin News, after the expansion of the Black Lives Matter movement (born in America after the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and spreading throughout the world) companies, large and small, have often turned to diversity experts: hiring for these roles has increased by more than 90% since 2019.
The corporate activism of companies is also reflected in the committed advertising campaigns they choose to undertake. This is the case of the Nike campaign with Colin Kaepernick, which was released and immediately went viral in 2018. Colin Kaepernick, former quarterback of the National Football League, went down in history for kneeling during the American national anthem as a protest against discrimination against ethnic minorities in the United States. For this reason the player was banned from the NFL. Hence, the payoff of Nike’s campaign is: “Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything”, associated with a portrait of the player’s face.
Better data collection and analysis for better transparency
In order to draw up a sustainability report that meets the criteria required by the new directive (CSRD), ESG declarations must be supported by data.
For this reason, companies find themselves reviewing their performance measurement systems and outlining new KPIs. The goal is to create the infrastructure needed to collect reliable data on their sustainability efforts.
Companies often take part in projects with a high positive impact on the planet. In those situations it is essential that everything is tracked, measurable and accountable.
Beeing develops and coordinates many biodiversity protection projects and always provides accurate and complete data in order to draw up a sustainability report in line with the directive.
Artificial intelligence to power sustainability
Reporting the environmental impacts of a company means working with large quantities of data. Supply chain emissions – where the majority of a company’s carbon footprint often resides – are a particularly complex area to measure and manage.
This is where AI comes into play, with softwares capable of collecting, processing and visualizing data.
Thanks to artificial intelligence it is also possible to devise more sustainable alternatives to those already used. For example, it will be possible to reinvent and optimize some steps in the production and supply chain.
Environmental responsibility
The idea is that it is not possible to generate profit unless in a responsible way, by taking into account the environmental cause. A company’s impact on the planet must be part of its balance sheet. The commitment to environmental sustainability involves the protection of water and marine resources, a responsible use of resources, circular economy, the fight against pollution practices, the protection of biodiversity and ecosystems.
The goal is to mitigate the effects of climate change and reverse the trends that cause them. As a consequence, it is crucial that companies improve in a sustainable way the performances of their products and services, for an environmental impact increasingly closer to 0.
As an example, more and more companies are looking to green their technology stack: they are selecting cloud service providers that work to reduce the environmental impact of their data centers and are designing software and systems that have lower energy requirements.
Biodiversity: its protection as the main point of the sustainability agenda
The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report ranks biodiversity loss as one of the top five threats humanity will face in the next decade. Anthropic activity affects the composition of the soil, the health of animals and the conservation of ecosystems and biodiversity, which are profoundly damaged.
Here at Beeing we develop projects with bees and pollinators, aimed at protecting and repopulating these special insects. Bees are vital for biodiversity: in addition to producing honey, their greatest merit is pollinating almost 75% of food crops.
Contact us to create a sustainable growth path together, increase your company’s Social Responsibility (CSR) and demonstrate it in the sustainability report.