How Can the Private Sector Tackle Inequality and Generate Shared Prosperity for All?
Listen to this article (audio generated using AI assistance): The high level and structural nature of inequality in our world is a systemic risk that poses an existential threat to our society and economy. It is eroding trust in our political and economic systems, constraining growth, contributing to polarization and unrest, and undermining our ability […]
Action on Climate Resilience is Business Critical
As the impacts of climate change bite, business efforts to reduce emissions must now be matched by action to strengthen climate resilience. Here I set out four action areas where companies can better protect themselves and others, while seizing opportunities to market resilience-enhancing products. Many businesses are acting on climate change: setting net-zero or science-based […]
Addressing Vaccination Inequity Among Marginalised Groups in Europe
Listen to this article (audio generated using AI assistance): This year’s Immunisation Week, the annual campaign to expand vaccination globally, is rightly focussed on, “The Big Catch Up,” – getting countries back on track with routine vaccinations after pandemic-related disruptions. According to the CDC, outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases like measles, polio, and diphtheria are rising […]
Six Principles for Businesses to Drive Sustainable Behaviour Change in Low-Income Communities
Six Principles for Businesses to Drive Sustainable Behaviour Change in Low-Income Communities. Creating a more sustainable future for people and planet will require fundamental changes in attitudes and behaviours across society worldwide. This is no easy feat; altering behaviours is a long process, one which requires consistency and encouragement. Business plays an important role in […]
Systems change for social and ecological transformation: putting nature at the heart of scaling impact
Increasingly people are recognising that our current economic system and business structures are not delivering a world that is ‘prosperous’ in the way we want to prosper; that the pursuit of more is leaving us all with less. And we are increasingly aware that there is a different path forward: we can build different kinds […]
Four Essential Elements for the “Just” in “Just Transitions”
The concept of “just transition” – a whole-of-society approach to decarbonisation that respects human rights while promoting sustainable development, the eradication of poverty, and the creation of decent work and quality jobs – has come increasingly centre stage in national and international discussions on finance, energy, agriculture, and other key industrial transitions to net-zero. While […]
Five Lessons from Ten Corporate-Charity Partnerships
In one of my series of articles about progress on eliminating world poverty in the last 25 years, I talked about why it’s not just about official aid. Government policy and the private sector really matter too. At CARE I worked with ten of the UK’s largest FTSE100 companies. And I gave a couple of […]
Why the Burden on Business Women to ‘do it all’ Must Stop
Glorifying multi-tasking by women entrepreneurs must stop. Women the world over are often celebrated for juggling their business with childcare and household responsibilities. The assumption that a woman should be the primary caregiver and the man should be the breadwinner are norms so entrenched they remain consistently unchallenged. This needs to change. NGOs and businesses […]
Who’s Putting the ‘S’ in ESG?
Lately, ESG is mostly in the news for the wrong reasons. Reading certain articles, it can seem as though some companies are happy to reap the benefits of seeming good, while shifting expenses (e.g., pollution) onto society. However, a lot of the negative coverage references ESG in its role as a guidance for investors (i.e., ESG for Assurance), despite the fact […]
It’s Time for Companies to Step Up on Net Zero
As UN Experts Call for an End to Greenwashing, Companies in the richest countries have still not agreed to climate measures that are in line with staying below 1.5 degrees. Danielle Smith and Hilde Stroot welcome new guidance from a UN panel, released at COP27, to push action by firms on corporate net-zero plans – […]
The Paradox of ESG
Can for-profit businesses really aid in preserving the environment? The practice of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investment has long been plagued by the question. You could have assumed the answer was Yes based on the euphoric increase in everything ESG. According to estimates, a sustainability lens is now being used to oversee more than […]
Three Actions for Business in the Face of the Global Polycrisis
If you’re struggling to wrap your head around the multiple crises facing the world right now, the phrase “global polycrisis” may help you get a sense of just how truly awful things are. The term reared its head at the just-completed World Bank Annual Meetings, and is forebodingly described by the Cascade Institute as happening […]
Why is Sustainability a Concept Closer to JUSTICE than to the ENVIRONMENT?
Environmental protection such as packing, renewable energy, climate action, water, and waste management have dominated the sustainability mindset. Today, many people, including experts, thought leaders, and even some sustainability gurus, use the terms “sustainability” and “environmental protection” as synonyms. And they aren’t. Sustainability is a broader concept, and the level of success in achieving it […]
How the Climate Justice Framework Helps put People at the Heart of Net Zero Ambitions
Climate change and inequality are two of the biggest challenges of our time. Tackling one without the other is increasingly seen as not an option, including for business. The Business and Climate Justice Framework helps businesses identify both the opportunities of putting people at the centre of their climate ambitions and the risks of inaction. […]
The sobering reality of the UN’s Global Goals
The sobering reality of the UN’s Global Goals Remember the Sustainable Development Goals? It’s not a facetious question. Amid all the other corporate sustainability priorities of the past few years — net zero, ESG, the circular economy, social justice, resource constraints and all the rest — not to mention a seemingly never-ending drumbeat of political upheaval, […]
Robust social metrics for ESG investing: A practical way for boards to invest for impact
A new report published by Citigroup with SOPHIA Oxford shows how multidimensional social factors can be used by investors and corporates to reduce poverty, lower risk and open up large financial investment opportunities. The innovative approach based on a proved Oxford methodology looks at indicators that can flow from the household level through to the […]
The time to accelerate the “S” in ESG is now
She looks up with tears in her eyes and explains in Bengali that her children are now too old, and she missed her chance to get the legal allowed months for mother’s leave. The scene takes place in a small humid room in one of the thousands of factories in the ready-made garment sector in […]
Reflections on the 2021 Edelman Trust Barometer: How business can play a key role in restoring trust
After the extraordinary events of 2020 business has emerged as the most trusted institution, according to the Edelman Trust Barometer, which was released earlier this month. The annual survey of more than 33,000 people across 28 countries asked respondents how much it trusted various institutions to do what is right. Business was the most trusted […]
The shifting expectations of business: aligning strategy, business model and culture with a sustainable purpose.
These vulnerabilities are likely to be exposed further by global trends that, on our current trajectory, look set to get worse. As Unilever’s CEO Alan Jope put it “the other big problems in the world, things like climate change and inequality, are not going away”. This year UN conferences in Glasgow and Kunming will seek to further the intergovernmental ambitions and […]
Reinforcing the ‘S’ in ESG during COVID-19: reflections from our investees
Social risk is a broad term which primarily focuses on the management and engagement of people across the workforce, community and wider stakeholder groups. It is a topic which has risen to the fore during COVID-19, as firms consider not only the impact of the pandemic on business operations, but also its impact on workforces […]