Rather than wishing difficulties away, businesses and governments need to ask themselves tough questions as they rethink sustainability approaches, including:
While for some companies and industries topics like human rights in the supply chain and worker safety will be on a short list of material issues, climate change and biodiversity loss present immediate, potentially irreversible global risks, necessitating urgent action by all kinds of institutions everywhere.
Emphasizing climate and nature does not mean neglecting social aspects. On the contrary, reversing global warming and nature loss are essential to mitigating their enormous potential societal consequences, such as negative health or economic outcomes, which would disproportionately affect already vulnerable communities and workers.
Less undivided attention is also the best way to unlock sustainability’s value-creation potential, from cost savings and the development of revenue-generating products to creating new markets. Significant and enduring corporate contributions to combating climate change and nature loss will only come from commercially viable solutions and innovations.
The current sustainability agenda compels companies to invest in topics that are not as urgent or universal as the ongoing climate and nature crisis in terms of their worldwide impacts and relevance to every business.
The situation and responses will be different for each sector and company. Companies should find where geopolitical, economic, societal, and sustainability priorities align, then choose actions that address sustainability and other issues simultaneously and contribute to resilience and competitiveness. Additionally, governments should support areas of cross-strategic value financially, through market reforms, and by protecting them against unsustainable and unfair competition.
The slogan “United we stand, divided we fall” is relevant here. As actors facing myriad sustainability challenges with short- and long-term impacts, companies can benefit from helping to start and maintain innovative, solution-oriented collaborations between businesses, investors, and governments.
While sustainability is under pressure, continued progress is possible and imperative. This requires focusing investment and action on climate and nature, plus the narrow set of social issues that are truly material to each organization, finding sustainability solutions that address other pressing topics, and clearing the path for deeper collaboration.
When times are difficult, it is critical to show ways to address the most material geopolitical, economic, societal, and sustainability issues at the same time. Radical prioritization is the necessary path forward for business, society, and the planet.
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