12. ESG101 - How to Drive Business Sustainability from your Role
Aug 31, 2023
auto_awesome
Learn about ESG terms like net zero and carbon credits. Discover ESG's impact on competitiveness, cost savings, and talent attraction. Navigate ESG action with materiality assessments and resources like Green Economy Canada. Empower professionals to champion ESG in their roles from IT to finance.
Environmental, social, and governance factors are crucial for ESG, with carbon neutrality and net zero being pivotal in sustainability initiatives.
Enhancing ESG performance provides diverse benefits like competitive advantages, cost savings, risk management, talent attraction, and investment appeal.
Deep dives
Understanding ESG: Environmental, Social, and Governance
ESG, standing for Environmental, Social, and Governance, is crucial for companies aiming at sustainability. Environmental aspects like carbon emissions, waste, and sustainable procurement are typically the starting point since they are more tangible; however, social elements such as diversity, equity, and inclusion, and governance factors like board diversity and human rights are equally essential. ESG's significance originated from the investor community's need to comprehend a business's non-financial aspects.
Decoding Net Zero, Carbon Neutrality, and Carbon Credits
The concepts of net zero and carbon neutrality play pivotal roles in sustainability efforts. Achieving carbon neutrality involves balancing Scope 1 and 2 emissions to zero through offsetting any residual emissions. On the other hand, net zero demands balancing all Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions to zero, emphasizing a comprehensive and ambitious long-term commitment. Notably, carbon credits, attained in voluntary markets based on strict principles like 'additionality,' aid in emission reduction efforts.
Leveraging ESG for Performance and Impact
Enhancing ESG performance offers multifaceted benefits for businesses, including competitive advantages, cost reductions, risk management, talent attraction, and investment opportunities. ESG mandates align with consumer values, boost sales, reduce operational costs, manage non-financial risks, attract skilled personnel, and appeal to impact-focused investors. ESG adoption is increasingly becoming a business necessity to ensure competitiveness, profitability, and resilience in the evolving environmental landscape.
Unlock the world of ESG in 'The Circular Future' podcast. Host Stephanie McLarty, Head of Sustainability at Quantum, decodes ESG terms for non-specialists. Delve into net zero, carbon credits, and emission scopes as Stephanie extracts insights from the webinar 'ESG 101: How to Drive Business Sustainability from Your Role.'
Discover ESG's triple impact—environmental, social, governance—across departments. Learn about carbon neutrality, scope emissions, and emerging scope four for avoided emissions. Stephanie highlights ESG's perks: competitiveness, cost savings, risk management, talent attraction, and investment appeal.
Navigate ESG action with materiality assessments and leverage resources like Green Economy Canada and HSBC's sustainability tracker. From IT to finance, this episode empowers professionals to champion ESG within their roles.
Thanks for listening!
If you like our podcasts, please leave us a review on Spotify or Apple or wherever you get your podcasts from. Want to be a guest on The Circular Future podcast? Email Sanjay Trivedi at strivedi@quantumlifecycle.com