Embedding sustainability into company operations
What was of interest at Climate Club´s Sustainability Leaders Series?
Inspiring conversation between Andrea Brown, currently VP, CSO at LyondellBasell and Adam Braun CEO of Climate Club. My highlights are the following:
On the journey, part of success of embedding sustainability into the company operations is to start with a small team crafting the vision, whereas execution must be allocated into the right groups of the company, always following a philosophy of co-creation. Internal buy-in is fundamental, and working closely with finance and operations makes the strategy roll out spread all areas in the company.
Collaboration between enterprises and between private companies is key in the transition towards sustainability, and Andrea brings it with her own experience, as her her biggest learning from previous her role at WBCSD.
The role of CSO evolves quickly over time as it matures and grows within a company. It progresses from setting ambitions top down and the strategy bottom up to driving alignment and change.
Sustainability strategy must be linked to corporate values.
Once the company succeeds in embedding engagement into the company´s culture the following step is governance, similar to what other successful enterprises experience when their sustainability proposition grows. External engagements increase as well, promoting where the company wants to differentiate.
Learning from HSE processes where chemical companies have extended experience can help to implement new sustainability processes.
We are standing at the point where accessing data and evaluating tools to help reporting is a challenge.
ESG standards should go into regular review like any other more mature standard.
