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aClimate change affects everyone and everything, we need to face the challenges and find solutions together. From agriculture, transportation, financial services to consumer goods, and more, only reshaping every aspect of our economy can solve this emergency. Reducing emissions – and eventually reaching net zero – is the most important action businesses must take to tackle the climate crisis.
Every business leader should consider how their company can deepen its environmental and social impact and become net zero. To achieve this, it has to be transparent and consistent in its carbon emissions reporting. With transformational solutions and reliable data, leaders can accelerate their efforts and prove that business can be the biggest platform for change.
Measure before you fix
While businesses can encourage employees and citizens to take more sustainable action, you can’t reduce what you can’t measure. Carbon emissions are a prime example of how a lack of measurement hinders progress towards meaningful action. For example, integrating technology into sustainability processes can help businesses understand and manage their carbon footprint efficiently.
Tracking a company’s full-value chain emissions is complex and time-consuming. That’s why Salesforce, a California-based software company, developed stability cloud to track yourself carbon footprint And help companies small and large in every industry to transparently report their progress in reducing emissions. With the Sustainability Cloud, Salesforce was able to reduce its carbon accounting process from more than six months to just six weeks, helping Wrinkles the company’s path to net zero emissions.
Just as the pandemic demonstrated the importance of transparency in building trust in tackling the climate emergency, there is no success unless it is shared.
Collaborative tools have an important role to play in educating the workforce on sustainable practices, from recycling to green means of transportation. Such platforms are helping businesses scale up emissions reduction efforts with suppliers and working on industry-specific, data-driven climate action plans. Companies can visualize their fastest path to net zero emissions with in-depth analysis and insight, while maintaining visibility on their own impact. In addition, they can provide the highest level of accountability to employees, customers and stakeholders.
read also, India’s path to net-zero emissions may not be just about the power sector, says top energy economist
no bigger stakeholder than the planet
Businesses are now recognizing that their function, value and ability to generate profit are more interconnected. In view of the increasing expectations of stakeholders and youth – future customers, employees, partners – if you are not serving the interests of the planet, you are not serving their interests either.
Together we can be part of the climate solution. With the power of technology and community, we can find more sustainable ways of living and doing business, achieve net zero emissions faster, and make an impact at the scale and speed that the planet will notice.
How can businesses become champions of sustainability?
First, businesses must ensure that their sustainability goals align with long-term growth strategies and financial and operational priorities. If a company makes decisions based on values, that can explain the value-alignment of sustainability. If it decides on faster economic data, it could make a case for the business. Of course, organizations vary in size and their carbon footprint, but we can all make sustainability a priority and focus our efforts just like any other corporate goal.
Commitment to measure progress, reporting regularly and thus in a transparent manner will help in building trust among the stakeholders. And when you earn trust, you can inspire others. That’s why every year we release our Stakeholder Effect report, To inform key stakeholders, track our progress and support our work. Our corporate governance practices—working with integrity, investing in our communities, and protecting the planet—provide a framework that aligns our actions with the interests of our stakeholders. By integrating social good into everything we do and leveraging people’s passion for sustainability, we believe that business can be the biggest platform for change.
This article is part of a Chain Examine the relationship between the global and the local in partnership with Carnegie India, leading up to its Global Technology Summit 2021 (14-16 December 2021). Click Here to register.
The author is SVP and Managing Director at Salesforce. Thoughts are personal.
(Edited by Likes)
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