More companies, more sustainability action — it’s time to take back our future

Globality, Inc.
Aug 26, 2017 · 6 min read

by Robert Casamento

It’s strange how sometimes it’s not until the end that the beginning comes into clear view. For me, my journey working on energy and environmental issues started at my last lecture, on my last day of university. After three years of pursuing an Accounting & Finance degree — taking all the classic courses — my very last class was on the very specific topic “environmental accounting”. Who would have thought that a profession dedicated to double-entry book keeping, balance sheets and P&L statements could help save the planet? That was my moment of clarity. So, while most of my friends and peers went to work for banks with ambitions of one day becoming the CFO, I wanted to change the world by helping to solve some of the most complex sustainability challenges out there. I firmly set my sights on doing my bit to tackle problems related to the global energy mix, climate change and water.

I started out as most accountants do, following the money. I spent the first part of my career determined to help organizations focus on strategically building their sustainability goals and finding the money to execute on these projects. However, I soon realized that businesses operate in a global economy influenced by many factors — government relations, public opinion and policies. This inspired me to pivot towards public-private partnerships at the World Economic Forum to help shape public policy change.

Fast forward a few years and now, it’s all about data, data, data. So for the past 7 years, I’ve been focused on helping address global sustainability concerns by leveraging advances in big data and artificial intelligence.

When you spend a quarter century of your career dedicated to energy, environment and social impact issues, you see and learn a lot, sometimes too much. You become acutely aware of the growing disparities in opportunity, wealth and power — billions of people are denied a life of dignity and live in poverty, gender inequality continues to rise, and youth unemployment is a major concern. Global health threats, more frequent and intense natural disasters, violent extremism, terrorism, humanitarian crises and forced displacement of people — all of these combine to threaten our tomorrow. There are days when people ask me aren’t the challenges too big, too daunting, too depressing? In one sense, the answer is yes. But in reality, the answer is NO.

The irony is that solutions to many of our most complex and challenging issues already exist, but it is the key to successfully scaling these solutions that remains elusive.

And as the world accelerates — in terms of population growth, resource needs and social incohesion, what truly frightens me is something that Paul Polman, the CEO of Unilever describes very well — “every day that passes is another lost opportunity for action”. Indeed, a recent report by the Business and Sustainable Development Commission warns us that if progress towards a more sustainable world “is too slow, there may be no viable world to do business in”. Compelling food for thought.

So how do we take immediate action to create real change in a way that makes a real impact?

Al Gore, former Vice President of the United States and Globality investor, sums it up neatly in this New York Times article about his book The Future: Six Drivers of Global Change, “Societies will succeed or fail depending upon how quickly individuals and groups committed to a sustainable future gain sufficient strength, skill and resolve by connecting with one another.”

I believe we can advance progress on sustainability issues if the private sector takes more definitive action, if businesses commit to establishing clearly defined goals, and finally, if those same businesses work with the right partners to help them achieve those goals. I’ve witnessed firsthand the impact of the right collaboration between a client and a consultant, and the positive ripple effect this can create.

However, even when companies can identify their sustainability goals or have a specific agenda, they tend to rely on an outdated approach for finding the right people to work with. Instead of discovering the best organization for the job, this method leads them straight back to the same predictable group of large global firms that often under-deliver and overcharge.

Finding smaller firms that deliver superior outcomes at a lower cost is a challenge. I know from my own experience that tapping personal networks occasionally yields results, but this is hardly scalable.

My desire to drive meaningful change in the world is what led me to where I am today as General Manager of Globality’s Energy, Environment and Social Impact Sectors. We combine artificial intelligence-technology with in-house expertise to make it easier for companies across the world to initiate energy, environment and sustainability projects by connecting them with the best firms to work with — we find the right experts in the right place at the right time. Enabling sustainability action at scale is precisely the challenge that Globality works to solve.

The immediate key benefit for client companies is access to an artificial intelligence-driven project brief, which enables them to digitally create a project and easily define its parameters using Globality’s dynamic question and answer (Q&A) engine. Each question is driven by the previous response, customized and informed by an evolving data set of global best practices that helps clients precisely define and refine their project needs. Let’s say a client is unfamiliar with a particular industry topic or is just looking to validate that their sustainability objectives are aligned with industry benchmarks and best practices, Globality’s dynamic Q&A engine can help them with that.

Globality uses all of this information to generate a series of “demand qualifications” to match clients to the right consultants in the Globality Service Provider Network — pre-vetted, best-in-class small and midsize service providers that offer innovative solutions to today’s sustainability challenges.

Our approach accelerates progress by taking companies from the project concept stage to project execution in a way that drives process efficiency savings at substantially lower costs. Similarly, Globality’s service providers spend less time and less money finding the next project, the next client, and the next opportunity to make an impact that matters. By directing high quality work to small and midsize enterprises (SMEs), we believe clients will be able to address some of the critical imbalances that exist in today’s economy, such as income equality and inclusive growth.

If you had told me 25 years ago that to change the world I would be working with artificial intelligence, connecting companies from all over the world with consulting firms to help solve global sustainability problems, I would have told you that you were ‘crazy’, yet here I am. That’s because I firmly believe Globality offers a solution that has huge potential to transform the way companies act on energy, environment and social impact issues. I truly believe we have the potential to be for sustainability what Google was for internet search, AirBnB for tourism and Facebook for social media.

I can honestly say Globality is a big idea with the vision of a more equitable, prosperous and sustainable world. I believe we have the leadership, the resources, the technical capabilities, passion and commitment to make a real change, and I am proud to be a small part of it all.

About the author:

Robert Casamento is the General Manager of the Energy, Environment and Social Impact Services Sectors at Globality.

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