Member-only story
The Unfinished Corporate Sustainability Transformation
On these days of COP26, between PR stunts and real — and yet volatile — progress, I would like to reflect on how all the commitments that are taken by countries would translate in real life advances. So, let’s talk about corporations!
As we awake from the forced COVID slumber, a new trend welcomes us: suddenly, the corporate world has embraced the issue of sustainability. Stories abound on how that brand manufactures shoe strings from Pacific Ocean’s ghost nets or how the other is sourcing rubber from used F1 tires.
It has been a pleasant surprise for all of us who have been following the corporate sustainability debate closely. A friend, much sager than me, warned not to expect too much post-COVID because humanity rarely jumps into a new crisis as it exits the former. And yet, land on a random company’s website or lift your eyes while riding the bus of your daily commute, corporate action on sustainability is everywhere, served us through captivating multicolour ads.
More realistically, although some progress has undoubtedly been made since when Greta Thunberg first defied the world from her frigid campsite on the banks of Stockholm’s bay, much remains to be done.
To my understanding, today, sustainability pervades the corporation at two levels: marketing and compliance.
