Sustainability is becoming a priority for enterprise leaders across industries and markets for reasons of risk avoidance as well as the desire to take advantage of new business opportunities. Milstein says better late than never. “Frankly, sustainability should have been on business leaders’ priority list more than a decade ago, let alone in 2021,” he explains. “At this point in time, long-simmering issues which fundamentally threaten to undermine the global economy, including climate change, inequality, social and environmental justice, species and habitat loss, and ecosystem degradation have become acute. The impact on organizations’ supply and value chains have become undeniable to the point that a business leader who isn’t considering sustainability as a strategic issue is either myopic or intentionally ill-informed.”
The University of Michigan’s Hoffman says we’re in a period of rapid change, and he points to the last presidential election in the U.S. as proof. “If you look at the election last fall, climate change and environmental protection rivaled jobs in the economy as most important to the public,” he says. “The market is changing rapidly for business reasons and companies that are not paying attention, who still see this as a political issue, who are still questioning whether climate change is real—they’re missing out. The market is moving. It will move without you.”
Cisco’s Yoo says to solve global issues, it will require a lot of collaborative effort. “There is no question that we are in unchartered territory, and it’s going to take true collaboration and coordination amongst all of us—companies, government, nonprofits and NGOs (non-governmental organizations)—to overcome both near and longer-term sustainability challenges,” she concludes. “As climate change continues to be one of our biggest global challenges, now is the time for businesses to act and combine financial decisions with the implementation of sustainable solutions that enable people, communities, and the planet to not only survive together but also thrive together.”