| Environmental and social crises spur companies to identify how to contribute to solutions that help create a sustainable world.
As challenges such as climate change and population growth create profound environmental and social transformations, companies have shifted from financial fixation to promoting the sustainability of ecosystems and human communities. Also shifting is the language describing business beyond the financial bottom line, from corporate social responsibility, with its focus on avoiding negative impacts, to corporate sustainability and responsibility, which retains the CSR acronym while re-focusing on positive social, environmental, and economic impacts. This linguistic revision does not erase negative corporate impacts; it simply prioritizes positive solutions over the blame game.
Viewing corporate responsibility through the sustainability lens is like peering in a prism, creating a complex collage of multiple competing considerations to take into account simultaneously. For example, the sustainability lens places the carbon crisis alongside the energy crunch, and points even staunch environmentalists toward a potential role for nuclear power as a sustainable solution. And witnessing a booming population and diminishing natural resources such as water and soil prompts a re-evaluation of the role of bioengineered crops, which can increase yields while reducing resource intensity, according to profiled company Monsanto.
In the investment arena, Pax World Funds is leading the shift from socially responsible investing (SRI) to sustainable investing, which moves away from screening out problem companies, and instead screens in corporate leaders on environmental, social, and financial performance. Case in point: the Pax World Global Green Fund, a year-old portfolio filled with companies fueling environmental markets such as clean energy and energy efficiency.
Sustainability prioritizes social performance as highly as environmental performance, a point illustrated by Shell’s profile. Admitting the complexity of addressing community concerns over social and environmental impacts, Shell now proactively engages with stakeholders to create community support and identify ways to protect the environment while turning a profit.
These profiles exemplify corporate sustainability and responsibility.
Shell / Pax World / Monsanto / Marcal
By Bill Baue and Francesca Rheannon, of Sea Change Media |
