External link: Read the full report: Reimagining the Agenda The year 2030 – when we shall have jointly achieved the UN’s global goals for sustainability – is approaching. To create a better understanding of where companies stand in this work and what needs to be done going forward, Accenture and the United Nations Global Compact periodically produce a status report. – We ask questions and conduct in-depth interviews with the leaders of several of the most important companies globally for to be able to understand what challenges they see and what they are doing to achieve the goals, explains Anna Töndevold, Nordic responsible for business area sustainability strategy at Accenture.In total, over 2,600 business leaders have from 128 countries and 18 industries contributed their perspective to this year’s report. The focus has been on trying to understand how the uncertain geopolitical situation and all the tensions we see in the world right now affect the companies’ sustainability agenda, and Anna Töndevold herself was deeply worried that all the challenges – for example inflation, war, volatile energy prices and nationalism – would have slowed down the leaders’ ambitions. – But what we see in the report is that it has rather become the opposite, she says.Because in this year’s report, a whopping 98 percent of company leaders answer that the responsibility for the company’s sustainability agenda lies on their table, something that is a prerequisite for it to be possible to reach the global goals at all. – The interesting thing is that it seems as that it is precisely the troubled geopolitical situation that has contributed to this change. Previously, 83 percent saw sustainability as their responsibility, but with volatile prices, resource shortages, problems in supply chains and so on, these questions have landed on their table.Instead of being relegated to a peripheral sustainability department, issues such as transparency around value chains, circular business models, renewable energy and energy efficiency etc. have become central strategic components, crucial for creating the resilience companies need to cope with the strong geopolitical fluctuations. – We see in other studies that the company leaders who include sustainability issues in its strategy succeeds better than its peers, and now the UN study confirms that basically all CEOs on a global level have also understood it. This is not to say that everything is calm on the way to 2030, rather the opposite. Because even though the report shows that more people have understood that sustainability is a central issue for the survival of both the planet and the companies, it also shows that development is still moving far too slowly. – At the pace we are restructuring companies today, we will not reach the goals for 2030, neither in Sweden or globally. A study done by Accenture shows that almost no companies will reach their net zero goals unless they double their pace.What then is it that makes us so slow? One reason is actually the geopolitical situation, because even though it has sent sustainability issues to the CEO’s table, it has at the same time required the time needed for the CEO and other company management to be able to put the focus and resources on the transition that is needed. also about the fact that sustainability is a very complex issue that spans many different themes and that it is therefore difficult to get an overview of. Unfortunately, company managements do not have the same insights into their sustainability performance as they do into their financial performance, because they have neither the data points nor the systems required to gain an overview.
Anna Töndevold also often meets frustrated business leaders who request tools to be able to better measure and analyze how their initiatives affect sustainability, not least because new regulations on both the American, Chinese and European markets drive development with extreme force. – Sustainability has historically driven by a single unit within a company, while the KPIs and data points required to better steer the agenda need to be integrated across business functions. Inadequate access to data combined with evolving tools and systems landscape limits leaders’ ability to navigate this landscape and thus slows the pace.What then is required to speed up up the pace? According to Anna Töndevold, investments are needed to strengthen sustainability data and integrate responsibility across business areas and the value chain. Better control tools are needed to be able to change to long-term sustainable products, services and business models, as well as build resilience against external factors. – These are not only questions for company management and those responsible for sustainability, but a question for leaders at all levels. And these investments are required now, not later, because now we have the opportunity to redefine how companies create value and contribute to the transition. That science and evidence point to a sustainable transition being necessary. Business leaders cannot get a better future scouting and insight into what innovation and what investments are required to be relevant and have a long-term viable business. In addition, the study points out that business leaders demand long-term reforms from politics that provide clear rules of the game and standards to follow. – Today there are regulations that discourage innovation, and more public investment is also needed to develop circular business models, biodiversity and new infrastructure. And this needs to move fast, we are already halfway to 2030, so there is not much time left to deliver.External link: Read the full report: Reimagining the Agenda
This is what companies need to do in order to reach the 2030 goals
1. Adapt their strategies to become less vulnerableCompanies need to review how they develop products and services and how they can create new business in new markets. Circular, carbon neutral and socially responsible business models are becoming necessary. This requires major change, but at the same time is an incredibly great opportunity to create long-term competitiveness and sustainability.2. Realize that sustainability is not a company-specific agenda, but an agenda that touches the entire value chainWithin sustainability, companies are measured on the performance of the entire value chain. This means that if the transition is to succeed, it must be coordinated all the way, something that not only requires agreements but also dialogues, new business models and data points across the entire value chain and ecosystem. 66% engage in strategic long-term partnerships, 55% work on improving the ability to collect sustainability data across the entire value chain.3. Integrate responsibility, knowledge and tools across the entire workforceThe strategy doesn’t matter if knowledge and incentive programs don’t keep up. We have previously managed and measured based on short-term financial goals and that needs to change if we are to reach long-term strategic goals. The entire company must understand its role in the transition with access to data points and the right incentives to make the right decisions in terms of sustainability, not just financial. 74% focus on training/retraining their employees for the future labor market. Source: Reimagining the Agenda – Unlocking the Global Pathways to Resilience, Growth, and Sustainability for 2030 The article is produced by Brand Studio in collaboration with Accenture and not an article by Dagens industri
