Sustainability is much more about having the right mindset than counting your emissions

17/09/23 at 12:15 PM

We’re rushing to get to “Net Zero” like a headless chicken.

A common flaw in the way we’ve been approaching sustainability seems to be this: we’re still being over-analytical about it.

Hear me out.

People forget that Nature, like us, is unpredictable and chaotic so not everything that matters can be measured.

Sustainability for a business is interconnected with many things: political tensions, economic systems, market dynamics, natural weather patterns, and changing social and cultural landscapes.

Measuring GHG emissions and using clean technology is just part of the equation. In fact, our behaviors and mindsets can have a more powerful impact on our planet because we're the ones creating these systems.

There’s a book called 'A Short History of Nearly Everything’ by Bill Bryson which simplifies science for the layman. If you haven’t read it, you must, especially if you're dedicated to sustainability because it'll give you an overview of how Earth functions.

One fascinating excerpt from the book goes like this:

"The Earth’s magnetic field has diminished by as much as 6 percent in the last century alone. Any diminution in magnetism, apart from holding notes to refrigerators, and keeping our compasses pointing the right way, plays a vital role in keeping us alive. Space is full of dangerous cosmic rays, which in the absence of magnetic protection, would tear through our bodies, leaving much of our DNA in useless shreds."

The true leaders of sustainability in the most logical sense then are not Chief Sustainability Officers (unless they're also climate scientists or have some form of experience working deeply in a specific area of Earth), but rather geochemists, biochemists, microbiologists, meteorologists, farmers, foresters, fishermen, conservationists, and indigenous people. Asking a sustainability manager or an analyst without a background in Earth science is like asking an orthodontist to treat cancer.

At the same time, we also need the economic machine to generate wealth and build a prosperous society. A richer, wiser society will mean that more people have access to clean energy, are more conscious of their footprint, and are able to take steps to reduce it.

This is where sustainability practitioners with strong business acumen come into the picture aka the Chief Sustainability Officers.

So what do you do in a scenario where we need progress as much as a healthy planet? Well, we have to change the narrative around sustainability first. Because often sustainability is seen as an elitist proposition that is expensive to undertake. Parts of it are true but there are multiple case studies by Harvard Business Review that prove otherwise.

Any business leader who intrinsically understands the value and the true meaning of sustainability automatically embeds it in his company DNA. Then the entire company culture is formed around it. This also results in higher cost savings in the long term, better output, an empowered workforce, stronger reputation and eventually healthier returns for shareholders. It's a long-term game that needs to be played well.

If a company’s business strategy, product quality, distribution channels, logistics, market demand, and supply are in check, then sustainability merely means doing business in a responsible and ethical way, which any large corporation has to do anyway.

And this is the most crucial part because sometimes businesses lose sight of their principles in the name of profit maximization.

The next step can be adopting carbon accounting tools like Persefoni, and blockchain technologies like SourceMap. There are also AI and ML-based platforms like Amplo Global that assist in risk management and make it easier for companies to improve their supply chains.

Ultimately, sustainability is more of a philosophical and psychological endeavor. Once we understand its essence and how it benefits us, we’ll be in a much stronger position to make business decisions from the perspective of cost savings and future profits rather than just forceful ESG reporting and carbon accounting. Becoming sustainable in its purest sense will become a natural response and a thing that must be done rather than a thing that has to be done.

Won’t that be something?