The past two years have seen an increased frequency of climate-related disasters and that, along with the heightened social awareness driven by coronavirus, has made business, consumers, and governments across the globe realise that urgent action is needed to preserve the planet for future generations.
Within this context, more consumers are supporting sustainable brands, corporate shareholders are asking about company’s ESG targets and governments are setting environmentally friendly agendas.
“It’s no secret that there has been a severe negative impact on the environment. Whether it’s through deforestation, pollution, overconsumption, we now realise Mother Nature was not at the forefront of any of our decisions. Currently, there is more awareness around the negative impact we have had on the environment and people now realise we must make a change even if small,” says Dana Al Khobaizi, founder of State of Mind, a Kuwaiti active wear brand.
“Eco-consciousness is not for tree huggers and environmental groups anymore. I noticed more and more people in the region have been aware of plastic use and recycling over the past few years. Now more people are investing in sustainable goods and ask questions before purchasing,” she continues.
This has translated into sustainability and ESG targets – on everything from net zero emissions to carbon negativity – becoming as much a part of the corporate lingo as are profit margins and bottomlines as consumers are voting with their money for brands that are doing their part to preserve the planet for future generations.
“As business continues to evolve at a rapid pace, at PMI we understand that it is especially important for us to equip project professionals with the tools to change the world for the better,” says Grace Najjar, managing director of PMI MENA, a project management association.
“This speaks to two things: our values as an organisation, and our dedication to making ideas a reality. Pairing both, we remain wholly committed to advancing the United Nation’s 2030 agenda, and aim to support businesses, organisations and communities to realise all 17 of the UN’s SDGs,” she continues.
Other companies, such as VFS Global also says they outline their sustainability strategy to UN’s SDGs with Elena Primikiri, head of ESG, VFS Global adding that the visa-issuing company has also specific goals with measurable KPIs to keep track of progress, including monitoring carbon footprint.
“VFS Global supports UAE’s vision to accelerate gender balance. We have been developing multiple initiatives to increase women representation to leadership positions. Our aim is to increase the percentage of women in leadership positions to at least 30 percent by end of the year,” says Primikiri.
A collective effort
Driving sustainability however is a collective effort necessitating that the public and private sectors work together. For its part, the UAE launched a Net Zero by 2050 strategic initiative, a national drive to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, making it the first MENA nation to do so.
Subsequently, it has launched several initiatives and actions to achieve that, including a pledge to plant a 100 million mangroves by 2030.
“As one of the most ambitious projects launched in recent memory, Expo 2020 has also set a new benchmark for sustainability. With its commitment to reducing waste and its focus on recycling, it’s Planet over Plastic Pledge and the Seeds of Change programme, Expo 2020 has been brought to life as one of the greenest and most environmentally friendly World Expos ever,” says Najjar.
“It highlights all that can be achieved with effective, future-focused project management — project planning that is as conscientious about our natural surroundings as it is attuned to the developments of a rapidly evolving business landscape,” she continues.
“On the whole, Expo 2020’s commitment to sustainability is very much in line with and in support of programmes and agendas such as the Dubai Plan 2021, UAE Vision 2021 and the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” adds Najjar.
Despite the progress made, the path to a greener future is not smooth, especially since it involves multiple stakeholders working in harmony.
“Sustainable development relates to a wide range of stakeholders operating at different levels, including governments, local and international entities, and communities at large. It can be challenging to get all necessary stakeholders to collaborate at the proper time and in the right place to address complicated sustainability topics,” Primikiri says.
“We acknowledge and live up to our responsibility to support the sustainable development of our business in a manner that is consistent with the overall interests of all our stakeholders. To that end, we invite our stakeholders to participate in our annual materiality assessment survey to enable us chart our sustainable development journey and prioritise our objectives,” she adds.
“Lack of compliance and governance structure hinders corporates from monitoring, measuring, and achieving their SDG targets. VFS Global has designed policies and implemented defined processes to monitor and measure SDG activities. The company’s board of directors annually reviews our KPI targets, initiatives and achievements,” Primikiri continues.
Women’s role in sustainability
Beyond the environmental targets of ESG, corporates are increasingly focusing on sustainability and governance, especially in the wake of the pandemic.
“I think having more women in leadership roles who empower other women is essential in achieving SDG goals,” Al Khobaizi says.
“From a socio-economic perspective, female empowerment can achieve these goals by providing equal opportunities to women in employment, equal pay, and supporting girls’ education. So, this can only be achieved if women in leadership are involved and supporting women in the community and all other levels,” she continues.
A more gender-diverse workplace with women in leadership positions does better when it comes to sustainability and ESG targets, industry stakeholders that CEO Middle East speak to agrees.
“Increasingly, diversity is having even more of a bearing on ESG, with companies that have a higher percentage of women in business leadership positions faring much better than their less diverse competitors as far as ESG standards and performance are concerned,” Najjar says.
“Research indicates that when more women occupy senior management roles and sit on the board of companies, this invariably leads to enhanced ESG performance. Firms with such gender diverse leadership benefit from better employee relations, human rights, gender equity practices and more successful CSR initiatives; their social and ethical reputations as a whole being greatly improved,” she continues.
“They also excel on the environmental front, raising the quality of the environmental reporting, sustainability efforts and environmental standards in general. This improvement is also noted in regard to governance. Most notably with transparency, ethics and compliance and board processes. Simply put: the more women the better,” Najjar says.
Speaking from VFS Global’s experience, Primikiri says: “Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) is part of our ESG strategy under the Nurturing our Colleagues pillar. For us, it is so much more than policies, programmes, or headcounts.”
“Having women in leadership and providing equal opportunity allows people to communicate and engage with one another without prejudice based on race, gender, religion, or hierarchical status in the organisation. It promotes employee value proposition and fosters an open, welcoming workplace atmosphere with an inclusive and conducive culture.
“Equal opportunity stimulates and supports co-worker performance, helps attract and retain top talents, adds to the organisation’s diversity, and boosts the employer brand. It also plays a unique role in employee retention as people tend to stay longer where they are treated fairly and valued for their contribution. This, in turn, boosts collaboration among colleagues that leads to increased productivity and enhanced employee engagement at the workplace,” she continues.
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