Sustainability Is Not Only About Climate Change

ESG factors are used to evaluate an organisation’s performance, interactions, and impact on the environment, society, and governance. The UN SDGs, on the other hand, are 17 goals aimed at achieving a sustainable future for all, covering areas such as reducing poverty, good health, gender equality, clean water, decent work, and climate action, to name a few.

While climate action is a crucial aspect of sustainability, it is important to realise that both ESG and SDG are inter-connected and influence each other. A company’s actions in one area often affects others. Let’s take ‘Decent work’ for example; this is related to various business areas such as HR (policies), legal (labour law), finance (fair pay), marketing (employer branding), and communications (reputation). Decent work also addresses societal issues such as health and safety, diversity, inclusivity, tackling unemployment, and economic development.

We encourage you to explore the 17 UN SDGs and ESG perspectives and integrate them in your business. Let’s work towards a sustainable future for all!

References:

1. What is environmental, social and governance (ESG)? (https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/environmental-social-and-governance-ESG)
2. What is “sustainability”? Is it the same thing as taking action on climate change? (https://climate.mit.edu/ask-mit/what-sustainability-it-same-thing-taking-action-climate-change)
3. The 17 Goals (UN SDGs) (https://sdgs.un.org/goals)
4. What is Sustainability (https://www.mcgill.ca/sustainability/files/sustainability/what-is-sustainability.pdf)
5. Case Study – Sustainability is not just about the environment (https://about.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/280424/Sustainability-Report-2020-Case-Study-Sustainability-is-not-just-about-the-environment.pdf)