Competition, Skills, and Climate - Sustainability on the Agenda

In November, the UN climate summit was held in Glasgow, COP26, with a strong focus on emissions trading between countries, regulations for transparency, and climate financing of developing countries, crucial issues for our future.

Setting a sustainability strategy is central, not only for our climate but also for the competitiveness of companies. The transformation to the reduction of emissions within the whole supply chain will be difficult. Unlike multinational and well-established corporations, many companies that have emerged in recent years benefit from running a sustainable business from the beginning. ?

But sustainability is not only about our climate, but also about financial transparency and social responsibility, CSR. Companies that do not take these issues into consideration will find it difficult to gain market shares and attract competent employees.

In Sweden, we are seeing more and more companies investing in more sustainable ways of producing their products and services, contributing to community initiatives, and fighting corruption. But what about the management teams? Are sustainability issues and initiatives represented there?

In Dagens Nyheter’s article on this subject ?(https://www.dn.se/ekonomi/fa-hallbarhetschefer-i-borsledningarna-hur-viktiga-ar-de-egentligen/, November 13, ?2021, in Swedish only), Lin Lerpold, associate professor at the Stockholm School of Economics and Head of the Center for Sustainability states that only 6 out of 50 Swedish listed companies have a dedicated sustainability manager in their management team. She emphasizes that those companies that do not have a sustainability manager but work with this integrated into the organization, need to have a responsible person with expertise in the field to spread the knowledge in all parts of the organization.

To educate employees about sustainability and CSR also requires, in our opinion, leadership skills and experience in running parallel and cross-functional projects with many stakeholders within, for example, HR, marketing, communication, and finance.

One company working actively with sustainability is the real estate company Heimstaden. Katarina Skalare, Chief Sustainability Officer, says that they are the only real estate company in Sweden with an outspoken sustainability manager in the management team. She believes it is important that these issues are represented in the management team and included in the company's long-term strategy.

"In Sweden, few large companies have an outspoken sustainability manager in the management team"

The importance of working strategically with CSR will not only affect consumer choices but also how to succeed in attracting the right competencies. A clear strategy and a fixed point on the agenda are increasingly crucial factors among both potential employees and stakeholders. One thing is certain, working with sustainability will be increasingly challenging, but will also bring many benefits. It will play a decisive role in the competition and competence of businesses and not least for the global climate challenges.

#interimmanagement #sustainability #csr