The green book of our future.

Is there still a place for green policies in these turbulent times? This was the hardest and crucial question posed at the recent EU Green Week 2022 , organized by the European Commission, which explored what is really needed to transform the EU into a circular, nature-friendly, zero-pollution economy. Exactly what we want, right?

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Right. That is why it was also the key driving theme of the discussions at last month's Davos Forum . After two years, 2,500 world leaders and experts were able to meet and take the temperature of the world evaluating the Great Reset defined by the World Economic Forum as a call to action two years ago. In other words, as the topic of the annual meeting put it "History at a Turning Point".

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In both cases, the response was strong and, for once, unanimous. Sustainability and green policies can and should be placed at the heart of strategies, both those of companies and institutions, as well as those of all of us as individuals.

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Because sustainability is the choice we each make every day, also as a society. During the Green Week it was assessed we need to go beyond policies and regulations to make Europe green, it has to be the initiative of each and every one of us. That is why the European Green Deal, the EU's sustainable and transformative growth plan for a resource-efficient and climate-neutral Europe by 2050, is today more relevant than ever.

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Achieving this goal is a very ambitious journey, which requires us to give the best of ourselves. It calls for all our enthusiasm and engagement in addition to the best tools available. At this crossroad of change we must make profound and responsible choices, creating 360° value for all stakeholders in ways that build resilience and agility and sustain innovation and growth.

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With barely eight years left for the fulfilment of the SDGs, it is a fact that the digital revolution has changed our world and is the path that leads us to make the sustainability transformation the new priority. Technology is, indeed, a vital enabler of sustainability. Clearly companies that take the lead on environmental and social governance (ESG) issues also perform better financially, generating up to 2.6 times more shareholder return.

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So it’s not only the right thing to do: keeping sustainability and technology objectives closely aligned to reach competitive advantage is the wise thing to do both from the financial value perspective and the lasting positive impact on society and the environment.

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There remains a lot of work to be done and we must be demanding. Accenture’s Uniting Technology and Sustainability survey shows only 7% of respondents have fully integrated their business, technology and sustainability programs today. Does this mean that companies reject an integrated solution? Data actually shows the opposite as all businesses surveyed answered that sustainability is important or very important to them.

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So where does this leave us? Well, it appears to be more a problem of perspective rather than a commitment issue. Let me explain. It is striking that less than half of the CIOs are part of the management team that sets sustainability objectives and that only 45% are evaluated on the achievement of these objectives.

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The challenge, therefore, is to align strategies and organizations to achieve these aims. And to find the right mechanisms to reach them.

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Here is a great example shown in Davos 2022, Accenture and Microsoft’s Global Collaboration Village, the virtual future of public-private cooperation. It will provide immersive spaces where stakeholders can convene, create and take action on the world's most pressing issues.

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It is an initiative that, as our CEO Julie Sweet pointed out at Davos , highlights the metaverse as a promising technology to redefine the way organisations work and interact. And much more. Because it is also a powerful mechanism for fostering effective and robust public-private partnerships.

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And here is the answer. At Accenture, we already understand the benefits of the Metaverse in onboarding 150,000 new employees throughout the year. We must now go further, and use it to drive the strength and coherence of our ambition. An approach that involves the three key elements to a successful sustainable technology strategy which will help businesses lead ahead of competitors while creating a sustainable organization:

• Sustainability by technology, using technology innovation to drive sustainability.
• Sustainability in technology, making technology more sustainable.
• Sustainability at scale, collaborating with your ecosystem to trigger progress beyond the company and across the world.

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That is the Metaverse's core mission. In addition to the avatars and the virtual meetings - which have their own value - and its enormous capacity to change productive structures, it is the instrument we need to get all the actors, companies, institutions and people, on the same page of the sustainability book.

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The green book of our future.