Its Earth day and the Lyrids have completed their annual review

Today, as it is Earth Day, many of us are thinking more about how the ways in which we live and work impact the planet. Indeed, at Deloitte, we have asked our own people to reflect on this with our #iAct campaign, which prompts people to consider tangible actions that address climate change. It’s part of our collective call to action, an opportunity to not only think about our own choices, but also to drive an ongoing climate conversation with family, friends and colleagues on how we can all reduce our global carbon footprint.

Of course, for us as business leaders, conversations around the sustainability of our organisations have been happening for some time. While we look forward with optimism to a post-pandemic world, global business leaders have made it clear that disruption is not going away. In fact, three quarters of respondents to a recent Deloitte survey say they believe the climate crisis is of similar or greater magnitude compared to the COVID-19 pandemic.

And yet, another upshot of the pandemic has been that it has stalled action in this regard. In fact, in the recent Deloitte Climate Check report, CEOs indicated that while climate and sustainability remained a focus, tangible action around this issue had stalled as we went into survival mode throughout the pandemic.

So do we now make it the time to reignite our actions?

In my view, we must. As we look to a post-pandemic world; as we move from rapid and short-term actions to looking at the long-term transformation that is required in our businesses, we need to embed sustainability as a key pillar to that business planning.

There are several areas that we can practically look at in order to galvanise ourselves in this regard. We need to ensure that at the highest level, this focus on sustainability is a priority. Does the board have the requisite experience and knowledge to challenge and ask the right questions of senior management? Is there a sustainability strategy with clear executive accountability? Are the skills available in the organisation to develop the strategy and drive the actions?

Providing stakeholders’ confidence in the efficacy and impact of any strategy will be key – as we have seen. Standards for reporting and assurance on the implementation of those standards will come to sharp focus over the coming years. Particularly as the consequences of moving towards net zero move up and down an organisations supply chain and influence their financial planning, modelling and investments.

The Lyrid Meteor shower passed through the Northern hemisphere last night on its annual pilgrimage across the galaxy. It has been observing Earth for the past 2,700 years and will come by next year again to assess our progress. What changes will it have observed on its next pass? 

Balancing short term goals with the investments required to make the long term changes necessary for the creation and delivery of long term sustainable products and services will require a change in how we think and make decisions. Whatever choices we make, those meteors will undertake their annual review and observe our performance.

Deloitte is committed to addressing the urgent climate crisis with achievable, measurable and science-based actions. In that spirit and with the determination to “drive climate action fast” Deloitte, with the guidance of the Climate Group, a non-profit organization that works with business and government leaders around the world to address climate change, has committed to all three core initiatives that support renewable electricity (RE100), electric vehicles adoption (EV100) and energy efficiency/productivity (EP100) within our organization globally. Deloitte is among only 12 other companies who have made this triple commitment.

#EarthDay #climate #sustainability #iAct #impactthatmatters