Sustainability: Sop or Survival?

Sustainability may be one of the most used and least understood terms in use today. As global and regional headlines reference it more and more, it seems many of us know less and less about its implications, complexities and necessity.

Let’s start with what it is not. Sustainability is not merely a feelgood endeavour, a greenwash or sop to our ethical concerns. It is good business sense. Across sectors including retail, real estate, tech, pharma, energy, hospitality and fashion, companies are prioritising sustainability because it keeps investors, analysts, employees, regulators and consumers happy.

I believe the simplest definition is this: Sustainability is living today without compromising tomorrow. As our new 2020 Sustainability Report makes clear, this has tremendous implications. Our report, for example, contains more than 50 pages of painstakingly collected and measured data and insight about what we as a company achieved across our operations in areas ranging from infrastructure to human capital to offset reporting to procurement.

That is because sustainability is multi-faceted. True sustainability is human, social, economic and environmental. It ensures no one is left behind – not the youth in our burgeoning MENA nations, not the differently abled, not women, not those at highest risk of climate change, nor the less affluent, less developed, less resourced nations and communities. Let’s be clear: the definition is about living today, not subsisting or merely existing.

This is the work of generations; and it must be underway now.

Studies increasingly show that sustainability remains a key concern for consumers in 2021, with many voting with their wallets to avoid products linked to ethical or environmental concerns. This is even more true post-COVID, as the pandemic underlined the extent of our interconnectedness and interdependence.

Is there still an intention-action gap between what customers say they want and what they actually do? Yes. But if the intention-action gap for businesses closes, that will follow. If we make sustainable products, services and experiences accessible, affordable and visible, and we provide accurate information about their history, we can make sustainability a day to day reality. When we build green hotels and detail the difference they make, consumers will start to demand them of the industry. We will enable better decision making and provide better solutions.

This is where leadership makes its mark: Consumers are actively looking to business to take the lead on sustainability issues, from sourcing products to reducing waste, to setting best practice standards, to introducing new thinking and new practices at the community level. Smaller businesses are also looking to larger ones to get the ball rolling, to move the goalposts for the rest of the industry.

At Majid Al Futtaim, we are not required to pursue and invest so extensively in sustainability, or to detail our progress on it. It is a measure of commitment: To give back more than we take, to lead in the markets and communities we operate in, and to ensure great moments that endure. This is non-negotiable, and we are more than committed, and committed more than ever, to its realisation.

In the weeks ahead, I hope to share more findings from our 2020 Sustainability Report to encourage others to join us in this endeavour, and to answer your questions about it. From Al Zahia’s organic farm to Net Zero resource consumption across our malls, this is a practical how-to manual for business sustainability, and I am immensely proud of our #MAFers who played a role in the achievements therein.