the world . It ’ s inevitable that the views of those people will have an impact on the business .
I often hear the phrase ‘ sustainability is good for business ’ – how is that so , and is that even more true now and in the future ?
It ’ s definitely true today and it ’ s going to become even more of a focus for business in the future . Sustainability has now gone mainstream , and especially after COP26 – sustainability is everybody ’ s business . We ’ re seeing lots of CEOs now putting sustainability at the heart of their business strategy and looking for ways to create value from becoming more sustainable . What ’ s really exciting is seeing business apply its innate skills at innovation , embracing disruption , and problem-solving to tackle the biggest issues facing the planet , and do so while creating value for all .
When advising organisations on sustainability , what are their biggest concerns , and how can you help them most ? The biggest concern from business leaders is how to become more sustainable , while also protecting business value . The CEO of a Latin American multinational once said to me : “ We can ’ t afford to go green by first going red ” – I think this captures the dynamic very well . The kind of client work we at EY have been doing to help businesses achieve this include building business models to support green consumer products , assisting companies seeking to invest in solar and wind and helping turn oil companies into integrated energy companies , among many other things . We want to build on this work and continue to develop services that help our clients find value in becoming more sustainable .
Regarding COP26 , was it just ‘ blah blah blah ’ and can businesses change the world in ways governments seem reluctant to ? Going into COP26 , existing national commitments projected a temperature rise of between 2.7C to 2.9C . With commitments agreed under the Glasgow Climate Pact , the latest analysis suggests we are looking at an increase of 1.8C to 2.4C . While this is an improvement , it isn ’ t 1.5C – and the commitments agreed to date will
50 February 2022