If you think business and climate change don’t mix, you’re wrong. Net zero is a realistic goal

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AClimate change has a huge impact on everyone and everything. We need to face the challenges and find solutions together. This emergency can only be solved if every part of our economy is reshaped, from agriculture, transportation, financial service, consumer goods, and many more. Reducing emissions — and ultimately reaching net zero — is the most critical action that businesses must take to tackle the climate crisis.

Every business leader should consider how they can make their company more sustainable and socially responsible. To do this, the company must be transparent about its carbon emissions reports and be consistent. Leaders can accelerate their efforts by using trusted data and transformational solutions to show that business can become a powerful platform for positive change.

Before you mend, measure

While businesses can encourage employees and citizens to take more sustainable actions, you can’t reduce what you can’t measure. The lack of measurement is a major obstacle to meaningful action in the area of carbon emissions. For example, integrating technology into sustainability processes can help businesses understand and manage their carbon footprint.

Tracking a company’s full-value chain emissions is complex and time-consuming. Salesforce, a California-based software firm, developed the methodology. Sustainability CloudTrack it yourself carbon footprint and help companies—small and large— across every industry transparently report their progress in reducing emissions. Salesforce was able reduce its carbon accounting process by using the Sustainability Cloud from six months to six weeks. helping wrinkle out the company’s path to net zero emissions.

As the pandemic showed, transparency is key to building trust. To address the climate emergency, success can only be achieved if it is shared.

Collaborative tools are crucial in educating workers about sustainable practices. They can help them recycle and use greener modes of transportation. Such platforms are also helping to scale businesses’ emission reduction efforts with suppliers and by working out industry-specific, data-driven climate action plans. Companies can visualise their most direct path to net zero emissions using in-depth analysis, insights, and visibility. They can also offer the highest level of accountability to their employees, customers, as well as stakeholders.

Also read: India’s path to net-zero emissions can’t be just about power sector, says top energy economist

There is no greater stakeholder than the planet

Businesses are realizing that their actions, values and ability to make profits are becoming more interconnected. In the eyes of the stakeholders and the rising expectations of young people—future customers, employees, partners—if you aren’t serving the interests of the planet, then you aren’t serving their interests either.

We can all work together to solve the climate problem. Technology and community can help us find more sustainable ways of living, doing business, and achieve net zero emissions quicker. We can also make an impact that is noticeable to the planet.

How can businesses be champions of sustainability?

First, businesses must ensure that their sustainability goals match long-term growth strategies as well as financial and operational priorities. If a company makes decisions based on values, then it can explain sustainability’s value-alignment. It can also make a business case if it relies on economic data. Although organisations may vary in size and carbon footprint, all companies can prioritize sustainability as any other corporate goal. We can also hold ourselves accountable for our efforts.

Commitment to measuring progress, reporting regularly and in a way that’s transparent will help build trust among stakeholders. When you gain trust, you can inspire others. Every year, we release our stakeholder impact. Report,So that key stakeholders can keep informed, follow our progress, and support us in our work. Our corporate governance practices—operating with integrity, investing in our communities, and protecting the planet—provide a framework that aligns our actions with our stakeholders’ interests. By integrating social good into everything we do and leveraging people’s passion for sustainability, we believe that business can be the greatest platform for change.

This article is part a series called seriesIn partnership with Carnegie India, we will examine the relationship between the local and the global in preparation for the Global Technology Summit 2021 (14-16 December 2021). Click hereRegister

Salesforce SVP and Manager, author. Views are purely personal.

(Edited By Humra Laeeq

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