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    ‘The Sustainable Business Handbook’ → David Grayson (Author): A Roadmap for Communicating ESG and Avoiding Greenwashing Claims

    enJune 12, 2022

    About this Episode

    A Roadmap for Communicating ESG and Avoiding Greenwashing Claims Environmental, Social, and Governance Topics discussed:

    1. The Sustainable Business Handbook (TSBH)
    2. Co-authored with two colleagues: Mark Lee and Chris Coulter
    3. TSBH is a step by step guide — 13 chapters of key elements to sustainability as a business
    4. TSBH how-to manual — Previous book "All In" was tracking the evolution of biz over 20 years
    5. Embedding sustainability in the core of the business — one chapter dedicated to communications
    6. The power of storytelling — it can only come after identifying a strategy — Board oversight — and leadership buy-in
    7. Transparency and accountability are fundamental 
    8. Critical to a company’s success is working through environmental, social, and economic impacts: positive and negative 
    9. Embedding sustainability is critical for people and the planet 
    10. Greenwashing and Purposewashing 
    11. How companies, funds, and investors can avoid greenwashing claims
    12. ESG claims must have substance
    13. How to build a sustainable business culture 
    14. Materiality exercise as a tool to improve ESG
    15. For reporting ESG, should include carbon and water
    16. TCFD and TNFD 
    17. Collaborations of standards and sustainability reporting and international accounting standard Boards
    18. Trends between ESG and investment 
    19. Top talent will be attracted to companies that align with a responsible way of doing business and shared values
    20. What role does the CMO play in the success of a sustainable business?
    21. Unilever is an example of embedding sustainability; even before Paul Polman 
    22. Unilever’s “brands with purpose”
    23. Suzano, an example of a responsible company 
    24. Board oversight
    25. The Tata Group

     

    About David Grayson

    David Grayson is Emeritus Professor of Corporate Responsibility at the Cranfield School of Management. He is also chair of the Institute of Business Ethics and of the international disability charity Leonard Cheshire. He has advised businesses and Corporate Responsibility coalitions around the world.

    🌎 Website

    🛄 LinkedIn

    🐧 Twitter 

    📗 The Sustainable Business Handbook on Amazon 

    Co-Authors of TSBH

    Mark Lee is the Director of the SustainAbility Institute by ERM and an ERM Partner. Mark sits on the Advisory Board of Sustainable Brands and the Senior Advisory Board of the Centre for Responsible Business at the Haas Business School at UC Berkeley. He is based in California.

    🛄 LinkedIn 

    Chris Coulter is the CEO of GlobeScan, an international insights and advisory consultancy. He is also the Chair of Canadian Business for Social Responsibility and a member of several corporate sustainability advisory boards, including B Lab’s Multinational Standards Advisory Council.

    🛄 LinkedIn 

    About Philip Beere

    15 years directing creative campaigns and growing corporate bottom lines — with strategic marketing and by crafting engaging narratives.
    In January 2021, he exited his executive-marketing role for a 1B FinTech unicorn, to launch a boutique marketing agency.
    Agency clients are thought-leaders and innovators, who are wanting to take their brand to the next level with creative content, story-based campaigns, and digital marketing.


    Recognized for his work in sustainability, Philip believes purpose-driven brands are the future; he says when doubling down on brand activism, the environment, and social causes, everyone wins.

    🛄 LinkedIn 

    ✉️ philip@philipjames.co

    🌎 Website 

    🎬 YouTube 

    📷 Instagram 

    🐧 Twitter

    Recent Episodes from Corporate Sustainability with Philip Beere

    ‘The Sustainable Business Handbook’ → David Grayson (Author): A Roadmap for Communicating ESG and Avoiding Greenwashing Claims

    ‘The Sustainable Business Handbook’ → David Grayson (Author): A Roadmap for Communicating ESG and Avoiding Greenwashing Claims

    A Roadmap for Communicating ESG and Avoiding Greenwashing Claims Environmental, Social, and Governance Topics discussed:

    1. The Sustainable Business Handbook (TSBH)
    2. Co-authored with two colleagues: Mark Lee and Chris Coulter
    3. TSBH is a step by step guide — 13 chapters of key elements to sustainability as a business
    4. TSBH how-to manual — Previous book "All In" was tracking the evolution of biz over 20 years
    5. Embedding sustainability in the core of the business — one chapter dedicated to communications
    6. The power of storytelling — it can only come after identifying a strategy — Board oversight — and leadership buy-in
    7. Transparency and accountability are fundamental 
    8. Critical to a company’s success is working through environmental, social, and economic impacts: positive and negative 
    9. Embedding sustainability is critical for people and the planet 
    10. Greenwashing and Purposewashing 
    11. How companies, funds, and investors can avoid greenwashing claims
    12. ESG claims must have substance
    13. How to build a sustainable business culture 
    14. Materiality exercise as a tool to improve ESG
    15. For reporting ESG, should include carbon and water
    16. TCFD and TNFD 
    17. Collaborations of standards and sustainability reporting and international accounting standard Boards
    18. Trends between ESG and investment 
    19. Top talent will be attracted to companies that align with a responsible way of doing business and shared values
    20. What role does the CMO play in the success of a sustainable business?
    21. Unilever is an example of embedding sustainability; even before Paul Polman 
    22. Unilever’s “brands with purpose”
    23. Suzano, an example of a responsible company 
    24. Board oversight
    25. The Tata Group

     

    About David Grayson

    David Grayson is Emeritus Professor of Corporate Responsibility at the Cranfield School of Management. He is also chair of the Institute of Business Ethics and of the international disability charity Leonard Cheshire. He has advised businesses and Corporate Responsibility coalitions around the world.

    🌎 Website

    🛄 LinkedIn

    🐧 Twitter 

    📗 The Sustainable Business Handbook on Amazon 

    Co-Authors of TSBH

    Mark Lee is the Director of the SustainAbility Institute by ERM and an ERM Partner. Mark sits on the Advisory Board of Sustainable Brands and the Senior Advisory Board of the Centre for Responsible Business at the Haas Business School at UC Berkeley. He is based in California.

    🛄 LinkedIn 

    Chris Coulter is the CEO of GlobeScan, an international insights and advisory consultancy. He is also the Chair of Canadian Business for Social Responsibility and a member of several corporate sustainability advisory boards, including B Lab’s Multinational Standards Advisory Council.

    🛄 LinkedIn 

    About Philip Beere

    15 years directing creative campaigns and growing corporate bottom lines — with strategic marketing and by crafting engaging narratives.
    In January 2021, he exited his executive-marketing role for a 1B FinTech unicorn, to launch a boutique marketing agency.
    Agency clients are thought-leaders and innovators, who are wanting to take their brand to the next level with creative content, story-based campaigns, and digital marketing.


    Recognized for his work in sustainability, Philip believes purpose-driven brands are the future; he says when doubling down on brand activism, the environment, and social causes, everyone wins.

    🛄 LinkedIn 

    ✉️ philip@philipjames.co

    🌎 Website 

    🎬 YouTube 

    📷 Instagram 

    🐧 Twitter

    IKEA → Alex Castro Pérez: Creating a Clean Energy Movement

    IKEA → Alex Castro Pérez: Creating a Clean Energy Movement
    Alex Castro Pérez is currently heading IKEA Home Solar & Energy Services, the business unit on a mission to accelerate the global transition to affordable clean energy. He also leads sustainable innovation & corporate business development, related strategic investments and partnerships.

    Before joining IKEA, Alex headed global functions across R&D, Engineering and Supply Chain for leading multinationals in the Food Processing & Packaging, Medical Device, and Automotive industries. His experience also includes seeding and advising start-ups in different sectors.

     

    In this episode the following topics are discussed:

    • Sustainability and innovation
    • Why is IKEA in the market of residential solar
    • The better everyday life for the people
    • People and planet positive
    • Climate action starts at home
    • Soft cost acquisition in home solar
    • Systemized and make the customer journey more simple when buying solar
    • Automize the buying process with transparency and engagement
    • Breadth and depth of understanding life at home and the solution of helping people lead a more sustainable life
    • Pricing with transparency
    • Installation booking made simple and un-intrusive
    • Why do people buy solar?
    • Creating a clean energy movement
    • IKEA’s energy goals for 2030 — becoming climate positive
    • The IKEA LED story
    • The IKEA work culture

    About the Ingka Group:

    Ingka Group (Ingka Holding B.V. and its controlled entities) is one of 11 different groups of companies that own and operate IKEA sales channels under franchise agreements with Inter IKEA Systems B.V. Ingka Group has three business areas: IKEA Retail, Ingka Investments and Ingka Centres. It is the world’s largest home furnishing retailer operating 367 IKEA stores in 30 markets. These IKEA stores had 830 million visits last year and 2.35 billion visits www.IKEA.com. Ingka Group operates business under the IKEA vision, to create a better everyday life for the many people by offering a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them.

    ABOUT PHILIP BEERE

    Philip is host of Corporate Sustainability; the podcast that explores companies and people who inspire innovation, improvement, and sustainable business practices through purpose-driven missions and initiatives. Philip is a longtime marketer, who consults companies on how to use stories and narrative to help build their brands.  He says sustainability stories are one of the most powerful ways companies can manage their reputations.

    Connect with Philip at www.philipjames.co 

    LinkedIn

    Facebook

    Instagram

     

    Triple Bottom Line → John Elkington: The Recall of a Management Concept (25 Years Later)

    Triple Bottom Line → John Elkington: The Recall of a Management Concept (25 Years Later)
    John is one of the world’s leading authorities on sustainable development and developed the ‘triple bottom line’ business strategy. He is the author or co-author of 50 published reports, thousands of articles, and 19 books, including the no. 1 bestselling The Green Consumer Guide (1988). 

    In this episode, the following topics are discussed:

    • 2019 is the 25th anniversary of the TBL
    • People — Planet — Profit
    • Accounting vs Purpose
    • System change — not the accounting
    • Double entry bookkeeping
    • 6000 companies are engaging in sustainability reporting
    • Branding and advertising — misleading with green
    • HBR says this is first time any management concept has been recalled
    • Social entrepreneurs
    • TBL is not intended to be a mechanism to support tradeoffs
    • Improve on two dimensions, and holding the third constant
    • Tomorrow’s capitalism inquiry — Aviva Investors
    • Crowdsourcing the revamp — using technology to communicate more widely
    • How does shared value link to the TBL
    • Competing language is a glorious alibi to do nothing at all
    • What lies on the horizon for the revamp?We need framework and tools that drives business in ways that we have not seen yet
    • Look at leadership companies, like Unilever, and explore what
    • TBL thinking has delivered in their businesses. (Revamp 1)
    • CEO must be on board
    • The evolution of B2B platforms — Paul Polman — look at B2B platforms and look at what is working and what is not — do we need multiple platforms? (Revamp 2)
    • The role of government and policy makers
    • Financial markets through the lenses of the CFO and the tie to sustainabilty (Revamp 3)
    • Larry Fink at BlackRock, “Society is demanding that companies, both public and private, serve a social purpose. To prosper over time, every company must not only deliver financial performance, but also show how it makes a positive contribution to society.”
    • Avoiding the label of environmentalist
    • John as an agitator —
    • ‘Playfulness’ as an indicator of flexibility and embracing change?
      OECD: 80 -90% of companies know a sustainability commitment is necessary
    • Corporate culture —
    • The term greenwashing — safety and health diversity are easy to claim, but a CEO saying it is different than real results— someone at Board level must be directly responsible for performance
    • Climate change, human rights, communicating TBL to Wall Street → learning journeys
    • The sort of company that does TBL reporting and brand activism
    • Comparing 1970’s corporate leadership to today
    • SDGs
    • The word ’sustainability’ and it being perceived as something bad
    • A pending financial crash
    • Dirty industries proclaiming sustainability — and the need to call out ranking without looking at what goes on behind the scenes
    • The need to disrupt the ranking industry
    • Provoking or calling out bad corporate behavior
    • Incremental change is boring — disruption or civilizational change is more fascinating and engaging
    • When words or phrases first appear they are like membranes — new concepts that engage — the more a term is used it becomes less engaging
    • The forecast that the SDGs will equal 12T in opportunity — dissecting the number — skepticism and forecasts
    • We have moved from looking at sustainability as an impediment and viewing it as an opportunity and instrument for transformation
    • Big brands that disappear
    • Paradigm shifts

    John Elkington is the executive chairman of Volans, co-founder of SustainAbility, blogs at Johnelkington.com, tweets at @volansjohn. 

    NOTES

    John's websites

    John Elkington

    Volans

    Other websites

    Aviva Investors

    B Corp

    BlackRock 

    Business and Sustainability Development Commission — market potential of SDGs

    DJSI

    Fast Company

    GlobeScan

    GRI

    Tech Mahindra 

    Unilever sustainability 

    WBCSD

    Wired

    Sample of John's books

    The Green Capitalists by John Elkington and Tom Burke

    The Green Consumer Guide by John Elkington and Julia Hailes

    Cannibals With Forks: The Triple Bottom Line of 21st Century Business

    The Power of Unreasonable People: How Social Entrepreneurs Create Markets That Change the World by John Elkington and Pamela Hartigan

    The Zeronauts

    The Breakthrough Challenge: 10 Ways To Connect Today's Profits With Tomorrow's Bottom Line by John Elkington and Jochen Zeitz, with a foreword from Sir Richard Branson

    Other books

    Thomas Kuhn — The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

    Articles/blogs

    ABOUT PHILIP BEERE

    Philip is host of Corporate Sustainability; the podcast that explores companies and people who inspire innovation, improvement, and sustainable business practices through purpose-driven missions and initiatives. Philip is a longtime marketer, who consults companies on how to use stories and narrative to help build their brands.  He says sustainability stories are one of the most powerful ways companies can manage their reputations.

    Connect with Philip at www.philipjames.co 

    LinkedIn

    Facebook

    Instagram

     

    U. of Pittsburgh → CB Bhattacharya: Is There a Disconnect Between CSR Goals and Execution?

    U. of Pittsburgh → CB Bhattacharya: Is There a Disconnect Between CSR Goals and  Execution?

    CB Bhattacharya is the H.J. Zoffer Chair in Sustainability and Ethics at the University of Pittsburgh. European School of Management and Technology in Berlin, Germany. Previously he was the Everett W. Lord Distinguished Scholar and Professor of Marketing at the School of Management at Boston University. CB received his PhD in Marketing from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1993 and his MBA from the Indian Institute of Management in 1984. Before joining Boston University, he was on the faculty at the Goizueta Business School, Emory University.

    In this episode, the following topics are discussed: 

    • Consumer behavior
    • CSR — how to understand stakeholder reactions?
    • Is there a disconnect between CSR goals and execution?
    • CSR success via empowering employees and shared ownership
    • Is the company walking the walk?   Check it by going to one of their factories away from corporate headquarters
    • Unilever and check dams
    • Enel in Chile and teaching self sufficiency
    • Resilient communities
    • Innovation is necessary to sustainability
    • Enel’s My Best Failure
    • Innovability
    • CSO and CMO: dual role at Unilever — Keith Weed
    • Nestle: COO as the sustainabilty architect of entire company
    • Engaging NGOs as a means for meeting CR goals
    • Relationship between CR and financial performance
    • Greenwashing
    • Where are the sustainabilty jobs for college graduates?

    NOTES

    CB Bhattacharya

    How to Make Sustainability Every Employee’s Responsibility

    Sustainability Lessons From the Front Lines

    Leveraging Corporate Responsibility: The Stakeholder Route to Maximizing Business and Social Value

    LinkedIn: CB Bhattacharya

    CB Bhattacharya (@CBsuite) | Twitter

    Book: Straight Man

    Harpic

    ABOUT PHILIP BEERE

    Philip is host of Corporate Sustainability; the podcast that explores companies and people who inspire innovation, improvement, and sustainable business practices through purpose-driven missions and initiatives. Philip is a longtime marketer, who consults companies on how to use stories and narrative to help build their brands.  He says sustainability stories are one of the most powerful ways companies can manage their reputations.

    Connect with Philip at www.philipjames.co 

    LinkedIn

    Facebook

    Instagram

     

     

    The Body Shop → Christopher Davis: Employee Activism and Company Culture

    The Body Shop → Christopher Davis: Employee Activism and Company Culture

    Christopher Davis

    International corporate social responsibility professional and recipient of United Nations Business Leader Award. Creative and strategic thinker with a track record in delivering high impact, international projects. Expert in the development of integrated CSR strategy, change management and leading stakeholder engagement. Strong communication skills and experienced corporate communications leader and media spokesperson. Strong track as both a Board Member and Chair of NGO and Corporate Foundations

    Responsible for leading the International CSR Team; and developing the company’s strategic approach and overseeing implementation to ensure The Body Shop's performance as one of the world's leading ethical brand is maintained and enhanced

    In the interview, topics discussed include the following:

    • Philosophy of Natura (Antônio Luiz Da Cunha Seabra, Pedro Luiz Passos, Guilherme Leal) and The Body Shop (Anita Roddick), as rooted in the founders. 
    • Business as a force for good and change
    • The DNA of companies as seeing business as more than profit
    • TBL
    • 2050 Goals - partnership with Future Fit Foundation
    • Regenerative
    • Enrich Not Exploit — a first step toward developing Future Fit into the business
    • The philanthropy and sustainabilty team at The Body Shop — servicing 69 countries
    • How to engage employees? 
    • Enrich Not Exploit was launched during a challenging time within the company, and criticism came in the form of walking the walk, and talking the talk.
    • Securing a complete ban on animal testing
    • Employees encouraged to advocate for animal rights
    • Activist companies — and attracting talent — sharing beliefs and values
    • Millennials and interest in value-based business
    • The need for policy and regulation for the environment
    • Corporations picking up where politics is falling short
    • We must challenge the status quo and short term profits
    • Ask questions
    • If a company that is not open to be challenged will probably not thrive

    NOTES

    Enrich Not Exploit

    The Body Shop

    Future Fit Foundation

    natura

    Christopher Davis

    @ActivistChris

    ABOUT PHILIP BEERE

    Philip is host of Corporate Sustainability; the podcast that explores companies and people who inspire innovation, improvement, and sustainable business practices through purpose-driven missions and initiatives. Philip is a longtime marketer, who consults companies on how to use stories and narrative to help build their brands.  He says sustainability stories are one of the most powerful ways companies can manage their reputations.

    Connect with Philip at www.philipjames.co 

    LinkedIn

    Facebook

    Instagram

     

     

     

    Salesforce → Henk Campher: Sustainability Indexes vs. Company Purpose

    Salesforce → Henk Campher:  Sustainability Indexes vs. Company Purpose

    Henk Campher

    Challenge conventional thinking – with 20 years of global experience, Henk is known as a disruptive and creative expert in the communications, brand, social impact and sustainability space. He’s had the pleasure of working on some of the coolest award-winning corporate campaigns and developing strategic solutions with companies such Starbucks, Levi’s, Best Buy, Timberland, Tiffany’s, REI, Abbott Labs, Samsung, Kellogg's, The North Face, SC Johnson, J&J, Unilever and Nestlé. 

    He has been bridging the world of nerds (social impact, purpose & sustainability experts) and flirts (brand & communication whizzes) thanks to being part of team Fenton, leading social impact and purpose work at Allison + Partners and Edelman, his time in the UK as an Oxfam campaigner, and his South African roots as an African development worker, trade unionist and creator of the Nelson Mandela initiated Proudly South African campaign. 

    He was named as one of the Top 30 CSR Pros to Follow in 2015 by Triple Pundit, Top 100 Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Business Behavior (he is now a judge for the award) and The Guardian’s Top 15 Sustainable Business Executives on Twitter. 

    Henk is a regular writer for the Huffington Post, Triple Pundit and CSRWire, a frequent speaker at conferences, and a Twitter junkie: @AngryAfrican. He is a member of Team Net Impact for Super Bowl 50. His Dō Sustainability book Creating a Sustainable Brand: A Guide to Growing the Sustainability Top Line was published in April 2014.

    In this episode, the following topics are discussed:

    • Product impact vs. CSR — the crossroads
    • Supply chain measured, but overlooking the impact of the product itself
    • Three product buckets: makes the world better, makes world worse, or blah bucket
    • Most products are not essential
    • Ranking is overlooking impact
    • The right measurement tools
    • Measurement has made us oblivious to how consumers react to products — creative and instinct
    • A challenge to corporations is embracing human nature
    • Why is Disney ranked 100, and a cigarette company ranked 6?
    • The important of honesty, or speaking about the white elephant in the room
    • Methodology problem about indexes
    • The vision of sustainability at SalesForce — at the heart is reinvention
    • The launch of philanthropy cloud — helping employees contribute  to the causes
    • Equality related to gender pay
    • Attention on Inequality
    • Best place to work — as a B2B company
    • You can’t have innovation if people don’t love working for a company

    NOTES and RESOURCES

    Henk Campher

    Salesforce Sustainability

    2018 100 Best Corporate Citizens

    David Grayson — Everybody’s Business

    @salesforce

    ABOUT PHILIP BEERE

    Philip is host of Corporate Sustainability; the podcast that explores companies and people who inspire innovation, improvement, and sustainable business practices through purpose-driven missions and initiatives. Philip is a longtime marketer, who consults companies on how to use stories and narrative to help build their brands.  He says sustainability stories are one of the most powerful ways companies can manage their reputations.

    Connect with Philip at www.philipjames.co 

    LinkedIn

    Facebook

    Instagram

     

     

    ‘Balancing Green’ → Yossi Sheffi (Author): When to Embrace Sustainability in a Business (and When Not To)

    ‘Balancing Green’ → Yossi Sheffi (Author): When to Embrace Sustainability in a Business (and When Not To)

    Dr. Sheffi is Director of MIT's Transportation and Logistics, and holds a dual appointment at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and at the Engineering Systems Division. He is an expert in systems optimization, risk analysis and supply chain management, which are the subjects he teaches and researches at MIT. He is the author of dozens of scientific publications and three books. Outside the university, Professor Sheffi is an active entrepreneur, having founded five successful companies, and a sought-after speaker in corporate and professional events. He obtained his B.Sc. from the Technion in Israel in 1975, his S.M. from MIT in 1977, and Ph.D. from MIT in 1978.

    In this episode, the following topics are discussed:

    • Balancing green pressures and corporate pressures
    • It is not planet vs profit, instead it is people vs people
    • Companies are running the global supply chain, providing the jobs, and are also responsible for a lot of the environmental impact
    • How many people will pay 10% more money for a sustainable product?
    • Tesla in Hong Kong: government incentives
    • Convenience and low cost vs the environment: How many people buy on Amazon?  How do you feel about the packaging that goes to landfill? 
    • Until consumers agree to pay more for sustainability, companies will not change their fundamentals of production
    • Companies will save energy, minimize risk, and hedging with a green product line for millennials
    • Sustainability is a supply chain issue
    • Is Apple or Microsoft sustainable?  They do not manufacture anything, until you look at the supply chain impact
    • Coca-Cola says they reduced the amount of water in bottling plant, but it takes vast amount of water to grow sugar cane
    • Carbon impact of detergent is making the water hot
    • Deep sustainability:  Patagonia and Dr. Bronner
    • Unilever trains farmers who grow tea
    • Natura invests a lot in the welfare of the Amazon
    • Starbucks has 120,000 coffee growers who they invest in and train
    • Is the consumer willing to pay more?
    • Maybe not until we have a lot more desires
    • Will Shanghai flood? 
    • Social responsibility, shared values, and making a case for social responsibility
    • Supply chain is holistic thinking

     NOTES

    Balancing Green: When to Embrace Sustainability in a Business (and When Not To)

    Dr. Yossi Sheffi LinkedIn

    ABOUT PHILIP BEERE

    Philip is host of Corporate Sustainability; the podcast that explores companies and people who inspire innovation, improvement, and sustainable business practices through purpose-driven missions and initiatives. Philip is a longtime marketer, who consults companies on how to use stories and narrative to help build their brands.  He says sustainability stories are one of the most powerful ways companies can manage their reputations.

    Connect with Philip at www.philipjames.co 

    LinkedIn

    Facebook

    Instagram

     

    ‘Climate of Hope’ → Carl Pope (Author): The Arrival of the Clean Energy Revolution

    ‘Climate of Hope’ → Carl Pope (Author): The Arrival of the Clean Energy Revolution

    A veteran leader in the environmental movement, Carl Pope is the former Executive Director and Chairman of the Sierra Club. He's now the principal adviser at Inside Straight Strategies, looking for the underlying economics that link sustainability and economic development. He serves as a Senior Climate Adviser to former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He was a founder of the Blue-Green Alliance and America Votes. He has served on the Boards of Ceres, the California League of Conservation Voters, As You Sow, the National Clean Air Coalition, and California Common Cause. He is currently a member of the US-India Track II Climate Diplomacy project of the Aspen Institute. He writes regularly for Bloomberg View and the Huffington Post. Mr. Pope is also the author of three books: Sahib, An American Misadventure in India; Hazardous Waste in America; and co-author along with Paul Rauber of Strategic Ignorance: Why the Bush Administration Is Recklessly Destroying a Century of Environmental Progress, which the New York Review of Books called "a splendidly fierce book."

    In this episode, the topics discussed include:

    • The clean energy revolution .
    • The new reality: climate change can be solved with opportunity, no sacrifice necessary.
    • Carbon emissions and food systems: shipping, storage, waste.
    • The overuse of the word efficiency: legacy, creative, and innovative maybe better words.
    • Cities and their role in solving climate change - they are a source and a solution to the problem.
    • In lights of the U.S. pullout from the Paris Agreement, why should there be hope?
    • The role of corporations in climate change.
    • Corporate alignment with NGOs.
    • Branding and labeling of sustainability initiatives.
    • The current pace of commitment made by the U.S. for the Paris Agreement.
    • The importance of employee engagement to a company’s innovation.

    NOTES

    Carl Pope

    Health co-benefits from air pollution and mitigation costs of the Paris Agreement: a modelling study

    Climate of Hope: How Cities, Businesses, and Citizens Can Save the Planet

    GLOBAL CLIMATE ACTION SUMMIT

    ABOUT PHILIP BEERE

    Philip is host of Corporate Sustainability; the podcast that explores companies and people who inspire innovation, improvement, and sustainable business practices through purpose-driven missions and initiatives. Philip is a longtime marketer, who consults companies on how to use stories and narrative to help build their brands.  He says sustainability stories are one of the most powerful ways companies can manage their reputations.

    Connect with Philip at www.philipjames.co 

    LinkedIn

    Facebook

    Instagram

     

     

    CBRE → Dave Pogue: Largest Manager of Commercial Buildings in the World

    CBRE → Dave Pogue: Largest Manager of Commercial Buildings in the World

    As Senior Vice President Global Client Care, Dave Pogue is leading the development of socially responsible, market driven solutions to align corporate responsibility principals into CBRE business practices through a strategy called Shared Advantage.

    In his prior role as Global Director of Corporate Responsibility, Dave oversaw CBRE’s development, implementation and reporting for all aspects of corporate social responsibility, including environmental stewardship, community engagement and corporate giving.

    His leadership has produced an award-winning sustainability platform leveraging thought leadership, service delivery and industry associations to raise worldwide green building standards. Program achievements include development of CBRE’s $1 million Real Green Research Challenge; delivery of co-branded BOMA BEEP training to more than 24,000 attendees; and recognition as the first manager of commercial property to certify more than 700 buildings in the LEED® for Existing Buildings rating system. CBRE has been honored by the EPA as a ten-time ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year and recognized by the U.S. Green Building Council® with the Leadership Award for Organizational Excellence.

    CBRE has also been included in the prestigious Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) North America and the FTSE4Good Index for four consecutive years. 

    In this episode, the following topics are discussed:

    • Corporate citizenship and good business
    • Stakeholder engagement
    • Millennials
    • Shared values
    • EPA ENERGY STAR
    • Building scoring
    • Benchmarking
    • LEED EB
    • WELL certification and Delos
    • Shared Advantage
    • Reporting sustainability
    • Nabers Australia
    • GRESB
    • Barron’s 100 Most Sustainable Companies
    • Corporate transparency
    • Green Building Adoption Index - Maastricht University
    • CSR

    NOTES and REFERENCES

    International Green Building Adoption Index

    CBRE Recognized for Transparency about Carbon, Energy

    Barron’s 100 Most Sustainable Companies

    The Global ESG Benchmark for Real Assets

    NABERS

    Green office environments linked with higher cognitive function scores

    Global Major Report - Live Work Play: Millennials Myths and Realities

    CBRE

    Podcast

    ABOUT PHILIP BEERE

    Philip is host of Corporate Sustainability; the podcast that explores companies and people who inspire innovation, improvement, and sustainable business practices through purpose-driven missions and initiatives. Philip is a longtime marketer, who consults companies on how to use stories and narrative to help build their brands.  He says sustainability stories are one of the most powerful ways companies can manage their reputations.

    Connect with Philip at www.philipjames.co 

    LinkedIn

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    'Small Actions, Big Difference' → CB Bhattacharya: A Three-Phase Formula for the Path to Corporate Sustainability

    'Small Actions, Big Difference' → CB Bhattacharya: A Three-Phase Formula for the Path to Corporate Sustainability

    CB Bhattacharya

    is the H.J. Zoffer Chair in Sustainability and Ethics at the University of Pittsburgh.  Previously he was the Everett W. Lord Distinguished Scholar and Professor of Marketing at the School of Management at Boston University. CB received his PhD in Marketing from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1993 and his MBA from the Indian Institute of Management in 1984. Before joining Boston University, he was on the faculty at the Goizueta Business School, Emory University.

    In this episode, the following topics are discussed: 

    • University of Pittsburg’s Center for sustainable business to bridge academia and the private sector
    • Sustainability generalist — positional the role within an organization
    • Thought leadership — or curating meetings within companies to find linkages — such as the link between HR and sustainability
    • Sustainability and marketing, investor relations, and procurement
    • Creating sustainability ambassadors within and organization — taking ownership of sustainability
    • Employees are yearning to find a sense of meaning
    • Three phase path to sustainability ownership: incubate is when the CEO and executive team comes together finds common ground regarding sustainability, to entice employees or get them engaged with sustainability initiatives, and entrench means acting in a sustainable way becomes routine.
    • Reporting progress is important as a means to inspire employees
    • Employees must be empowered through training: incentives, promotions, fulfillment, celebration
    • A company’s purpose is almost always linked to sustainability
    • Expanding ownership means it is not “our company”, instead it is “our planet”.
    • When an organization has a sense of purpose, it comes to life
    • Marks and Spencer documents sustainability knowledge
    • Culture and strategy must work in tandem
      Intent without the ability to mobilize employees makes it difficulty to make sustainability goals succeed
    • Many people want to work for a higher purpose, not solely financial
    • Shared understanding of the meaning of sustainability is important for each person in the organization
    • Goals must be clearly defined and articulated
    • Sustainability must engage all parts of an organization
    • Unilever is the third most looked up company on LinkedIn after Google and Apple — Unilever is also a sustainability leader

    NOTES

    Book order info: Small Actions, Big Difference

    Center for Sustainable Business

    Small Actions Big Difference

     

    ABOUT PHILIP BEERE

    Philip is host of Corporate Sustainability; the podcast that explores companies and people who inspire innovation, improvement, and sustainable business practices through purpose-driven missions and initiatives.
    Philip is a longtime marketer, who consults companies on how to use stories and narrative to help build their brands.  He says sustainability stories are one of the most powerful ways companies can manage their reputations.
    Connect with Philip at www.philipjames.co 

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