ESG focus can help cos take care of both profits & planet

Need To Go Beyond Ratings, HR Can Enable Culture Change

- Judhajit Das

The pandemic has amplified the need for urgent action on climate change and addressing sustainability concerns. While the implications of global warming and reduction in carbon footprint have been part of the collective discourse for many years, it has received enormous attention in the corporate sector in the post-pandemic world. This has come along with a clarion call for strengthening and enhancing the standards of corporate governance, as well as customer and employee-centric practices and initiatives.

In fact, employee health, safety, and well-being became the number one business priority with the onset of the pandemic. It also led to stepping up of initiatives to promote digital learning and a greater focus on diversity & inclusion at the workplace. There have been unequivocal demands for enhanced customer data privacy, with acceleration in digital transactions and, of course, calls for responsible investments and superior standards of risk management. All of this portends well for a sustainable future.