LIFESTYLE | opinion Womanthismonth.com 82 November 2023 In her previous articles, Chartered Manager Eman Deabil (DipESG, PfMP, IPMO-P, SIP) has spoken extensively about the growing need to establish sustainable business practices in general. In her latest piece, she talks about sustainability in the boardroom in particular and the board of directors’ role in embracing a clear agenda and driving change from the top. I still remember the days, more than 10 years ago, when we were printing out hundreds of pages to prepare packs for the board of directors’ meeting in one of the organisations I worked for. It was a tedious non-value adding task, knowing that most of these packs will be shredded right after the meeting! Thankfully, in that same organisation, we proposed buying tablet computers for the board members and the proposal was accepted. Yet to ensure that such proposal would be implemented successfully, we had to establish awareness and educate board members on the ‘why’ and ‘how’; ‘why’ we changed the status quo and switched to such practice (i.e. to save the environment), and ‘how’ they can leverage the new tools. Although at that time, sustainability was not receiving the same amount of attention it is receiving today! In my previous articles, I spoke about the growing need to establish sustainability practices in general. Here, I will speak about sustainability in the boardroom in particular. Here is my advice for companies to lead change starting from the highest level. 1. The board should set a clear sustainability vision and strategy with clear objectives and targets, which wouldn’t be possible without conducting a thorough ‘materiality assessment’ to identify the key material topics that the organisation should focus on and address in its strategy. The same should be aligned with the organisation’s business strategy and should be communicated to all relevant stakeholders. 2. The board should establish a sustainability governance structure where roles and responsibilities are clearly defined. This may involve establishing a sustainability committee or appointing a Chief Sustainability Officer. 3. The board should look at all decisions through a sustainability lens. This may include considering the environmental, social and governance impacts of all major decisions (e.g. assessing credit applications taking sustainability into account, assessing investment decisions, etc.). 4. The board should ensure disclosing transparent, comprehensive and accurate sustainability performance; this may involve publishing a sustainability report or integrating sustainability metrics into the annual report. 5. Most importantly, the board should admit that ‘Sustainability’ is a new business dimension where lack of knowledge could hinder them from making the right decisions, so acquiring and building the required knowledge around it is key, the same should be established across the organisation. The Green Boardroom
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