(Photo Credit: Wesley Tingey, Unsplash)[/caption] The head sustainable finance at Goldman Sachs called covid-19 a “stress test” for the corporate social responsibility field that will separate the wheat from the chaff, Bloomberg reported.
John Goldstein leads the firm’s Sustainable Finance Group and also serves as chair of their Sustainable Finance Group Steering Group. “The stuff that was being done more for appearances or a label is getting constructively rationalized,” he told Bloomberg’s Emily Chasan.
“Companies are used to getting hundreds of surveys on sustainability issues, but the current turmoil will ‘clarify the mind tremendously’ around what disclosures are absolutely necessary and most valuable, Goldstein said, according to Chasan.
Other experts have expressed a similar take on how the covid-19 pandemic is affecting corporate sustainability.
Speaking with Environment + Energy Leader recently, General Motors’ new chief sustainability officer Dane Parker said that the automaker continues to focus on reducing its environmental footprint.
“Some of the things that will happen in the immediate term make it difficult to look past today or tomorrow or next month. But the longer of a view we can take, the better we’ll do, and the smarter the decisions we’ll make,” he said.
Pierre-Francois Thaler, co-CEO and co-founder of the corporate social responsibility ratings platform EcoVadis, also underscored how the pandemic is sharpening leaders’ focus on their supply chain and sustainability programs.
“Be proactive in due diligence and mitigation strategies,” he advised in an Environment + Energy Leader deep dive. “This pandemic is a very fluid and dynamic situation. Constant supply chain monitoring and risk mapping is essential for maintaining visibility and control amidst the uncertainty.”
