Big Business Addressing Sustainable Development
Recently, large corporations have made huge commitments to make their organisations more sustainable. What does that mean for entrepreneurs?
The World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland often results in more talk than action. This year, however, some of the world’s largest industries have made commitments and recommitted to putting sustainability at the forefront of their futures.
The WEF Annual Meeting often focuses much on large multinational corporations and their CEOs/directors. That said, both large companies and startups must do their bit to achieve the 17 SDGs. While it is, in some aspects, easier for startups to implement sustainable practices into their KPIs from square one, we at SeedTribe also like to applaud large companies that are trying to change their practices.
Three industry leaders recently made headlines for their commitments to drastically changing the way their companies operate.
Microsoft
Tech giant Microsoft made news when it announced that not only would it reduce its carbon emissions by 2030, but rather become carbon negative in the same amount of time. To meet this deadline, Microsoft has created a $1 billion (£782.8 million) climate innovation fund, focusing on investing in carbon reduction, capture, and removal technologies. Microsoft is taking responsibility for its carbon emission, going as far as pledging removal of all emitted carbon since the company’s creation in 1975. Microsoft pledged in 2012 to be carbon neutral, but has since realised that companies that can afford to do more must. With other markers along the way, it will certainly be interesting to see how one of the world’s largest tech companies will become carbon negative.
Read more about Microsoft’s plans here.
BlackRock
Blackrock, an American investment management group, became one of the first large investment managers to reassess the value of impact in their investment strategy. They plan to implement new strategies across not only their investment clients, but also with shareholders, employees, and in the communities they work. In their statement regarding how they plan to implement Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG), they state that the principles of ESG not only apply to a certain subset of the group, but rather too all investment divisions and groups. They realise that long-term investments and sustainability go hand in hand. In short, BlackRock is shaping the future of the investment management sphere by focusing heavily on ESG data when making investment decisions.
Read more about their plans here.
Nestlé
Nestle has in years past made commitments to sustainability. In 2018, the company made a commitment to have 100% of its packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025. This year, however, the food and drink giant made the announcement that they would invest CHF 2 billion (£1.6 billion) in finding new solutions for sustainable packaging. Nestle is looking to generate innovation within the packaging sector to aid in creating a waste free future. The CEO, Mark Schneider, stated: "Making recycled plastics safe for food is an enormous challenge for our industry. That is why in addition to minimizing plastics use and collecting waste, we want to close the loop and make more plastics infinitely recyclable.” A part of this financial commitment comes a venture fund to invest into startups that will focus in the sustainable packaging field.
Read more about Nestle’s plans here.
We understand big companies have a lot to change and worry that it could be impact washing. Even though these plans may lead to little or no action, we believe that a step in the right direction is better than nothing. We look forward to increasing the work in this space because the reach of corporations and their financial clout gives them the ability to address the impact of the SDGs on a large scale.
What does that mean for entrepreneurs?
At this point you may naturally be wondering what this all means in terms of start-ups. Firstly, it means more money. Money to invest into start-ups that are already providing a service that these big companies want to implement the achieve their goals. It could also mean more chances for mentorship. Developing an existing idea is often easier than starting from square one. Large companies often look for companies to contract. Starting a company that can address issues that can then be scaled to meet the needs of large corporations not only allows your company to grow but also increases the overall sustainability of the private market. A (tentative) win-win!
SeedTribe’s Hub is a great place to check out interesting start-ups as well as learn new skills for your own. Check it out today!