Read Time: 6 minutes
It is evident that powerful socio-political and environmental forces are upending established business models. Corporates and their performances are dependent on their stakeholders. There exist deep synergistic relationships among companies, its stakeholders and environment. Ignoring even one will prove to be perilous. An analysis of Environment Social and Governance (ESG) factors that are relevant to a firm, provides investors with a window to the intersection of big macro trends and company’s ability to navigate them.
History is made of turning points and we may be at the cusp of such a moment today as we face the onslaught of climate change and environmental degradation, in our daily lives. It is worthwhile to take note of a few recent instances of environmental degradation and how pollution and climate change have started impacting our daily lives, and thus corporate ecosystems.
Plastic Menace:
a. If all plastic bottles humans use in a year were to be stacked on top of each other, you could build at least 190 towers to the moon. Add to it bags, plates, and everything plastic consumed globally. All that is buried in landfills, dumped in rivers, and carried into oceans.
b. About 6.3 billion tonnes of plastic waste has been generated in the world so far, according to a 2015 study by Britain’s Ellen McArthur Foundation. That’s equivalent to the average weight of more than 1 billion African bush elephants