Insights

December 14, 2022

SBER Q4 Symposium: Sustainability Strategy Leadership & Getting Net Zero Done

SR Inc held our fourth quarterly 2022 Executive Symposium on December 8th in Washington, DC at the Georgetown University McDonough School of Business, with whom SR Inc has partnered on several student research projects. Attended by Member-Clients in person and virtually, the Q4 Symposium featured two major sessions: “Sustainability Strategy Leadership” and “Getting Net-Zero Done.” 

The former, led by SR Inc CEO Jim Boyle, focused its discussion on frameworks of leadership.

Key takeaways include:

1. 1.5°C is an ecological limit, not an elected target, and passing this limit will result in the most catastrophic impacts of climate change. This is not to say that catastrophic impacts are not already occurring – they are – but the most devastating are yet to come. Post-COP27, it is more likely than not that the world will exceed this warming limit.
2. Once C-Suites across the world truly understand that we’re going to see these catastrophic events, it will change the way we do business.
3. Fundamental frameworks of perception can be deliberately changed, and these changed paradigms result in changed actions.
4. Dignity First leadership centers dignity as the core of our human experience. It centers the “third dimension of our soul,” our “thymos,” and is already emergent in executive, enterprise, and economic leadership.
5. Dignity First leadership is grounded in cognitive and behavioral science, is Net Positive and Regenerative, and is about simplicity in an increasingly chaotic age.
6. Paul Polman, former CEO of Unilever, and Gene Sperling, former Chief Economic Advisor to Presidents Clinton and Obama, exemplify Dignity First leadership.
7. Dignity First climate leadership identifies the core connection between human rights and our environment and is grounded in guidance and declarations from the United Nations itself.

This session also featured a video from Senator Ed Markey directly for Member-Clients, sharing a message on the incentives and green bank funding included in the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Accordingly, SR Inc debuted a newly published advisory, A Corporation’s Introduction to Green Banks and the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. SR Inc additionally published a new advisory on the topic of the Task Force for Climate Related Financial Disclosures, both of which can be accessed exclusively by Member-Clients in the SR Inc Digital Library.

 

Member Executive Faith Taylor, VP & Global Sustainability Officer at Kyndryl, concluded the session with a presentation and Q&A on her team’s process of establishing a roadmap for sustainable growth. Faith shared that education is key in helping people throughout the organization understand the sustainability team’s decisions and how they align with and strengthen overall corporate strategy. Kyndryl also shared an exciting new commitment to achieving Net Zero emissions by 2040, setting this ambitious goal within just a year of the enterprise’s conception.

 

The second session, “Getting Net Zero Done,” focused on emerging best practices in global decarbonization.

Key takeaways include:

1. Over 4,000 corporations now have committed to setting Science-Based Targets (SBTs) – nearly doubling the corporate commitment just since the end of 2021.
2. The process of setting SBTs is revealing 3 key insights and opportunity categories for member-clients:
   1. Roadmap quality matters – select the most impactful carbon abatement options to avoid reputational risk.
   2. Corporations can elect to lead on addressing climate change beyond their own operational boundaries.
   3. Member-Clients are beginning to see the potential for converging business and climate strategies.
3. US and European VPPA Aggregated Procurements (AP) are a proven and critical solution to most corporation’s global decarbonization strategies/roadmaps.
   1. Corporate VPPA offtake volume, beyond the largest energy-consuming corporations, suffered in 2022.
   2. Despite turbulent 2021/22 supply chain challenges, VPPAs remained the preferred Member-Client decarbonization strategy due to superior impact (new capacity / high carbon abatement) and economics.
   3. The building success of multiple NZCB 2022 Aggregated Procurements in North America & Europe established a path for corporates to drive impact by causing new renewable energy at scale while mitigating their Scope 2 & sometimes 3 emissions
4. Evaluating Member-Clients’ primary Scope 3 emission categories (e.g., Purchased G&S, Capital Goods, Use of Product) reveals the environmental interdependency, and potential value add, for supplier and customer relationships.

In this second session, Member Executive Derek Oliver, Director of Government Affairs & Corporate Responsibility at Wayfair, shared with attendees about the company’s “Shop Sustainably” initiative, which will help drive down Wayfair’s scope 3 emissions. Derek also discussed Wayfair’s updated governance structure to support ESG progress, and their pursuit of off-site solar through SR Inc’s Aggregated VPPA Procurements.

 

We look forward to gathering our Member-Clients again in January for our 2023 Research Nomination, and later at our Q1 Symposium in March 2023. Member-Clients can find a copy of the presentation deck from our Q4 Symposium in our Digital Library.