Sustainability Factors for Corporate Growth: CG Score, ESG Scores, DEI Concept, Green Initiatives, a

Understanding sustainability and development

The aim of this paper is to discuss sustainability as an important factor for the growth of the organisation.  Every organisation needs to Aquarius sources from the natural environment or at least collect raw materials even if indirectly. Sustainable growth provides assurance do the organisations operating at present as well as the future generation because the consumption of such resources are controlled at present.  Companies operating for more their 200 years have started to face issues with the collection of natural materials over the centuries because the concept of Sustainable growth has been introduced later. After the awareness regarding the impact of companies in increasing environmental pollution and climate change through their operations, modern more organisations have become aware of their carbon footprint and waste management procedure.

There are several organisations to develop Strategies and implement guidelines to the corporations so that they can maintain sustainability policies and act accordingly.  This paper will be analysing sustainability factors in terms of CG score, ESG scores, DEI concept, green initiatives and CSR. All of these concepts will be discussed under the background of 4 International corporations operating in most of the developed countries as well as the local areas.

The concept of Sustainable development has been popularised with the United Nations setting goals for corporations and the Government of every member states.  Sustainability is the idea that the human societies need to live and meet their needs without any compromise to the ability of future generations to meet their own needs also (Allen, Metternicht and Wiedmann 2018).  It is the method of organising society in such a way that it can sustain for long time.  The official definition of sustainable development was found in Brundtland report in 1987. Here sustainable development has analysed as the means of taking into account the imperative of both present and future like reservation of environment for the responsible utilisation of natural resources.  

The industrial revolution has been connected with the rise of sustainable development because it is not only limited to the Welfare of environment but also approaching ethical social responsibilities towards the stakeholders.  Sustainable development always aim to mitigate ecological and social crisis by creating awareness among people (Kroll, Warchold and Pradhan 2019).  According to the UN sustainability goals, the member states and the corporations need to protect environment irrespective of flora and fauna along with the natural resources like land, air and water, take care of employability and economic balance within the society, create opportunity for the disadvantaged section to grow and make business more expanding (World Economic Forum 2020).

Sustainability in real life: CG scores

In this regard discussion about triple bottom line can be mentioned despite the fact it is completely associated with Economic understanding.  Triple bottom line in the economics maintains the companies to focus upon the environmental and social concerns balancing the profits. Triple bottom line is associated with three elements people, profit and the planet (Pizzi et al. 2020). Profit is the traditional measure of corporate economic growth, people is the measure how the company is socially responsible throughout its history and planet is the measure how much the company is environmentally responsibility. These three measures can help the organisations to find out perfect interaction and mixed strategies accordingly so that the communities are properly supported by the brand and the environmental resources are protected.  By doing so the profits of the company must not be hampered.

In different countries sustainable development has been accepted in a different way.  For example the developed countries like those of European countries or North America, the number of industries are more in comparison to the developing countries like Indian subcontinent or African countries. There is less scope for the developed Nations to invest huge in the environment system because deforestation and consumption of natural resources are much higher in such areas.  On the contrary the developing countries have the opportunities to maintain sustainable growth especially for environmental protection including the natural resources as well as flora and fauna.  The developed nation therefore invest usually in protecting natural environment in such areas and ensure to meet environment related goals of the UN.  Under social and cultural protection can be found more in the developed nations as people are more ever about their own rights and question corporate social responsibilities (Castro, Fernández and Colsa 2021).  The developing countries have more population therefore the amount of unemployment is higher.  Catering the needs of such huge population and securing their interest may not be possible.  This is the reason why the poverty, exploitation and discrimination and much more prevalent in in the countries of Africa and Asia.

Corporate governance scorecard service to be an instrument for assessing corporate governance performance of the government owned and controlled corporations by using method of benchmarking against the principles of organisation for economic cooperation and development or OECD. Corporate governance factors are consisted of ratings between 40 and 80 that the institutional shareholder services or ISS deems most critical to measure corporate governance related risks. Each and every organisation tries to attain sustainable goals especially by getting all the requirements of its stakeholders.  In the companies and their boards search for bragging rights to implement the best corporate governance practices (ElMassah and Mohieldin 2020).  However accounting failures leading to the passage Aaj a Securities and Exchange Commission as well as.

ESG scores

Exchange rural marketing lead directors and executive along with their lawyers or accountants feel confused to implement and improve processes which can comply with the new mandates regarding governance, disclosure and accounting procedures (Allen, Metternicht and Wiedmann 2018). Other stakeholders like media and investor interests in the corporate government have also increased in last few decades that capture the failure and issues of Corporate governments in the company's routinely in the news.  New regulations supporting shareholder governance is another reason why the directors are following strategies to higher their CG ratings.

The ESG scores are mainly related to the environmental, social and corporate governance performances of the organisations.  It is an evaluation of collective conscientiousness towards the environment and Society.  It is a score compiled from data collected regarding specific metrics intangible assets in the organisation.  It can be considered as a form of Corporate Social credit score and have three board categories to define whether the company is socially responsible (Allen et al. 2020).  It needs to consider and incorporate values and concerns regarding community, governance and environment too form investment decision without just potential profitability.  

The research reveals that individual Assets of a company can ensure increasing percentage of future enterprise values.   In last two decades the ESG movement has gained importance to determine sustainability approaches of the organisations (Hur, Moon and Kim 2020).  Corporate social responsibility is have become one of the major segment to determine success of the organisations and their brand value in the international platform there were the more the companies can score in ESG standard the more the gain support from the stakeholders.

Sustainability has and other determining factor which includes diversity, equity and inclusion or DEI. DEI is considered in terms of 3Es, environment, and ethics and economic. There is a close connection between sustainability and these three factors because the organisations are expected to protect environment maintaining equity and inclusion of the resources (Galli et al. 2018).  The operation of the organisation truly impact the ability of future generation to utilise the natural resources in a proper way therefore it is the responsibility of the present organisations to show ethical responsibilities to protect replenishable resources from depleting due to our consumption.  Through acknowledging diversity, equity and inclusion of the natural resources and environmental factors improve situation (Rashed and Shah 2021). The ethics is related to the society and equity where the organisations are expected to treat their employees fairly and promote no discrimination policies.

DEI

Per flexible work hours and investment on the local communities are also included in this segment.  A diverse and equitable along with inclusive workplace create scope for the organisation to showcase social impact before the stakeholders and this compound sustainable growth.  Diversity, equity and inclusion are also associated with the economic activities of the organisations (Bhagat and Bolton 2019).  Diversity can enhance profitability of the business.  Inclusive organisations can promote transparency and diverse teams promote brand image.  Inclusive approach towards economic functionality of the organisations can ultimately improve profitability for which the organisations actually thrive (Arsel, Crockett and Scott 2021).

Green initiatives are mainly associated with protecting environment and reducing impact for climate change.  There are 24 companies accredited for providing relevant services as chosen by the United Nations.  The green initiatives main objectives can include of setting the greenhouse gases and reforestation projects in the riparian areas. Green initiative reduces carbon dioxide footprint management and carbon neutral tourism destinations (Jiang and Kim 2020).  Some of the European countries like France Switzerland and South American countries like Peru and Brazil have been chosen as the location for taking green initiatives.  The companies mainly offer three services like reduction of carbon dioxide footprint, promoting sustainable climate action and establishing carbon neutral tourism destinations (Crane and Matten 2020). Based on these three types of certifications are provided which include carbon neutral certified, climate neutral now and climate positive certified.

Corporate social responsibility or CSR is a kind of International Private Business self-regulation aiming to contribute social goals to a charitable, philanthropic and activist nature by engaging ethically oriented practices. The CSR activities make the organisations more accountable to itself as well as the stakeholders especially the customers (Alabdullah, Ahmed and Muneerali 2019).  By better seeing such responsibilities the companies can be conscious about their impact on the societies including the social, economic and environmental aspects. Corporate social responsibility is a social business model that in a company's two concentric upon operating and enhancing initiatives to degrade society as well as environment.  It helps both the brand image of the companies and the society by raising morale of the organisation (Duque-Grisales and Aguilera-Caracuel 2021). CSR is important for the community but also valuable for the company to develop strategies and a stronger bond between the stakeholders and the operation.  It can help put the employees and employers to feel more connected with the world.    The companies must view CSR as the integral part of the brand image because the customers try to find positive impact of the brands with which their associated. Therefore CSR programs has become most common among the large corporations as well as small businesses because all of them wanted to participate in the sustainable development procedure and enhance brand value.

There are several large corporations orbiting around the world who always try to implement sustainable development strategies in order to bring balance in their business operations and maintain positive brand image among the customers (Reports.shell.com 2022).  The corporate governance report and sustainability report 2020 of Shell reveals that the company has followed sustainable development goals of the UN at every level.  The company has developed a particular approach to create safe what place for the employees (Popescu 2022).  It has huge economic and social support to contributing the community is associated with the operation.  The company has its climate target and new approaches to the environment is especially for reforestation.  The company also works with the suppliers so that waste management procedure and innovative approaches for reducing carbon footprint can be implemented.

The ESG report of this company reflects that it promotes biodiversity in the developing countries, promotes the research and utilisation of biofuels, carbon capture and storage, reducing plastic waste. The company has also developed strategies to respond to the climate change and preservation of water for the usage of future generation.  Along with these environmental initiatives the company also for the social and economic growth of the employees where working safely and maintaining human rights are included (Zopounidis et al. 2020).

The company allows external voluntary initiatives so that the community members associated with it get the chance for employment.  It has a special initiatives for reducing poverty in Nigeria. The corporate governance report reveals that the company believes in higher standard of business integrity and performance. Proper distribution and inclusion according to the DEI initiatives can be found throughout the operation of this organisation and it has also followed green strategies to overcome the deforestation issues in the developing or underdeveloped countries.

Another important organisation is Starbucks Corporation which engages in the production marketing as well as he telling the specialty coffee.  According to the sustainable development report, Starbucks has been environmentally and socially focused since its Inception in 1971 top Starbucks has hired more than 26000 veterans and will be employing more than 5000 in the future.  The ECG resources of Starbucks Coffee Company reveal that the company acknowledges Global Human Rights statement study to follow standards of business conduct and global anti-bribery standard.  Their corporate political contribution and expenditures policy followed by the company. All of these reflect the social aspect of Sustainable growth (Starbucks.com 2022).  Starbucks is completely based on natural resources as the agricultural raw material are needed for manufacturing coffee.

This is the reason why it follows quality of food like palm oil, coffee beans and water at best. The organisation has developed a report upon the response towards 2021 CDP climate change, forest response and water security.  The company also follows effective waste management procedure by using biodegradable material for packaging and serving in the Starbucks stores.  By contributing huge in the supply chain to ensure ethical procurement of raw materials is one of the most important initiatives by the company which has made it to be one of the most prefer brands around the world (Jafaei Rahni 2018). Starbucks does not only focus upon the prophet but also looks for improvement of planet and people associated with the organisation.  

It has maintained equity and inclusion of employees and community associated.  It protects the rights of environment and balance economic performances through employee motivation. The localization process implemented in the operation while serving the markets in China, Japan and many Latin American countries the company always utilizes natural ingredients to maintain flavor and bring product diversification without hampering the environmental system.  It manages CSR in every way possible which has allowed Starbucks to expand its business in almost every country of the world.

The sustainability report of Qatar Airways reveal that the organisation follows all the needed corporate governance and corporate social responsibilities while serving all six continents.  The organisation is the youngest Global Airlines but have already has developed a strong base of customers with positive responses to the covering.  Qatar Airways remains committed to protect environment as well as community associated with it.  It has taken Holistic approach to sustainable development by balancing triple bottom line of growth (Qatarairways.com 2022).  It has initiated to leave smaller carbon footprint while flying and make the process sustainable.  It has the ambition to demonstrate environmental leadership and reduce possibility of carbon emission from the flights.  Qatar Airways have already set carbon offset program where the passengers are empowered to offset carbon emission during the time of booking.

The airlines company has aims to achieve its target of zero carbon emissions by 2050.  More exceptionally the company has contributed in addressing the requirement of protecting natural resources like water and air.  The Wildlife Protection procedure has also been included in the sustainability report.  The international air transport Association has developed four wheeler strategy to address the climate change emissions and reducing waste of water.  With sustainable aviation fuels, the air pollution while flying will be reduced.  The company has utilized the best quality technology to develop operations and infrastructure so that it can protect the security of work place and meet all the requirements of the employees.

Nestle company has been one of the most famous food related organisation which remains nature dependable company for centuries.  The value chain model of the company influence to create shared value through ESG. The companies engaged with climate action and greenhouse gas emission Technology within 2050 (Nestle.com 2022).  The aims to manage human and social capital based on the values of openness, respect and inclusiveness. Cultural and gender related diversities and social inclusion of the community members by creating job for the locals have improved brand image of Nestle.  The company takes initiative to reduce waste to hamper the environment therefore establishes a nomination and sustainability committee (Tamvada 2020). The compensation committee of Nestle has set remuneration principles so that the interests of the employees are particularly acknowledge.

Therefore the CSR initiatives as well as DEI are met. Proper research and development process has reduced carbon footprint for the organisation in collecting and manufacturing the products ultimately.  However there are several gaps for the organisation to attain sustainable growth in every part of the world (Bian et al. 2021).  There are several negative acquisition against this organisation regarding force labour in South Asian markets, water related scam in Africa and using illegal methods of production hampered its image. In such cases funds, researches and human resource can be challenges for the organisation.

The companies mentioned like Starbucks, Nestle, Qatar Airways and Shell have been quite effective in achieving their sustainability goals.  There have been sustainable reports published in their own websites which are verified.  However there are several gaps which these organisations need to meet. However for this, they require support from International organisations and government of the markets where they are operational.  The consumption and wastage are not one day procedure therefore sustainable growth improvements will not be achieved in one day.  And the customers and other stakeholders need to provide time to these organisations so that they can correct the issues and used more improved technology to balance planet, profit and people and meet all the criteria of sustainable development.

Conclusion:

Therefore it can be concluded that the organizations need to be more aware of sustainability features and bring changes whenever necessary. There are empirical data increasing to support the position of better governance to achieve better shareholder value for the companies.  All of these sustainability reasons are pressing the directors and executive to care about corporate responsivities so that they can keep their image clean in the international market and reduce shareholder activism at any point of time.

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