The business contribution is core to Europe moving towards a sustainable future. However, sustainability is no longer about individual company’s management, but it is about the entire eco-system and is only possible if implemented through strengthening local communities.

This month, we talked with the three Board representatives of the CSR Europe’s National Partner Organisations: Tomás Sercovich, CEO of Business in the Community Ireland (BITC), Nancy Thomas, Director of IMS Luxembourg, Alexandros Kostopoulos, Business Development Manager at CSR Hellas. Together, we discussed the role played by sustainability networks in facilitating Europe’s transition towards a climate-neutral, inclusive economy.

The interview is part of “The Sustainability Agenda Towards 2030” a new series of monthly interviews with CSR Europe’s Board Members to shed light on key CSR challenges and how leading companies are turning threats into opportunities.

With the EU Green Deal, the European Union is betting on its ability to become the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. What are the main sustainability challenges that companies are currently facing in your country?  Did they change with the pandemic?

Tomás Sercovich, BITC: In Ireland, sustainability has become commonplace. This is exciting because there is a huge focus by all companies. However, we need to avoid greenwashing or making statements about a company being sustainable without any substance. Therefore, to me, the main sustainability challenge for any company in Ireland today is to be credible and genuine about their journey to sustainability. On a more granular level, the main issue of course is carbon emissions and a roadmap to net-zero. In Business in the Community Ireland, we have been working for the past three years with a group of member companies on providing advice, guidance, and peer support. We are also focused on accountability. In March 2021, we launched the latest version of our Low Carbon Pledge. 64 companies have signed up and their CEOs have committed to setting science-based targets no later than 2024. Every year we produce a report tracking progress on the commitments of the Pledge and we highlight best practices and share them across the network. A key issue within the emission reduction target setting process is around indirect or Scope 3 emissions, which result from assets not owned or controlled by the reporting organization, but that the organization indirectly impacts in its value chain. Last year we published research on the Scope 3 emissions on Irish companies and what we see is that they are very significant, that they are hard to measure, and that a strong buy-in is needed to invest in complex measurement processes. The lack of global standards does not help either and we hope this will improve over time.

Biodiversity is another major challenge we are working with Irish businesses. We are very engaged with the work of CSR Europe in this space as well as other national and international networks. Circular economy and waste management are a must in this context too. The challenge is for companies to develop a vision and to engage with key stakeholders, from the government to activists and civil society.

The pandemic has focused the lens on how vulnerable our economic systems are; it has exposed how critical science-led and evidence-led interventions are needed to have credible progress. The pandemic showed how inconsistent our emissions were with what is needed to deliver on the Paris Agreement. It has made us reconsider much of our systems and hopefully, it will leave lasting change. Investors are more aware of these issues, customers want to do the right thing, employees want to work for companies that are beyond greenwashing, and CEOs are now, more than ever, expected to lead on the transformation of their businesses.

How do you see the role of your network in this journey towards the adoption of an inclusive approach to the green and digital transition?  

Nancy Thomas, IMS Luxembourg: Each national partner plays an important role in mobilizing stakeholders. We are sustainability hubs in our countries, we bring competencies and concrete projects to change companies’ business models for a sustainable economy. In Luxembourg, IMS has that position, and we lead several projects whose themes are linked to people, the planet, and prosperity. We are recognized as an organization that can mobilize companies and national stakeholders to meet the challenge that we face. The economic world plays an important role in driving change, and we can lead the way.

What is the added value of being part of a European network like CSR Europe?

Alexandros Kostopoulos, CSR Hellas: In our daily lives we rarely choose to look back to the starting point, but we should, given the increased attention that sustainability issues have received lately. CSR Europe has been around for 25 years already - a quarter of a century - in the business scene at the European level, focusing on responsibility as the foundation of sustainability. At that time, the issues of Corporate Social Responsibility were not perceived as part of every business activity and every business regardless of size, as it was often associated with specific industries, with specific types of risks, and mainly with a defensive business approach.

And yet, back in 1995, a business organization dared to raise the agenda of responsible entrepreneurship and seek supporters in the States of Europe. In this journey, CSR Europe found many supporters with whom it shared the same vision. Business organizations at the Member State level have gradually evolved into companions, and this movement has continued to spread outside the borders of the European Union. Today, 25 years after the start of this effort, CSR Europe is a recognized European partner participating in the discussions on the future of entrepreneurship. It supports its 40 National Partners Organisations, and through them, it reaches more than 10,000 companies in Europe. CSR Europe draws knowledge and experience from all over Europe and conveys in a timely, valid, and clear manner the opportunities related to corporate sustainability and responsibility.

The value is, therefore, both upstream and downstream and focuses on Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) issues that are in the headlines today but that CSR Europe and its network of National Partner Organisations have been addressing at a strategic level through innovative approaches, initiatives collaborative projects and programs for many years.

Tomás Sercovich, BITC: This is the era of collaboration, partnerships, and alliances. CSR Europe has been instrumental to the set-up of Business in the Community Ireland 20 years ago. The value is around access to best practice, understanding common challenges that similar-minded organisations have and funding solutions, and learning from each other. Being so close to the European institutions allows us to connect our businesses to the latest thinking and the most impactful initiatives. It is a true community of practice and inspiration.

Nancy Thomas, IMS Luxembourg: Being federate at the European level through CSR Europe is very important, and thanks to the organization we can combine our force and energy for change. We can share projects, practices, ideas and develop common initiatives. We live in a society that has become more and more individualistic but working in partnership through a rich network is the key to be successful in accompanying change within European companies.

In your opinion, how can multistakeholder and cross-sector collaboration contribute to scale up sustainability leadership?

Alexandros Kostopoulos, CSR Hellas: The pandemic is showing us that businesses, without real cooperation, cannot function. The growing challenges companies face are interrelated and horizontal, as they affect a number of sectors and have no geographical focus.

Companies are called to join forces with each other, as well as with their branches and supply chains, towards the implementation of a Pact for Sustainable Industry that can complement the efforts of the European Commission – with the European Sustainability Strategy for 2030 - and national governments – expressed through the National Strategies for Corporate Social Responsibility, and national Sustainability Roadmaps.

Sector and cross-sector collaboration can demonstrate the level of maturity of industries and companies in the application of international sustainability guidelines and widely accepted frameworks for recording and evaluating material issues with economic impact. Next, results should be verified, and actions prioritized to develop a sustainability framework at sector level and sub-standards for the integration of responsibility in the supply chain, according to the issues that arise as material for the companies that are part of wider supply chains.

The value can be twofold. Firstly, industries motivate their members to partner up with them on sustainability initiatives, and leading companies encourage similar initiatives in sectors with a strong concentration of potential partners. Secondly, leading companies can act as pioneering partners, but also as motivators for a wider change beyond their sphere of influence.

THE SUSTAINABILITY AGENDA TOWARDS 2030

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