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The planet doesn’t need corporate sustainability – it needs regeneration
The next corporate revolution will come from a rethink of how sustainability should drive businesses.
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For two decades, corporate sustainability has been obsessed with reducing footprints – using metrics of absence like carbon, water, and waste.
PHOTO: ST FILE
Jeffery Tan
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At first glance, the corporate world seems to be winning the sustainability race. Renewable energy capacity is soaring. Financial institutions representing over US$130 trillion (S$167 trillion) in assets have pledged net-zero commitments. ESG – environmental, social and governance – has become part of the corporate lexicon, and chief sustainability officers now sit at the decision-making table.
But this veneer of progress hides a grim reality. We remain on track for 2.9 deg C of global warming, biodiversity is collapsing, and six of the nine planetary boundaries that keep the Earth stable have been breached.
