Leading the change in social justice and climate action

Businesses have made significant inroads to carbon neutrality, with 40% of the world’s private companies committed to making their portfolios climate neutral.¹ But carbon reduction is only one piece of the sustainability puzzle, and the corporations’ impact on the wider world gave rise to the ESG framework.

To be successful in social and climate actions, companies must find alignment with ethical business values. For example, Singtel brand GOMO’s donate your data programme provides seniors greater access to digital services. This aligns with our community impact values and business ambition of a digital transformation.

The role of the CEO has seen a significant shift in recent years. As a figurehead of innovation, these leaders are expected to use their position to find solutions to the challenges of our time, with 81% of people saying CEOs should speak out on issues such as climate change and social justice.²

CEO of Salesforce Mark Benioff embraced this expectation by hiring a Chief Equality Officer and establishing a Racial Equality and Justice Taskforce soon after. Addressing equality in AI and robotics was one of the first tasks given to the newly appointed leader.³

Another leader in social and climate justice is Panasonic. Their Office of Social Impact and Inclusion⁴ combines social and environmental action by teaching how technology can improve food sources and water supply. Again, this aligns with the company’s core values by showing technology as the agent of positive change.

Ambitions to rebalance social inequalities must happen in parallel with corporate equality programmes, or companies risk exposing their activities to scrutiny. For example, by increasing female leadership, monitoring hiring diversity and creating whistleblowing channels, companies set a high standard for inclusion and begin to address the low participation rate for women in the workforce. Currently, only 20% of business consult with women’s organisations, experts or even impacted women when building their gender risk assessments.⁵

Projects such as Cisco’s work with indigenous communities aim to provide the resources of large corporations to the people least likely to access them otherwise. Using a wireless broadband service to connect tribal communities, Cisco addressed the digital divide that was hindering societal progress for these groups.

This project mirrors Singtel’s Digital Enablement work that increases digital access for segments of the community such as seniors, low-income families and migrant workers.

Enterprise business success has long depended on the environments and societies that exist within. Showing allyship for the issues affecting our climate and communities acknowledges this dependence and demonstrates the efforts to make things right.

By aligning with core business values and investing in technology to accelerate this change, companies can use their power for good.