ESG: People, Planet, Community - Insights from High Growth 2022
Last week we held our annual High Growth Conference in London on 7-8 June 2022. As part of the discussion our panellists explored key issues relating to ESG, impact and sustainable investment. Read some of the high-level learnings below:
- The industry is entering a new phase of evolution – from an intense focus on the scrutiny of risk to an open exploration of the return opportunities that authentic ambition for delivering on ESG targets will deliver.
- Investment in people through reduced staff attrition, more attractive recruitment value propositions, happier employees reporting pride in their purpose and less inefficient and sick time reported.
- Return on planet clearly and return on profit with more funds being made available and more investment at critical times of growth.
- A trend towards a focussed ESG and sustainability ‘consciousness’, akin to a ‘movement’ where there is wide recognition of the business, planet and personal imperative of working towards Net Zero and incorporating vision, values, frameworks and processes immediately so that it is baked into the culture of an organisation before it is too established in the old way – “embed ESG consciousness into the culture of a company early on” – especially for early stage companies. All parties recognised the journey of this, and that small steps and phased development is better than delaying the inevitable.
- ESG focus and credentials are becoming a hygiene factor, no points are scored for meeting some credentials, but it is very noticeable if there is no pathway or plan to meeting the objectives of a sustainable business with ESG processes as a key priority. It is more about the right ‘attitude’ - a willingness of founders to incorporate ESG into their framework.
- We learnt that consumer research indicated that consumers claim that ESG and sustainability is of great importance when asked but that consumers are not prepared to pay for any potential increased costs to have sustainable products or services. They expect the companies to absorb the potential additional costs if there are any.
- We also learnt that there are several instances when adapting to a more sustainable approach and changing business practices can actually reduce costs.
- Macro-economic global challenges and inflation will impact the private capital industry, adding to the challenges of addressing the Climate crisis.
