On this episode of the Lead With Purpose podcast host, Tze Ching Yeung talks to Noah Miller, CEO and head of ESG Advisory Services at Rho Impact about what ESG is and what it means for business and the world as a whole.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) refers to a management frame work – a structured approach to managing the risks and opportunities of a changing environment and environmental conditions, changing society and stakeholder expectations, and what that requires of leadership in order to manage that from a governance perspective.
Clearly with the billions of dollars of climate destruction, the governance blunders of corporate leaders, labour strikes and walk-outs that are costing economies billions of dollars, now this work has become front and centre to the finance/capital discussion.
Philosophically we’re all here from a similar compass that guides us; this work is important, we want to support the natural world and society. But the professional in me still says we live in a capitalist society and an economy that requires an attention to margins. From a professional context, we always focus on the commercial elements of this work because if it doesn’t create commercial opportunity/financial incentive it’s really hard to sustain.
Carbon emissions used to be peripheral to running a business but in the past few years ESG regulations, net zero commitments, and mandates coming from capital providers means that businesses have to show their receipts now and have assurable, transparent, traceable data to show they are doing and have done what they say they have. It’s gone from a ‘nice to have’ to a necessity. You can’t do business without showing your ESG credentials in today’s market.
BEST MOMENTS
‘The shifting tides of the environment, society, and the broader economy requires a company to address issues that, up until this point, were considered non-financial issues.’‘A significant shift in the past five years has been from carrying out carbon offsetting to now denouncing them and moving into legitimate emission reduction planning.’‘Rho Impact is completely focussed on the numbers first and then the narrative, to make sure we avoid any box-ticking which can lead to greenwashing.’‘People are realising that there’s a massive financial opportunity in creating these solutions. We’re lucky to move away from too much corporate performing and into the real work where the solutions are being made.’
ABOUT THE GUEST
Noah Miller is the Chief Advisory Officer and Head of ESG Advisory Services at Rho Impact. With over a decade of ESG consulting experience, Noah has held multiple leadership roles including Senior Director for Summit Strategy Group's ESG Consulting Services practice and serving as interim ESG Director for multiple public and private companies.
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ABOUT THE HOST
Tze Ching started her entrepreneurial journey back in 2007 with the launch of a sustainable clothing & home furnishing ecommerce business. Next, she created a sustainable fashion brand.
In 2019, she launched a social enterprise to help raise awareness about the negative impact of fashion at schools & colleges.
Through the 15-year journey, she learned so much, but easily the most meaningful lesson learned was about the importance of marketing. She now focuses on channelling those insights to help others succeed through We Disrupt Agency, a business coaching, mentoring & digital marketing company.
Tze Ching’s mission is to create a community of global change makers and to contribute to positive change in both people & planet.
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