Increasingly stringent best practice standards, especially in fields such as water stewardship, are driving multinational corporations to apply new benchmarks across their global operations.
These strategic efforts are laudable and often vital but can be challenging to implement at operational sites for a variety of reasons. Therefore, alignment and support are crucial for corporate vision to become a reality on the ground.
There is no doubt that rising standards for corporate performance are placing significant pressure on multinationals and even smaller private sector players
to constantly raise their game. Nowhere is this more pronounced than in environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters. Companies must not only keep a close eye on changing requirements but must understand how their operations should best respond.
The range of compliance and regulatory pressure comes from various sources, including in-country legislation and the best practice guidelines developed by representative bodies in their sectors. Increasingly, the pressure is also coming from financial institutions, who themselves are looking ahead at their own sustainability trajectories and targets. Any business that engages with public stock exchanges, ratings agencies or financial markets cannot avoid the intense and growing scrutiny of its ESG performance.
