Sustainable InvestingArticle
Why External Accountability Matters
August 03, 2023
A shared understanding of measurements and reporting mechanisms provides the foundation for trust with employees, investors, customers and communities.
Sustainable InvestingArticle
August 03, 2023
A shared understanding of measurements and reporting mechanisms provides the foundation for trust with employees, investors, customers and communities.
In 2022, we made significant progress toward our targets for our 2030 Sustainability Commitments. In our 2022 ESG Report, we shared a first glance at our Net-Zero Roadmap to offer insight into exactly what actions we are taking in the near-term to advance our ambition with a positive and lasting impact. We also shared that our actions have been broadly recognized by trusted voices in the sustainability community. Why is that important?
As we move forward through a decade that demands action and collaboration, it will be even more important to maintain the trust of our employees and our stakeholders and continue to build trust with new communities. Operating with a shared understanding of measurements, reporting mechanisms, and frameworks provides the foundation of that trust.
Our investors, our customers and our communities appreciate the value of third-party validation—for transparency, credibility and accountability. In their 2023 “Rate the Raters” Survey, The SustainABILITY Institute cited growing investor demand for ESG ratings, with 57% of companies citing it as their top motivation for engaging with ESG raters.
As we move forward through a decade that demands action and collaboration, it will be even more important to maintain the trust of our employees and our stakeholders and continue to build trust with new communities. Operating with a shared understanding of measurements, reporting mechanisms, and frameworks provides the foundation of that trust.
Our strong sustainability performance is the result of a deliberate choice we’ve made to embed sustainability into our operating system, but most importantly, it’s an outcome of our culture, which continues to drive our competitive advantage. Our purpose to boldly challenge what’s possible for a sustainable world starts with our people. We are committed to creating an inclusive, engaging and uplifting culture where our team members can thrive and make a meaningful impact through our sustainability commitments.
External recognition is also important for validation in this area.
External recognition matters for the same reason our ESG Report matters—the report allows key stakeholders the opportunity to give us feedback and to hold us accountable as we demonstrate actions we are taking to achieve our bold commitments.
We can be accountable to our external stakeholders because we are accountable to ourselves. Our executive and senior leader incentive plans are linked to ESG metrics, and all salaried employee performance plans include at least one goal tied to our 2030 sustainability commitments.
We're also accountable to each other. We are guided by our Leadership Principles, and take a continuous improvement approach to our culture, focusing on our employee experience for all roles across the company.
Rankings, ratings and recognition provide external perspective of our impact and a shared framework for evaluating progress in sustainability. They signal to our investors, customers and communities that we are doing what it takes to deliver measurable results, and they show our employees that our investments set us apart from other workplace experiences.
We will continue to hold these measures up as a mirror to ensure that we maintain and evolve our foundation of trust and lead by example.
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