Kristen Sullivan and Rachel Hodgdon live from the Nasdaq Marketsite ESG Event Putting “H” Health and Humanity into ESG.
Hosted by Humanity 2.0 & International WELL Building Institute (IWBI)
In this captivating segment Kristen and Rachel break down key topics including:
- How Companies approach ESG
- Health and Wellbeing playing a prominent role in ESG
- ESG Mechanism for Doing Good
- What’s on the horizon?
FULL COVERAGE
INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS: Kristen Sullivan is the US Sustainability and ESG Service Leaders Partner at Deloitte and Rachel Hodgdon is the President and CEO at IWBI
Rachel Hodgdon, President and CEO, IWBI (00:00):
Hi, I’m Rachel Hodgdon, President and CEO of the International WELL Building Institute and I’m here with another friend and collaborator, Kristen Sullivan. Kristen is a partner at Deloitte who leads sustainability and ESG services. Kristen, thanks so much for taking the time to be with us today.
Kristen Sullivan, Sustainability Partner, Deloitte (00:18):
Great,Thanks for having me.
Rachel Hodgdon, President and CEO, IWBI (00:20):
Nobody knows more than you about, uh, how ESG is not only shaping corporate decision making, but also helping to boost economic performance for these businesses. And in fact, time and time again, Deloitte has help to Illustrate that those two go hand in hand. And so in that context, what have been the most exciting changes you’ve seen over the last couple of years in terms of how companies approach ESG and do you see health and wellbeing playing a more prominent role going forward?
Kristen Sullivan, Sustainability Partner, Deloitte (00:51):
Well, thanks for that question. I think it’s, it’s, we’ve found over the past 18 months to two years, what I would call a dramatic shift in really looking at this set of ESG considerations impacts dependencies risks, opportunities to business as a catalyst for the biggest business transformation we’ve seen in a generation or more. And so I think what’s been so exciting. I’ve been in this space for a number of years, and to see the shift from this mindset of, of sort of risk compliance. This is a, uh, a reporting objective to truly, how do we integrate these considerations around environmental and societal, um, impacts long term strategies, a time horizon that contemplates a broader universe of impacts dependencies to really drive value and <affirmative>, and that’s really where you get into the value and the importance of discipline rigor, treating ESG no different than any other business risk or opportunity that really demands a set of, uh, management systems and measurement discipline to really capture and unlock value.
Rachel Hodgdon, President and CEO, IWBI (02:00):
So in some ways you see us moving beyond doing less bad to really focusing on ESG as a mechanism for doing more good.
Kristen Sullivan, Sustainability Partner, Deloitte (02:09):
Absolutely a tremendous value driver and an enabler. And I think to your point around the way where the H and the health and wellbeing component comes in, we clearly have seen the S the emphasis, the priority around the multiple dimensions under the S of ES & G. And I think a recognition that this concept of attracting, retaining thinking about the workforce, you need to drive your strategy going forward, and really thinking about the levers to really intentionally invest and drive accountability around optimizing and, and, and, and positioning the company to really meet the strategic objectives. You’ve gotta have that, that confidence and the talent and the workforce that you have today, and really where you’re headed. So I think it’s become a central strategic focus for business. And again, it comes back to how do you put in place the, the mechanisms to truly measure these areas of performance that haven’t always been front and center in decision making, within organizations.
Rachel Hodgdon, President and CEO, IWBI (03:08):
And to some extent, making those things that are invisible more, more visible. So are there more changes to come? Tell us a little bit about what you see on the horizon?
Kristen Sullivan, Sustainability Partner, Deloitte (03:17):
Absolutely. Yes. Is the simple answer. <laugh> I think we’re seeing a rapid shift in the capital markets. We’re seeing standard setting take shape in a much more authoritative consistent in what the market hopes for converged fashion. We’re seeing regulators around the world really start to put some definition and clarity. And, and while this, this whole movement from a capital markets perspective will drive, I think, a, a more consistency in behavior. I think it’s really gonna be, you know, for leaders to really look to these developments and understand how do you really capture, how do you really lean into the signals that, that these developments really suggest, and, and importantly, you know, continue to drive the value proposition from, from ESG.
Rachel Hodgdon, President and CEO, IWBI (04:02):
Fascinating comments, Kristen, thank you so much for being here with us, uh, at NASDAQ. And I understand you’ve got a train to catch, so <laugh>, you’re off. Thank you.