DRI International, in association with the Harvard National Preparedness Leadership Initiative (NPLI) has released a new white paper, analyzing the relationship between global resilience and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) priorities.

“As companies look for a way to meaningfully measure the impact of climate change on their operations, they are increasingly looking to their business continuity teams to provide that data,” said Chloe Demrovsky, DRI President and CEO.

ESG, Sustainability and Climate Resilience: A Business Continuity Perspective considers ESG, along with sustainability and business continuity (BC), to find common patterns and practices as well as recommendations for BC professionals to better manage these relationships within their companies. It is based on research supported by various sectors, including business/financial services, risk management, hospitality, and manufacturing.

“It is becoming widely recognized that resilience professionals already have the skills and tools needed to support a successful ESG program,” said Lyndon Bird, DRI Future Vision Committee Chair and co-author. “In fact, it is difficult to see which other business group could be as effective in doing this role.”

“The changing risk environment has moved ESG performance from ‘nice to do’ to an essential component of strategy,” said Eric McNulty, NPLI Associate Director and co-author. “BC professionals have an opportunity to lead alongside their sustainability peers.”

Among the findings:

• Nearly 80% of organizations felt that climate resilience was an important issue for their company – either immediately or in the near future.
• More than 70% of respondents indicated that their company treated climate change as part of a wider ESG initiative – not as a standalone issue.
• Resilience professionals already have much of the data needed to support both ESG and sustainability reporting – but it is not being leveraged enough in most organizations.